chile

chile is a region of south america named after the state of the same name. an overwhelming mayority of the people living there consider themselves chileans. practically all chileans are spanish speaking and speak a variety called chilean spanish. people living in chile apears on international statistics as having high "quality of life" and "human development" compared to other latin american countries. while being a place of social unrest during much of the XX century the country is currently cosidered a stable neoliberal example for the rest of latin america by neoliberal economists. there is huge inequalties in wealth and education among chileans. many chileans hosts a very subtle but deeply rooted racist tradition in discriminating indignous peoples or mixed people. the state power is runned by a political elite that can in many cases show a history as priviledged ones tracing back to colonial times. mass-media in chile is oriented toward european and anglo-american trends. chile is home to several neglected indigenous peoples some of which have groups in conflict with the chilean state.

state power history

the first known state power in the territory currently known as chile was the inca empire. the inca empire conquered the northern half of chile by diplomacy and force in the second half of the XV century. mapuches who lived in south-central chile put the inca empires southward expansion to an end acording to the tale of the battle of the maule. mapuches were not organized into a state but used to elect wartime chiefs. the spanish, arriving from panama took over the inca impire and while originally keeping prehispanic intitutions they soon imported their own from spain plus new ones specially created for limiting the colonies authonomies and maximize the economical output. the spanish set out a plunder of resources. this plunder scholars have found that it ocurred in several steps. first the amerindian elites gold was taken, later large scale mining occured, then european livestock was introduced and finaly agriculture rose in importance. all this was carried out with indigenous labour that was living in sefdom under the encomienda system. the spanish engage in a long war with the mapuches and had to give up important settlements after the 1599 rebellion. its important to notice that the spanish armies in chile and the americas used large contingents of indian allies in their wars.

chile became officialy indepent from the spanish crown in 1818. this meant that state power was de facto transfered from the spanish crown to a few wealthy families of spanish descent in chile. a few years after indepence different factions of wealthy landowners and merchants resumed old power disputes, as such serveral figures were exiled. from 1829 to 1830 the country fell into a civil war, sometimes called "the anarchy" because of the lack of proper well functioning state force, but still with local landlords. conservatives won the war and chile became a stable country sorrounded by civil war plagued countries like argentina, bolivia and peru.

the indigenous mapuches that had resisted spanish conquest atemps lived outside the rule of the chilean state most of the XIX century. araucanía, the land of the unconquered mapuches, fell to the chilean army between 1860 and 1885. between 1879 and 1883 the chilean army invaded bolivian and peruvian territory. present day odiosities between chileans and peruvian and bolivians usually has this war as as historical reference. the chilean army occupied the peruvian capital and permanently annexed what are now chile's northern regions.

around year 1900 a new period of instability begun. this time it was the lower classes that caused it. over the XIX century a working class had grew in chile and that had by 1900 stated to came under the influence of communist and anarchist ideas imported from europe.

since the founding of the communist party in chile in the 1910s chile begun a long history of leftist tradition that culminated with the electoral victory of the unidad popular coalition in 1970. unidad popular had both moderate socialists and revolutionary communist inside the cualition. in 1973 the military overtrew the government in a coup d'etat and installed a military government that turned neoliberal in the 80s. in the early 90s chile returned to western democracy. from 1990 to 2010 the country was ruled by a center left coalition. in 2010 one of chiles richest persons and media magnate became president as the head of a rightwing coalition.

the chilean state claims since the 1940s a slice of antarctica, and has because of that keept a series of reseach stations runned by the military in antarctica.

current conflicts

from the 1990s onwards several mapuche groups begun reclaiming ancestral land. this had led to tensions between landowners and mapuches in araucanía. several mapuche groups have taken violent direct actions aimed to fullfill their their claims. anti-terrorist laws from the military dictatorship era, initially aimed at leftist insurgents, have been used against mapuches.

also, after the return of western democracy enviromentalist groups have grown large and are currently opposing the building of several hydroelectrical power plants. these groups cooperate with indigenous groups and other rural population in most cases. in 2004 in the city of valdivia enviromentalists succeeded in by legal ways closing down a pulp mill that likely killed thousands of swans in a protected wetland. however the pulp mill was soon afterward allowed by a court to continue running.