FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF VILLA RICA, PCA

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Chile    

Missionaries Serving:

Johan & Stephanie van der Westhuizen

Estimated 2000 Population

14,995,500

Geography

Chile is located on the extreme southwestern coast of South America. It is bound by the Pacific Ocean to the west, Argentina to the east, Bolivia to the northeast and Peru to the northwest. Chile can be divided into three longitudinal regions: the Andean Cordillera on the east, the low coastal ranges of the west, and the central valleys below the northern Atacama Desert. Chile is vulnerable to earthquakes, tidal waves, volcanic eruptions, floods, avalanches and landslides due to its location in an area of geological instability.

Climate

Chile has three climatic zones: the north which includes the Atacama Desert, the central region which has mild wet winters and long dry summers, and the south which is cold and wet with strong winds. Average annual temperature ranges in Santiago are from 37 to 57 degrees Fahrenheit in July to 54 to 84 degrees Fahrenheit in January.

People

The principal ethnic majority are the Mestizos who account for 90% of the population and are of mixed European and AmerIndian descent. Whites account for 2% of the population while AmerIndians mostly Mapuche or Araucanians account for 6%.

Vital Statistics

Life Expectancy at Birth: 68.1 years male, 75.1 years female (1990). Infant Mortality Rate: 18.9 per 1,000 live births (1988). HIV/AIDS Adult Prevalence Rate: 0.19% (1999 est.).

Religions

Chile’s population is mostly Christian with 80% of the population Roman Catholic, while 6% belong to various Protestant churches and the remainder are atheists. Military dictatorships have divided both the Catholic and Protestant church. The missionary movement has not developed as much as it could because of geographical isolation and political upheaval.

Languages

The official language of Spanish is spoken by almost the entire population except a few AmerIndians. The Mapuche speak the Araucan language which has seven dialects.

History

After the Spanish conquered the Incas in the 1530’s, they moved south into Chile. Spanish colonial rule in Chile lasted until 1810, and decades of political instability, foreign disputes and economic decline followed. Chile was hard hit by the worldwide economic depression in the 1930’s. In the next three decades, Chile elected a series of left-wing governments. In 1970 Salvador Allende became the first Marxist head of state to be elected democratically. He began a nationalization program taking over the ownership of mines, banks and industries. Guerilla warfare broke out between right- and left-wing extremists, and the country fell into complete disarray. In 1973 Allende was killed in a military coup and General Augusto Pinochet took office. Years of brutal repression followed, and thousands were imprisoned, executed or exiled. Chile suffered serious social, economic and political problems. A referendum held in 1988 led to Pinochet’s resignation in 1990, and a democratically elected president took office. Since the return to democracy, the Chilean economy has greatly improved.

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