The Santiago de Chile reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Santiago de Chile

Santiago (full form Santiago de Chile) is the capital of Chile. It is situated in the central valley in the middle of Chile.

Table of contents

1 History 2 Climate 3 Population 4 Culture 4.1 Universities 4.2 Music 4.3 Museums 5 Transport 6 Places to visit 7 Restaurants 8 Environment

History

Santiago was founded by Pedro de Valdivia on February 12, 1541 with the name Santiago de Nueva Extremadura. The founding ceremony was held on what is now known as Cerro Santa Lucía. Valdivia chose the location of Santiago because of its climate and the ease with which it could be defended. This was because the river Mapocho split in two, and rejoined further downstream, forming an island. With the help of the indigenous population the first buildings were erected. However on September 11th 1541 - the city was also destroyed by indigenous tribes.

Climate

The climate in Santiago is mediterranean. With hot dry summers (November to March) with temperatures reaching to 35 Celsius on some days. The winters (June to August) are more humid with maximum temperatures of 15 being the norm, and minimums of a few degrees above freezing.

Mean rainfall is 360 mm per year.

Population

According to the latest census (2002), 4,668,473 people live in the city of Santiago. This represents roughly one third of the total population of Chile.

Culture

Santiago has the largest concentration of cultural institutions in the country.

Universities

Public:

• Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC)
• Universidad de Chile (U, UCh)
• Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH)
• Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación (UMCE)
• Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana (UTEM)

Private:

• Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano
• Universidad Alberto Hurtado
• Universidad Bernardo O'Higgins
• Universidad Bolivariana
• Universidad Católica Raúl Silva Henríquez
• Universidad Central de Chile
• Universidad de Artes y Ciencias Sociales (ARCIS)
• Universidad de Artes, Ciencias y Comunicación (UNIACC)
• Universidad de Ciencias de la Informática
• Universidad de Las Américas
• Universidad de Los Andes
• Universidad del Desarrollo
• Universidad del Pacífico
• Universidad Diego Portales
• Universidad Europea de Negocios
• Universidad Finis Terrae
• Universidad Gabriela Mistral
• Universidad Iberoamericana de Ciencias y Tecnología
• Universidad Internacional SEK
• Universidad La República
• Universidad Mariano Egaña
• Universidad Mayor
• Universidad Miguel de Cervantes
• Universidad Nacional Andrés Bello
• Universidad Santo Tomás
• Universidad Tecnológica Vicente Pérez Rosales

Music

There are two symphonic orchestras:

• Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago, which performs in the Teatro Municipal
• Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile, dependent of the Universidad de Chile, performs in its theater.

Museums

Museums include:

• Museo de Arte Precolombino
• Museo Histórico Nacional
• Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
• Museo de Arte Contemporáneo
• Museo Interactivo Mirador
• Museo Artequín
• Museo de Ciencia y Tecnología
• Museo Ferroviario
• Museo de la Solidaridad "Salvador Allende"

Transport

• Santiago has an extensive, if chaotic, privately-run bus system.
• There are three metro lines that function excellently though their coverage is somewhat limited at the moment. The Government is in various stages of constructing three additional metro lines
• There are train connections from Santiago to the southern part of the country.
• Private inter-urban bus companies provide excellent and cheap transportation from Santiago to virtually any part of the country.
• Santiago's airport is Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport

Places to visit

• La Moneda, government palace
• The museums mentioned above
• Cerro Santa Lucía (Santa Lucía Hill)
• Cerro San Cristóbal (San Cristóbal Hill)
• There are ski resorts within an hour's drive east from the city (Farellones, Valle Nevado, La Parva etc)
• Seaside resorts such as Algarrobo, an hour's drive west
• La Chascona, Pablo Neruda's house in Santiago.
• Parque Metropolitano de Santiago (Santiago Metropolitan Zoo), a zoo located on Cerro San Cristóbal
• Parque O'Higgins
• Parque Forestal, a park located at the city centre by the river
• Estación Central, a railway station designed by Gustave Eiffel
• Estadio Nacional
• Estadio Víctor Jara

(more details anyone?)

Restaurants

• Donde Augusto is the finest seafood restaurant in the delightful Mercado Central
• Bravissimo and Coppelia compete for the gelatto market with two-scoop cones going for roughly 700 pesos as of December, 2003. The most interesting flavor is lúcuma, inspired by a local fruit that tastes something like pumpkin.
• Domino has several locations and is the healthiest and brightest of the soda fountains sprinkled across downtown

Environment

Because of the air-circulation patterns (or lack thereof) in the central valley, in the winter months there is a lot of smog pollution in Santiago. The Government has been trying to do something to reduce the problem by giving incentives to heavy industry to move out of the central valley but until now it has not had any real effect.

Another major problem has been the contamination of the river Mapocho by industrial and household waste, which was dumped unfiltered into the river, and mining waste from upstream; there are a number of copper mines in the Andes east of Santiago. The government has passed a law that obligates industry and the governments of the comunas to process all their waste by 2006. There are various big waste production plants being constructed because of this.

The sound levels in the main city streets can be quite high. This is mostly due to very noisy city buses. These buses are also a major contributor to the winter smog.