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For 1000's of years before the coming of the Europeans, the coastal areas of Chile have been inhabited by a number of very strong tribal peoples. The Mapuche lived in the central and southern regions, the Quechua and Aymara tribes lived in the central and northern Highlands and midlands of the northern Chile and Peru.
Although the tribes repelled invasion by the Incas and Spanish colonizers for a long time, in the mid 1500's the Spanish finally asserted their dominance and utilized Chile as an agricultural supply center for the Spanish in western South America.
In 1808 a group of Chilean leaders declared self rule and the "war' of independence lasted nearly 8 years. In 1818, Bernardo O'Higgins and Jose de San MArtin, the Argentinian patriot, joined together to finally defeat the Spanish.
Over the years there have been many iberal and conservative govenrments but in 1970 the first socialist govt, under Salvador Allende was elected. In 1973 the Chilean army, under Gen Augusto Pinochet toppled the Allende govt.
In the 17 years of the Pinochet govt Chile was transformed into a market economy. Since 1990, Chile became once again a true democracy and the political climate has stabilized.
The country went through a period of rather weak economics but did the right thing by enlisting the aid of experts to improve production methods and marketing on a global scale. Chile now has an outstanding wine making industry, mining and agriculture also add to the GNP.

Local currency is the Chilean peso. Most foreign currencies are not accepted. ATM's are usually available.