History.—The name of Chile is sup posed to be derived from an ancient Pe ruvian word signifying "snow." The N. portion, as far as the river Maule, formed part of the dominions of the Incas of Peru, and the S. was held by the valiant Araucanians. The first European to land in Chile was the Portuguese discoverer Magellan, at Chiloe, in 1520. After the conquest of Peru by Pizarro, an expedi tion was made to Chile from that country overland, under the leadership of Diego de Almagro in 1535. This expedition penetrated as far as the Rio Clano, but returned unsuccessful. Another was sent under command of Pedro Valdivia in 1540, which succeeded in annexing the territory as far as the river Maipu. San tiago, the capital, was founded by Val divia in 1542. During the colonial period the governors of Chile were appointed by the King of Spain, but were subordinate to the viceroys of Peru. In 1810 a revolt against the Spanish power broke out, in which Don Bernardo O'Higgins, son of one of the last viceroys of Peru, but a native of Chile, played a conspicuous part, and finally became the first dictator of the new republic. The conflict between the Spanish troops and the Republican army continued until 1826, when peace was definitely settled and Chile left to govern 'itself. The first constitutional president was General Blanco Encalada. The government was unsettled till 1830. In 1833 the present constitution was adopted. Revolutions broke out in 1851 and 1859, but since then there has been no serious attempt to overturn the gov ernment by force of arms. In 1864 Chile gave Peru very valuable support in her war with Spain. Valparaiso was bom barded by the Spaniards in 1866. In 1879 Chile declared war against Bolivia on account of an alleged violation of treaty rights, and immediately after against Peru, with which Bolivia was al lied. For a time the Peruvian fleet kept the Chileans in check, but in August, 1879, the Peruvian ironclad "Huascar" was captured by the Chilean men-of-war "Cochrane" and "Blanco Encalada," both armor-plated. After this event the suc cess of the Chileans was uninterrupted. Peruvian towns were bombarded, and their other warships captured. Finally Lima was taken by storm on June 21, 1881. The Chileans occupied Lima and Callao until Oct. 30, 1885, when a treaty of peace was signed between Chile and Peru. Up to 1900 no treaty of peace had been signed by Chile and Bolivia; a treaty of indefinite truce having been agreed to in 1884. In 1885 Jose Manuel Balmaceda, representing the Liberal party, was elected president. He under took sweeping reforms and thereby aroused the hostility of the Conservative party, who accused him of plotting to name his successor. The hostile factions organized a rebellion, and formed a junta, or provisional government, under whose management the forces of Balmaceda were repeatedly defeated. He was final ly shut up in Santiago, seeking refuge in the house of the Argentine minister, where he committed suicide, Sept. 19,
1891. During these hostilities the United States minister, Patrick Egan, aroused the hostility of the revolutionists by ap pearing to side with Balmaceda and to misrepresent the strength of the revolu tion in his dispatches. He afforded an asylum also to fugitives of Balmaceda's army. In a riot in Valparaiso some United States marines were set upon and wounded. Reparation was demanded and refused, and war between Chile and the United States seemed imminent. Two war vessels were sent to Chile to enforce the demands of the United States, when the new president, Montt, tendered an apology, and the Chilean government pro vided compensation for the wounded men, which ended the incident peacefully.
A dispute between Chile and Argentina at the beginning of the century that threatened a resort to arms concerned boundaries. It was happily adjusted, however, through the mediation of the United States ambassador in one instance and through the arbitration of the King of England in another. The success of this arrangement was the moving cause of a convention between the two govern ments, concluded May 28, 1902, by which they agreed to settle all questions in a friendly manner and renounced the ac quisition of war vessels that they then had under construction, as well as agree ing to reduce the strength of their re spective fleets until they reached a pru dent equilibrium. In May, 1905, an anal ogous treaty that this time included Bra zil was signed at Buenos Aires. From the initials of the three contracting gov ernments this was known as the A B C treaty. In 1909 diplomatic relations with Peru were broken by Chile, but without war resulting. The long-standing dis pute between the two nations regarding Tacna and Arica flared up again in 1919 and for a time war was threatened, but up to 1920 hostilities had been averted.
The course of Chile during the World War was one of strict neutrality. In this she differed from most of the South American nations, which had ranged themselves on the side of the Allies either by a direct declaration of war against Germany or by the severance of diplo matic relations with the latter power. The prevailing opinion in Chile was that Germany would win or that the war would practically result in a draw. The destruction of the German cruiser "Dres den" by a British fleet in the territorial waters of Chile in 1916 brought forth a protest from the Chilean government, and Great Britain tendered an apology, which was accepted. The 109th anniver sary of the establishment of the republic was celebrated Sept. 18, 1919. The presi dent in 1920 was Juan Luis Sanfuentas, a Liberal Democrat, who was inaugu rated Dec. 23, 1915. His term of office is for five years and he cannot be a can didate for re-election for a consecutive period. On July 14, 1920, Chile called to the colors the military classes of 1915 to 1919 inclusive, in view of the possible emergencies arising from the Bolivian revolution.