Chronography of Chile
Page last
modified 21 August� 2023
See
below for Easter Island / Rapa Nui
13 October 2010, 33
Chilean miners were� rescued, having
spent 69 days underground at San Jose mine.
Pinochet
escapes trial
10 December 2006, General Pinochet, former dictator of Chile (born 1915) died.
2004, Divorce was legalised in Chile.
8/2004, Chile�s Supreme Court decided, by a vote of 9 to
8, that Pinochet (biorn 1915) could stand trial. However he was now suffering from mild
dementia, and doctors would have to certify that he was fit for trial.
2 March 2000, Former dictator Augusto Pinochet returned to Chile
from the UK. On the grounds of his poor health., the UK had refused to
extradite him to face a European Court on charges of torture and abuse of human
rights.
1/2000, In Britain, a medical team deemed Pinochet too ill
to stand trial. This permitted his return to Chile.
16 October 1998, British
police placed Augusto Pinochet under house
arrest during his medical treatment in Britain. Spain wanted to charge him with crimes
of murder and torture.
10 March 1998, Former dictator of Chile, Augusto Pinochet, stepped down as Chief of the Armed Forces and became Senator for life.
This granted him legal immunity from any atrocities committed under his rule of
Chile. On 16 October 1998, on a visit to London he was arrested when Spain
wanted to charge him, but he was released on grounds of ill-health on 18
February 2000.
11 December 1993, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle,
leader of the Coalition for Democracy, was elected President of Chile.
Pinochet
regime 1973-90
11 March 1990. �In
Chilean democratic elections, 71-year-old Patricio
Alwyn soundly beat Pinochet�s nominee, Hernan Buchi.
14 December 1989, Chile
held its first free elections in 16 years. The winner was the Christian
Democrat, Patricio
Alwyn.
5
October 1988, The Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was
defeated in a plebiscite meant to reinforce his rule. 55% voted against him.
1985, Inequality
had grown markedly in Chile. The richest 20% had enjoyed a 30% real rise in
income since 1970, but the poorest 40% had seen a 50% drop over this period.
6
November 1984. Chile�s president Pinochet re-imposed a state of emergency.
12 August 1983, 17 people
were killed in Santiago, Chile, in protests against General Pinochet.
14 June 1983, Protests
in Santiago, Chile, against the rule of General Pinochet.
11 March 1981, Chilean President Augusto Pinochet was sworn
in for an 8-year term as President.
11 September 1980, A referendum in Chile
approved an eight-year extension of Pinochet�s military government.
12 March 1977, In Chile, political
parties were banned and censorship was tightened.
21 September 1976, The former Chilean
Ambassador to the
US, Orlando
Letelier, was killed by a car bomb explosion in Washington DC. He
had been an outspoken critic of President Pinochet.
12/1/1974, The military Government of Chile began
pre-publication censorship of all newspapers and magazines.
14 September 1973, Most Chileans supported the coup by Pinochet, believing he had saved the country from a Left-wing coup. Pinochet began a savage repression of Allende�s supporters. Many were executed
without trial, or simply �disappeared�. Congress was dismissed and strict Press
control began. This repression was to continue for the next fifteen years.
11 September 1973. A military junta took control in Chile
after President
Salvador Allende, elected
leader of a left-wing government, was deposed. He committed suicide as
his palace was bombarded by planes and tanks. The coup was mounted by General Augusto Pinochet, and
backed by the USA. Pinochet had made a show of loyalty towards Allende right up
till the moment it was clear the military coup was going to succeed.
This was the prelude to a savage repression in Chile in which at least
3,000 civilians were killed, and tens of thousands tortured or exiled. A
majority of Chileans had probably favoured the overthrow of Allende, but did
not support the repression that followed. Allende had attempted to run a Socialist government but with
parliamentary democracy; however there was widespread unrest from business
interests, and a major lorry drivers strike in 1972-3, backed by the CIA.� Coups swiftly followed in Uruguay and
Argentina, where 30,000 were killed by the dictatorship.
Due to Pinochet�s rule, and
that of Mexico�s Carlos Salinas and Peru�s Alberto Fujimori, many Latin
Americans in 2003 associate free-market economics with authoritarian rule. Augusto Pinochet ruled for
17 years. His free-market reforms led to rapid economic growth for Chile, but
at great cost to human life and rights.
22 August 1973, The Chilean Interior
Minister, General
Carlos Prats, warned Allende that a coup was now
inevitable. Prats
resigned, and reassured Allende that his replacement, General Pinochet, was loyal to him. However Prats
also warned Allende that the momentum for a
coup by the Army was now so strong that any officer who tried to resist it
would be powerless.
25 November 1915, General Augusto
Pinochet, Chilean dictator who overthrew Allende in 1973, was born.
Allende
administration 1970-73
26 July 1973, A truckers strike began in Chile, backed by the CIA. After
2 months the strike was estimated to have cost the Chilean economy some US$ 100
million, and inflation reached 320%. The Chamber of Deputies called on the
Chilean Army to stage a coup to overthrow Allende, and unlike in 1970 (see 17
September 1970) the Army generals were happy to comply, fearing a Left-wing
coup. The Deputies hoped that after the coup the Army would retire and civilian
rule resume.
1972, Chile�s
economy imploded, as the balance of payments deficit rose to US$ 298 million,
inflation reached 163%, and real wages fell by 7%. Allende�s Leftist policies had not helped, but there had also been a
major fall in the world price of copper, Chile�s main export earner.
Allende was forced to consider food
rationing as agricultural imports rose 84% to US$ 400 million. Chile began
printing money to cover the deficit. The USSR was also reluctant to bail out a President
who had made such a mess of his own economy. With the middle class destroyed by
Allende, the country was polarised into
his keen supporters and strong opposers, and with both sides amassing arms
stockpiles, even civil war seemed possible. Nixon was happy.
11/1971, Chile
suspended foreign loan repayments, unable to make them. The first year of Allende�s rule had appeared to be economically successful.
Chilean unemployment had fallen to 3.8%, industrial production was up 6.3% on
the previous 12 months, agricultural productivity was up 5.3%, and real wages
were 27% higher. Now, however, the wealthy were resentful that they had paid
for this success, whilst the Left believed there was no limit to their gains.
In fact the economic gains were illusory, brought about by a one-off windfall
from nationalising foreign assets in Chile. By end-1971 shortages began
appearing in Chilean shops. Housewives protested in what became nown as the
�March of the Empty Pots�. US President Nixon cut foreign aid to Chile at
this time, as did other Western powers.
3
November 1970. Allende became
President of Chile, winning by a narrow margin. He nationalised much of the
Chilean economy, recognised the Castro regime in Cuba, and was regarded as a
danger by the USA..
22 September 1970, In Chile, Viaux�s
operatives severely injured Schneider (see 17 September 1970); he died
three days later. However no coup resulted from this assassination, and Vaux�s
supporters melted away. To the great relief of Nixon, no US connection was
uncovered by the Chileans. Allende was duly elected President
by Congress, with 153 votes for him and just 42 against or abstaining.
17 September 1970, The CIA began
investigating ways to stop Allende becoming President of
Chile (see 4 September 1970). The Chilean military were unhappy with the
prospect of Allende as leader. A Chilean
General, Roberto
Viaux, ambitious but recently dismissed from service, was willing to
assassinate Allende, but the Commander in
Chief of the Chilean Army, General Rene Schneider, was too principled and would
not interfere with the democratic process, even if it had produced Allende as winner. The danger was that the
coup would fail, the connection to the CIA would be exposed, and the US would
suffer a setback comparable to the failed Bay of Pigs adventure in Cuba, a
failed 12961 attempt to oust Fidel Castro. The US administration was coming
around to playing the long game, living with the Allende administration until 1976 when the next elections were due
and he would no longer be President. See 22 September 1970.
4
September 1970, Salvador
Allende,
Communist,
was elected President of Chile. In the 1964 Chilean elections the Right wing
Christian Democrat, Eduardo Frei, had won 56% of the vote, against
Allende�s 39.4%. However Frei
had raised unfulfilled expectations regarding the alleviation of serious
underdevelopment in Chile; he had also lost support by taxing the rich, Chilean
debt and inflation had worsened as Frei overborrowed, Yet he still had sufficient
support to win in 1970, but under Chilean law he could not run for a second
term, so the Right chose the uncharismatic Radomiro Tomic as candidate. The US
administration and CIA did not believe Allende would win and spent only a small amount � US$ 400,000 � on
influencing the Chilean electorate. President Nixon did not want to be seen to
overtly intervene in the election. A US company, ITT, with interests in Chile,
offered the CIA US$ 1 million to stop Allende but this was turned down. Allende actually won with 36.3% of the vote, a smaller share than he
got in 1964, because a third candidate split the opposition vote. The US
administration now decided they had until 24 October 1970, 7 weeks, until the
Chilean Congress conformed the Presidency, to stop Chile going Communist. Nixon
feared that with Communists in both Chile and Cuba, South America would become
a �Red sandwich�.
26 July 1908, Salvadore
Allende, President of Chile 1970-3, was born.
3 November 1964, Eduardo Montalva was inaugurated for a 6-year
term as the 29th President of Chile.
28/1/1946, A 60-day �State of Siege� was
proclaimed by the Chilean Government after riots in Santiago between police and
demonstrating Union members, in which 4 had died.
13/5/1945, Rioting outside a Catholic church
in Santiago, Chile which was holding a mass in memory of Benito Mussolini.
Several people were injured and four arrests were made.
1943, Chile sided with the USA during
World
War Two.
7 March 1937, Parliamentary
elections were held in Chile. The Liberal Party won a slim majority in the
Senate and tied with the Conservative Party in the Chamber of Deputies.
1932,
A coup installed the 100-day Socialist Republic of Carlos Davila.
27 July 1931, Juan
Esteban Montero became President of Chile.
1929,
Chile lost some territory in the north to Peru during a brief war.
5 September 1924, In Chile,
a military junta took power.
1920,
President
Arturo Alessandri,or �The Lion� was elected. He introduced social
and labour reforms, but some of his policies were blocked by the legislature,
and he resigned in 1924. However he was recalled in 1925 with army support; a
new Constitution bolstered his powers.
21 December 1907, In Iquique, Chile, some 3000 striking workers and their families were
massacred by the Chilean army on government orders.
17 September 1906, Senor Pedro Montt, President-elect, took up
office in Chile.
16 August 1906. Severe earthquake killed 3,000 in
Valparaiso, Chile. 100,000 were left homeless.
20 October 1904, Bolivia and Chile signed a peace treaty
ending the War of the Pacific. This recognised Chile�s possession of the
Pacific coast it had taken, and provided for a railway link for Bolivia from La
Paz to Arica (formerly, Peru) on the coast.
1902, Chile extended its
sovereignty southwards into Patagonia, and onto the island of Tierra del Fuego,
shared with Argentina.
Chilean
Civil War
18 September 1891, Chilean President Jose Balmaceda
(born in Santiago, 1839) committed suicide following the outbreak of the
Chilean Civil War.
28 August 1891, Congressional forces now
reached La Placilla, south east of Valparaiso, where battle was engaged with
Balmacedist forces under Barbosa. The Balmcedist Army was decimated
with 941 killed (including Barbosa himself) and 2,402 wounded; the
Congressionalists lost over 1800 men. Valparaiso was occupied this day by the
Congressionals, and Santiago taken by them soon after. Fighting in Chile now
ceased.
24 August 1891, Congressional forces,
marching south towards Valparaiso after their victory at Concon (21/8), came up
against strong Balmacedist defences at Vina del Mar, held by General Barbosa.
However the Congressionalist Army now marched inland and around Vina del Mar,
see 28 August 1891.
21 August 1891, Balmaceda acted quickly in
response to the attack on Quinteros and attacked Congressional troops at Concon
on the Aconagua River. Congressional troops stormed across the river, losing
1000 killed and wounded. The Balmacedists lost 1600 killed and wounded. However
the Congressionalists captured 36 Balmacedist guns, and took 1500 Balmacedist
prisoners, most of who then switched sides and joined the Congressionalists,
more than making up their losses.
20 August 1891, Quinteros, north of
Valparaiso, was successfully occupied by Congressional forces in a surprise
attack from the sea. Valparaiso itself was not far out of range of
Congressional artillery now.
23 April 1891, In the Chilean Civil war,
the Balmacedists had now acquired naval torpedo ships previously constructed in
Europe. This day these torpederas sank
the Congressional ship Blanco Encalada
in Caldera Bay, severely weakening their naval forces. The Congressionalists
only hope of victory now lay, not in a systematic conquest of Chile as a whole,
but in a drastic strike at Balmaceda in the capital Valparaiso itself. See 20 August 1891.
7 March 1891, Battle of Pozo Almonte,
Chilean Civil War; Congressional forces under Del Canto had superior numbers,
and the Balmacedists were defeated. Robles himself was killed. Balmacedist forces
in northern Chile now began to give up the conflict.
28 August 1891, Fighting near Valpariaso, Chile.
17 February 1891, Robles fell back along the
railway, called up reinforcements from Iquque, and defeated the Congressional
forces at Haura.
16 February 1891, In the Chilean Civil War,
Iqique fell to Congressional forces.
15 February 1891, Balmacedist forces under Eulojio Robles
(who had been expecting reinforcements from Tacna that never came) was defeated
at San Francisco.
26/1/1891, Congress forces retook the Chilean town of
Pisagua. By now some army personnel, along with munitions supplies, had been
gained by Congressional forces.
1/1/1891, The Chilean
Civil War broke out. It was caused by a dispute between the Chilean
President and the National Congress Representatives, leading to the President, Jose Manuel Balmaceda,
attempting to govern and collect taxes on his own authority. The Chilean Army
was loyal to Balmaceda, but the navy sided with Congress, First opening shots
of the civil war were on 16/1/1891, when Congress forces aboard the Blanco fired on Valparaiso.
1886, The Presidency of Jose Manuel Balmaceda
began.
23 July 1881, Argentina and Chile agreed in a treaty that their
mutual border should be �The line of highest peaks which divides the waters�.
However subsequent exploration revealed that faster flowing westwards streams
had, by headwaters erosion, established a watershed many miles east of the line
of highest peaks of the Andes. The two countries asked Queen Victoria of Britain to arbitrate a border, which was done
at the Court of Arbitration in 1902, by best available mapping. Subsequently,
improved mapping rendered that border ambiguous, and in 1965 the British
Government was again asked to arbitrate. On 9 December 1966 the British
Government set a new border, which was marked on the ground in early 1967.
20 September 1880, Manuel Montt, Chilean statesman, died (born 5
September 1809).
The Pacific War. Chile invades part of Peru, and
deprives Bolivia of its cosastline
4 April 1884. By the Treaty of Valparaiso, Bolivia granted Chile the right to control
Antofagasta, including the Atacama Desert.
22 October 1883, The Chilean occupation
of Lima, Peru, ended, see
17/1/1881.
18/1/1881, Callao,
Peru, surrendered to Chilean forces.
17/1/1881, A
Chilean army occupied Peru, see 22 October 1883.
15/1/1881, Battle
of Miraflores. Despite strong Peruvian defence, the Chileans prevailed,
destroying most of the Peruvian Army.
13/1/1881, Chilean forces under Baquedano attached the defences
of Lima at Chorillos; Chilean victory.
18 November 1880, Chilean forces disembarked at Baquedano, to march on Lima.
26/5/1880, Battle
of Tacna; Chilean victory over Peru.
17 December 1879. Chilean troops took Lima, Peru.
See also Peru for more history.
8 October 1879, The Peruvian Navy was
effectively destroyed in fighting with Chile.
23 March 1879, The Pacific War between
Chile and Bolivia, Peru. Bolivia had seized the assets of the Chilean Nitrate Company at Antofagusta,
then in the Bolivian province of Atacama.�
On this day Chilean militia marched into Bolivian territory.� Bolivia had declared war on 1 March 1879 but
Peru did not declare war until 5 April 1879; this delay enabled Chile to occupy
all Bolivia�s ports, and from there to attack Peru.
5 April 1879, Chile formally declared
war on Bolivia and Peru.
14 February 1879. The Chilean army under Colonel Emilio Sotomayor Baeza occupied the
Bolivian Pacific port of Antofagasta, and on 1 March 1879 Bolivia declared war
against Chile. Chile also occupied part of the Peruvian Pacific coast. On
11 December 1883 a peace treaty between Chile and Bolivia was signed whereby
Bolivia agreed to the occupation of its seacoast by Chile
3 November 1877, Carlos Ibanez del \Campo, Chilean statesman,
was born.
31 March 1866, A Spanish fleet under Admiral Casto Mendez Nunez
bombarded the port of Valparaiso,
Chile. Peru allied with Chile.
Indigenous
far-South American peoples.
16 February 2022, Cristina Calderon, last full-blooded member of
the Yaghan people of Tierra del Fuego, died aged 93. The Yaghans had numbered
around 3,000 in 1850, but just 100 by 1928, when Cristina Calderon was born. In
2022 there were some 50 Yaghans, mainly living a settled life in Bahia Mejillones,
the Bay of Mussels, where they eked a living gathering mussels, but none were
full blooded Yaghan.
1862, The short-lived Mapuche �Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia� was
jointly supressed by Chile and Argentina. The Mapuche tribes of southern
South America had made a treaty with the Spanish in 1641 establishing their
territory as south of the Bobio River in what is now Chile. For some decades
the area south of the Bobio was barely touched by European settlers. When Chile
began to colonise the area, a French lawyer, Orelie-Antoine de Tounens,
attempted, in 1861 to save the Mapuche lands by establishing himself as �king�
of the area. Under international law at the time, annexing a people ruled by a
Christian European monarch would have been illegan. However in 1862 Chile
arrested de
Tounens for sedition, only reprieving him from execution becayse he
was deemed insane. De Tounens, banished from Chile, retiunred to
France where he died in poverty in 1878, never succeeding in his aim of
returning to the Mapuche territory. Chilean and Argentine colonisation of the
Maouche lands resulted in a decline in Mapuche numbers of 90%. In 2017 an
estimated 1.5 million Mapuche lived in Chile and a further 0.2 million resided
in Argentine territory. Their fight for a homeland continues with attacks on
farms, suppressed by military raids and heavy law enforcement.
1849,The city of Puntas Arenas
(Sand Point) was founded, as a penal colony,
1846, The Chilean Government
invited people from Germany to migrate there, to establish
agriculture.
1836, Chile began a war with
Peru. Chile won, but Portales was assassinated. The war ended in
1839.
1829, Brief civil war in Chile,
between the Liberals and the Conservatives. Then a Conservative Alliance, led
by Diego
Portales, took power.
Chilean independence from Spain.
24 October 1842, Bernardo O�Higgins, fighter for
Chilean independence, died in Peru (born 20 August 1778 in Chillan).
4 September 1821, Jose Miguel Carrera, leader in
the Chilean fight for independence from Spain, died (born 15 October 1785).
1818, Bernard O�Higgins, former
Viceroy of Chile and now known as �The Liberator�, became autocratic leader of
Chile. He established a strong Presidency of a centralised State.
1818, The Battle of Maipu
finally secured Chilean independence.
5 April 1818, Chile achieved independence from Spanish rule, after a revolutionary
war led by Bernard O�Higgins.
12 February 1818. Chile proclaimed
independence from Spain after a revolution led by San Martin and Bernard
O�Higgins.
12 February 1817, Battle of Chacabuco; Chile asserted independence from Spain.
5 September 1809, Manuel Montt, Chilean statesman,
was born (died 20 September 1880).
15 October 1785, Jose Miguel Carrera, leader in
the Chilean fight for independence from Spain, was born (died 4 September 1821).
20 August 1778, Bernardo O�Higgins, fighter for
Chilean independence, was born in Chillan (died 24 October 1842 in Peru).
15 October 1775, Miguel Carrera, fighter for
Chilean independence, was born (died 4 September 1821).
1557, Lautaro, leader of the Auracanian Amerindians, who fiercely
resisted the Spanish, was killed by them.
1557, Valdivia was killed by the Araucanian Amerindians.
1550, The city of Conception was
founded by Pedro de Valdivia.
12 February 1541, The
Spaniards founded Santiago, Chile.
1540, A Spanish expedition led by Pedro de
Valdivia first crossed the Andes into what is now Chile.
Easter
Island / Rapa Nui
9 September 1888, Easter Island / Rapa Nui in the Pacific was
annexed by Chile.
1867, Tuberculosis epidemic on Easter
Island. Only around 200 survivors were left. Culturally, the knowledge of the island�s
script was now lost because there were no priests (the tangata rongorongo) left
who had been the only ones who could read it.
December 1862, Peruvian slave traders raided Easter Island,
taking possibly half the population.
5 April 1722, Dutch admiral Jakob Roggeveen discovered Easter Island. By 1900 the indigenous
population of Easter Island had been reduced, by slave trading and novel
European diseases, to just 111. A few centuries earlier the indigenous
population of Easter island had been about 7,000. However even before the first
European arrivals, over-population and environmental degradation had set in,
producing warfare and population decline.
1550, The population of Easter Island had grown
to a peak of around 7,000, on just 150 square miles. The island was originally
heavily forested but trees were cut down to clear agricultural land, and to
provide timber for houses, fuel for heating and cooking, and to make the
rollers on which the hiuge statues were moved. By around 1600 the timber ran
out. The large statues could no longer be moved and many were abandoned in the
quarries where they were cut. Houses could no longer be built and people had to
live in caves or reed huts. Canoes could not be built for long sea voyages,
trapping the population on the island. Deforestation
caused soil erosion and declining fertility. Chickens became valuable assets
and had to be protected from raiders. By 1700 the population had fallen to around
3,000. Slavery, warfare, and even cannibalism, became more common.
500 CE, First human settlement on
Easter Island.