This is how Chile was born. Chile is a very long, thin country that is located in the extreme southwest of South America. The closest neighbors include Argentina to the east, and Bolivia and Peru to the north. The entire country at its widest point is only about 300 miles wide, yet to travel its 2,500 mile length would be about equal to going from the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula to Ketchikan, Alaska. If you stop to think about the wide variety of climates and land between Baja and Alaska, the fact that such geographic diversity could exist in a single country is quite amazing.
Chile is as geographically isolated as it is diverse.
To the south, Chile reaches into the cold and inhospitable Antarctic zone. To the west, the shores are pounded by hundreds of miles of the great Pacific Ocean. In the north, Chile is home to the Atacama Desert, one of the most arid lands in the world. Finally, to the east, the huge Andes mountain range runs nearly the entire length of the country. Because of such isolation and challenging land forms, Chile has become of a country of people who are strong, proud, and extremely innovative.