From North to South
Under its southern sky, Chile is a land of contrasts, and evoking its geography can be a perilous exercise. In fact, writer Benjamín Subercaseaux spoke of "geographical coquetry" in his famous 1960 book(Chile o una Geografia loca). Chile is a strip of land bounded on the east by the Andes mountain range and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. The country stretches 4,270 km from north to south, the distance between southern Italy and northern Sweden! Its average width is just 200 km, and at certain points is no more than 100 km. Its configuration is unique in the world, and it is sometimes referred to as an "island on terra firma": the Andes, the Pacific Ocean, the desert to the north and the glaciers to the south isolate Chile from the rest of the world. The country has the longest coastline on the planet, offering a wide variety of landscapes: between Arica and Puerto Montt, cliffs, sandy or pebble beaches and rocky coasts alternate. To the south of Puerto Montt, land and sea intermingle and the coastline is highly indented.
To the north, the Atacama Desert region is also made up of Andean quebradas (rifts) that flow into the Pacific or the Atacama Salar .
Further south, in the region known as the "little north" (in the La Serena area), the territory is home to valleys that benefit from the sea air: verdant vegetation contrasts with the aridity of the mountain massifs.
In the central region of Santiago and Valparaíso, the relief drops and the central furrow widens. Here, the Andes reach their highest elevations (Aconcagua, on the Argentine side, rises to 6,962 m, the highest peak in the Americas). It also boasts very steep slopes, giving it the appearance of a veritable wall dominating the Chilean capital. Particularly active volcanoes line the ridges of the Cordillera (Tupungato volcano 6,550 m, Maipu volcano 5,290 m, Tinguiririca volcano 4,300 m). To the west of this area lies the Cordillera de la Costa (Coast Mountain Range): at Santiago level, it forms a major barrier some 2,000 m high, and is pierced by several plains. As its name suggests, it stretches along the coast, delimiting the central plain from the Andes.
Once youreach the Bío-Bío region, nicknamed "The Frontier" because of the many conflicts between conquistadors and natives, the cordillera subsides, but its volcanic peaks remain high. The central plain features an undulating landscape, punctuated by plains flooded by rivers and lakes.
Even further south, the region of rivers and lakes is characterized by a string of volcanoes whose tops are covered by glaciers. These volcanoes, most of which are still active, tower over a series of glacial lakes.
Finally, the morphology of the land changes quite radically from the island of Chiloé to Cape Horn: the Andes are disarticulated and glaciers, fjords and mountains form the relief of Patagonia.
The Andes Mountains
White queen on the blue sky, the Andes mountain range deserves all the attention. Gushing out from a meeting of the Pacific and South American tectonic plates, the Andes are a land still in formation, alive and ready to roar at any moment. Its craters, hot springs and earthquakes bear witness to the unparalleled dynamism of the region's seismic and volcanic activity. Its varied 7,100 km long reliefs start in the north of Venezuela and plunge into the icy waters of the ocean in the extreme south of America. It is important to note that the Andes do not form an unbroken chain: isolated ranges are linked by vast valleys, very deep and bathed by lakes and rivers. The glacial periods have drawn a strange geography, crazy and tortured, and, as the Pacific winds come against the cordillera, the precipitations are abundant on the western slope, as well as on the summits; thus, a great number of lakes and lagoons have been formed. The Andean summits are covered by glaciers, and the massifs have very steep peaks: these rocks, embedded in the sediments, have resisted glacial erosion because of their hardness, appearing in the open air in fanciful silhouettes (this can be seen particularly in the Torres del Paine National Park) The further south you go, the lower the Andean peaks become. In Tierra del Fuego, the backbone changes orientation and plunges into the sea: however, the Andes cordillera does not disappear and continues its course, under water, until Antarctica. Three large ice fields follow one another along the Andes. The Hielo Patagonico Norte, which covers 4,400 square kilometres. The Hielo Patagonico Sur, which covers 13,000 square kilometres, and, on the southern edge of Tierra del Fuego, the ice fields of the Darwin Cordillera: 3,000 square kilometres extend down to the shore of the Beagle Channel. The Andes mountain range is a natural barrier that is difficult to cross because of the orientation of its valleys, the altitude of its peaks and its snow cover. There are few easy border crossings with Argentina and Bolivia. The Cordillera culminates in Chile, east of Copiapó, at Ojos del Salado (6,893 m), the highest active volcano in the world.
A volcanic land
There are few places on earth where you can feel alone in the world amidst the grandeur and diversity of the landscape. In Chile, the contrast can be striking, as the scenery displays colors and reliefs as unusual as they are surprising. Crystal-clear lakes in multiple shades of blue, thousand-year-old forests and hostile deserts compete in beauty with the splendor of glaciers, volcanoes and mysteriously charming islands. Chile is a kaleidoscope of landscapes, revealing itself to be another world on planet Earth. The Andes mountain range is a young landscape, dotted with numerous volcanoes, most of which are still active. Volcanoes carpet the Chilean landscape from north to south, giving it a mystical, vertiginous dimension. They are easily observed in the far north (on the border with Bolivia) and in the south (in the Lake District). With its 2,000 volcanoes, it is second only to Indonesia in having the largest chain of volcanoes in the world. Fortunately, the vast majority are extinct or dormant, but today 500 volcanoes are considered active (a volcano is considered active if it has erupted in the last 10,000 years). Some are more closely monitored than others. The Andes are characterized by very high levels of volcanic activity. The border with Bolivia is a veritable chain of volcanoes (from Parinacota to Licancabur). These include Lanín (3,740 metres), Tronador (3,460 metres), Hudson (2,600 metres) and Villarrica (2,840 metres). The latter erupted in March 2015, forcing the evacuation of several thousand people. At 2,847 metres, it is often considered the country's most dangerous volcano. However, it would seem that Chileans have become accustomed to the jolts of these fiery giants: they admire them as much as they fear them! Finally, in April 2021, a new active volcano was discovered by geologists to the south-west of Coyhaique. Named Gran Mate, after its crater in the shape of a maté gourd, it rises to 1,280 metres, the same height as Vesuvius.
Chilean Patagonia
Wedged between the Andean mountains and the Pacific Ocean, Chilean Patagonia concentrates on a narrow strip of green land in the north, then is characterized by a vast network of fjords, islands and archipelagos, a jagged and upsetting landscape, an image of the end of the world accentuated by a hostile climate most of the time. The Route Austral slips painfully through the thin piece of land that belongs to Chile, but ends at Villa O'Higgins, without being able to reach the city of Puerto Natales, to the south. Although it has no official limits, it is estimated that it covers all the territory between the 42nd parallel south and Cape Horn, located at the 56th parallel. For the majority, it begins at the level of the island of Chiloé and Puerto Montt, where nature becomes wilder and the islands are covered with dense forests, where the jagged lands merge with fjords and virgin forests. For others, Chilean Patagonia is limited to the Magallanes region, which includes part of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. But the regions of Bío-Bío and Araucania have also recently claimed to be part of Patagonia, mainly for reasons related to tourism. Still vague, the borders of the Deep South are limited only by the horizon and the immensity of the sky: opinions diverge and the limits of Patagonia have never been officialized. Historically and politically, Patagonia does not have the same definition for all and the configuration of the territory changes according to the points of view.
National parks at the end of the world
Hiking enthusiasts, lovers of the great outdoors, budding biologists or photographic hunters - any excuse is good enough to justify an escapade on Chile's roads. National reserves, natural monuments, national parks... nature reigns supreme among the country's hundred or so protected areas. Of ecological, biological and tourist interest, they boast exceptional panoramas that can be enjoyed at will. Whether you're wearing crampons, in a kayak, driving a car up a mountain path or aboard a cruise ship, the options for discovery are numerous: canyoning, andism, kayaking, climbing, Inca archaeology, skiing, rock-climbing, horse-riding, mountain biking, diving... You can experience everything more intensely, closer to the elements! From a few hours to several days, the discovery trails will satisfy contemplative spirits as well as sporty types. With its 37 protected areas, Chile offers unexpected destinations between ice seas, deserts and volcanic climbs. In May 2019, the country inaugurated its two latest national parks, Pumalin and Patagonia. This initiative, undertaken by the Tompkins Foundation, was funded by the couple of the same name. Douglas Tompkins devoted his wealth and his life to preserving the country's nature reserves. At the time of his death in 2017, he ceded 407,625 hectares to his country "of the heart": to date, this is the largest donation of private land in history.
