Santiago

Santiago, the capital of Chile, has a metropolitan population of 5.279 million,¹ with 4.657 million in the city proper.² It is in the central valley, along the Mapocho River, and centers on the Alameda³ (Avenida⁴ O'Higgins), which is lined with gardens and statues. The tallest building as of early summer 2018 is the Gran Torre Santiago (984 feet, 2014).⁵ Tourists visit the Cerro (hill) San Cristóbal, which is topped by a statue of the Christian's 'Virgin Mary.' Also there is a park, a botanical garden, a zoo and two swimming pools.⁶ The metropolis is served by the Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, located in Pudahuel (population 192 thousand²). The airport is the nation's busiest.⁷

Historical maps

External references

,Skyline of Santiago, Chile, with the Andes behind

Footnotes

1. 2012 calculation from world-gazetteer.com, accessed February 6, 2013.
2. 2002 figure from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Chile. That source lists the 2002 metropolitan figure as 5.425 million. Accessed July 3, 2018. The definition of city used here for Santiago probably almagates the jurisdictions of many separate local authorities.
3. Translates from Spanish as mall or tree-lined walkway.
4. Translates from Spanish as avenue.
5. Emporis.com, accessed July 3, 2018.
6. http://www.touropia.com/tourist-attractions-in-chile/, accessed June 21, 2018.
7. 2013 All Flights table (limited by me to rows for over one million passengers) in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_Chile, accessed June 21, 2018.
8. Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 2nd ed. (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987), "Tables of the World's Largest Cities." In 1800 and 1900 it was the largest city in what is now Chile.