SANTIAGO or SANTIAGO DE CHILE, a city of Chile, capital of the republic and chief town of a province of the same name, on the Mapocho river, a small tributary of the Maipa or Maipo, 115m. south-east of Valparaiso, in 26' 42" S., 7o° 40' 36" W. Pop. (1895) 256,413; (193o) 696,231. The city had 9.5% of the people of the country in 1895 and 16.2% in 192o. It is built on a wide, beautiful plain about 1,86oft. above sea-level, between the main range of the Andes and the less elevated heights of Cuesta del Prado. In the centre of the city rises the rocky hill of Santa Lucia, once forming its citadel, but now converted into a pleasure ground, with winding walks, picturesque views, theatres, restau rants and monuments. Immediately north-north-west and north east are other hills, known as Colina, Renca and San Cristobal, and overshadowing all are the snow-clad Andean peaks of La Chapa and Los Amarillos, visible from all parts of the city. The Mapo cho, once the cause of destructive inundations (especially in 1609 and 1783), was enclosed with solid embankments during the ad ministration of Ambrosio O'Higgins, and is now crossed by several handsome bridges; the oldest (1767-79) of these has 11 arches. Santiago is laid out with great regularity, and its comparatively broad straight streets form parallelograms and enclose several handsome public squares, the Plaza de la Independencia, the Campo de Marte and others. It has all the characteristics of a modem capital : fine public buildings and private residences, broad avenues, well-paved and well-lighted streets and modern con veniences of every sort. Among the new buildings in 1925 were the Palacio de Bellas Artes, in the Parque Forestal ; the national library then under construction, for which a site was purchased in 1913 ; the Agronomical Institute and the School of Engineering; and two banks of steel construction. The electric tramway and lighting company, which before the war had been in German hands, was reorganized as a Chilean enterprise. It constructed hydro-electric projects at Santiago in 1921, and secured the con tract for supplying power to the railway from Santiago to Val paraiso after its electrification, as well as for lighting the city and running its tram-cars. In Oct. 1924 the Government granted a
concession to a local firm for the construction of an underground way through the centre of the city (9km. long, 10 metres below the surface). Water is brought in through two aqueducts, one 5m. long (1865), and the other from Laguna Negra 33m. away. There is a railway communicating with Valparaiso, with Los Andes and the international tunnel and with the provincial capitals of the south and the north.
In 1923 Santiago had over 1,300 industrial establishments, with a capitalization of 163,000,000 pesos. Among the leading in dustries were breweries, flour-mills, foundries, machine-shops, woodworking plants, tanneries, knitting-mills, soap factories, fac tories for making shoes, hats, umbrellas and articles of clothing.
The cathedral, facing on the Plaza de la Independencia, is the oldest of the churches. Originally erected by Pedro de Valdivia, it was rebuilt by Garcia Hurtado de Mendoza, was destroyed by the earthquake of 1647 and was rebuilt on a new plan subsequent to 1748. It is 351 f t. long and 92ft. wide, has only one tower and is not striking in appearance. Its interior decorations, however, are rich and in good taste. Among the other ecclesiastical build ings are the church of San Augustin, erected in 1595 by Cristobal de Vera, and in modern times adorned with a pillared portico ; the churches of San Francisco, La Merced and Santo Domingo, dating from the 18th century; the church of the Reformed Dominicans, rich in monolithic marble columns; the Carmen Alto, or church of the Carmelite nunnery, a small Gothic structure; the Augustine nunnery, founded by Bishop Medellin in 1576; the episcopal pal ace; and the chapel erected in 1852 to the memory of Pedro de Valdivia, next to the house in which lie is reputed to have lived. There are two cemeteries—one exclusively Roman Catholic and the other secularized. Mural interment is the custom in Santiago.