Santiago, Chile

By Cathy Gao

Survivor's Guide: Santiago
Santiago In The News
Epicurean Delights

Situated at an elevation of 1700 ft. in Chile’s central valley is Santiago, the country’s capital and its center of industry and finance. Founded over 460 years ago by a Spanish conquistador named Pedro de Valdivia, the city is considered today to be one of the most important financial centers in South America in addition to San Paulo, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina. With a rapidly growing economy, Santiago attracts a steady flow of immigrants from Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Argentina. The population of the country has doubled since 1970, and now, 37% of the total population of Chile (roughly 5.45 million) call Santiago “home.”


Santiago’s rapid growth in population reflects the country’s expansion economically and financially. In recent years, many multinational companies such as HP, Reuters, JP Morgan, Intel, Coca-Cola, Nestle, Kodak, IBM, Motorola, Microsoft, Ford and Yahoo! have chosen Santiago as the place of their headquarters in the region due to the strong growth and stability of the Chilean economy. With such heavy foreign investment in Santiago in recent years, the capital city generates as much as 45% of the country’s GDP.
A free trade agreement signed with the United States in 2003 has significantly helped generate Santiago’s financial growth, and today, the city is still enjoying the freedom it found after the 17-year dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in the 70s and 80s.

However, the city is not all business: the new Centro Cultural Palacio La Moneda and the almost-renovated Museo de Arte Contemporáneo make Santiago a cultural center as well. With almost twenty museums, two symphonic orchestras, and a railroad station designed by Gustave Eiffel himself, Santiago is not only a stop on the way to Andean ski resorts and Chilean vineyards but also a worthwhile and booming cultural and historical site.