Chile is located on the southeast coast of the Pacific Ocean, in the southwest of South America, with an area of about 756,700 square kilometers, and its land neighbors are Peru, Bolivia and Argentina in clockwise. Chile is about 4352 km long from north to south, 96.8-362.3 km wide from east to west, and has an average width of about 150 km.
What is this concept? The mainland island of Taiwan is also narrow from north to south, with a length of about 395 kilometers from north to south and a width of about 144 kilometers from east to west. Chile is 11 times the length of the mainland's Taiwan Island, and the average width is comparable to the widest part of the island, and if you think about the effect of stretching the island by 11 times.
Some people joke that driving from the foot of the Andes Mountains at the eastern end of Chile to the Pacific coast at the western end should not be too fast, otherwise the car will not be able to stop and rush into the Pacific Ocean. Some say Chile could build a high-speed rail that connects all cities north and south, like a lamb kebab. Some friends who have been to Chile also say that it is difficult for the local train to turn around. A friend optimistically said that Chile is full of sea view rooms.
Saudi Arabia is repairing a city called The Line, located in the Strait of Tiran at the junction of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, one end of the Strait of Tiran, and the other end extends into the hinterland of the Arabian Desert. The city is 170 km long, 200 m wide and 500 m high. Some say Chile needs this kind of long strip of cities, one city that houses the entire population.
The climate of Chile varies greatly from north to south, from north to south, a tropical desert climate with no rain all year round, a subtropical Mediterranean climate with rainy winters and dry summers, a rainy temperate broad-leaved forest climate, and a cold grassland climate. From the tropics to the cold, nothing else.
Although Chile has a long coastline, it is extremely lacking in depth, and if it encounters war, it is easy to be cut off by a strong enemy.
Why is Chile so narrow and long? 】
During the colonial period of the great powers, Spain had vast colonies in the Americas, divided into several viceroyaltys.
In 1776, the Viceroyalty of La Plata was separated from the Viceroyalty of Peru, which from north to south included present-day Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, argentina, with its capital in Buenos Aires. Peru and Chile remain in the Viceroyalty of Peru, which is bounded by the Andes Mountains and is divided from east to west. Between Chile and Argentina is the snow-capped Andes Mountains, close to the side and far away, Chile is inherently narrow.
[Obstructed Atacama Desert, otherwise more narrow and long]
The northernmost part of Chile is the Atacama Desert, which is about 1,100 kilometers long from north to south, which is the natural dividing line between Chile and Bolivia and Peru. The Atacama Desert is very similar to the Namib Desert in southwest africa, with one facing the Pacific Ocean and the other facing the Atlantic Ocean, both of which are long and narrow from north to south.
Although the Atacama Desert is by the sea and the sea breeze blows every day, the climate is extremely arid, and there is a coastal city called Iquique, which is said to have not rained a single drop for more than four hundred years, which is simply Chile's version of the "Flaming Mountain".
Figure - African Namib Desert
The Atacama Desert is rich in saltpeter for gunpowder, as well as a large amount of guano as fertilizer for agriculture. Between 1879 and 1883, Chile and Bolivia fought the Saltpeter War (Guano War). Chile has been learning German military since the Prussian period, and now a closer look at the attire of the Chilean Wehrmacht still gives people a sense of time and space dislocation, and the strength of the Chilean army is certainly not weak. After the war, Bolivia lost its access to the sea, and Chile's territory extended northward. If it weren't for the Atacama Desert, Chile would have been much more narrow.
[Can the maps of other countries fit Chile?] 】
Chile is about 4352 kilometers long from north to south, this is just a number, if you really put Chile on the world map to compare, you can intuitively know, how many countries can "fit" Chile?
The first is Russia, with an area of 17,098,200 square kilometers, the first in the world. Russia straddles the Eurasian continent, with a maximum length of about 9,000 kilometers from east to west and a maximum width of about 4,000 kilometers from north to south. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the removal of more than 5 million square kilometers, Russia remained the world's leading power. From the map, if Chile is placed upside down, Russia can completely withstand the length of two Chiles, and Russia "dresses" Chile is obviously no problem.
The second is Canada, with an area of about 9.98 million square kilometers, the second largest in the world, of which the land area is 9.09 million square kilometers and the freshwater coverage area is 890,000 square kilometers. Canada spans more than 5,500 kilometers from east to west, and it is perfectly enough to fit a flat Chile. Canada's Great Lakes stretch from the Northern Islands to the South, at 4,600 kilometers, barely able to hold the vertical Chile.
The third is China, with an area of 9.6 million square kilometers. The continent spans about 5,200 kilometers from east to west, but the easternmost and westernmost pulls a line that passes through Mongolia. In other words, if Chile is to be installed in the east-west direction, it must also pass through Mongolia. The continent spans about 5,500 kilometers from north to south, but this includes the ocean, and if you only count the land, pull a straight line from the northernmost edge to the Leizhou Peninsula, it is less than 4,000 kilometers, which obviously does not fit Chile.
If we change our way, pulling a line diagonally from Hegang in Heilongjiang to Tengchong in Yunnan is more than 4900 kilometers, more than the length of 4352 kilometers in Chile. Coincidentally, this line is also the population dividing line of the mainland, because more than 80% of the country's residents are distributed on the east side of the line.
The fourth is the United States, with an area of about 9.37 million square kilometers, the native area is 4500 kilometers long from east to west, and 2700 kilometers wide from north to south. The span of 4500 kilometers is also enough to put down a "lying" Chile, but the north-south direction is certainly not enough to hold Chile.
The fifth is Brazil, with an area of about 8.5149 million square kilometers, the fifth in the world and the first in South America. From the border between Brazil and French Guiana to the border between Brazil and Uruguay, the span is 4395 kilometers, just slightly longer than Chile, but this way also spans Bolivia and Paraguay, which cannot be regarded as strictly under Chile.
The sixth is Argentina, which is separated from Chile by the Andes Mountains and happens to be a north-south country. Argentina is larger than Chile, about 3694 kilometers long from north to south, and 658 kilometers shorter than Chile's 4352 kilometers, and is doomed to be unable to hold Chile. As for other large countries such as Australia and India, no Chile can be stopped in any way.
[Chile itself thought it was 8,000 kilometers long?] 】
4352 kilometers is only the internationally recognized length of Chile's north and south, but in the eyes of Chileans themselves, its territorial span is far more than this number, but reaches a staggering 8000 kilometers.
On the national map issued by Chile, the Antarctic Peninsula, which faces itself across the Drake Strait, is also within the scope of Chile's claimed sovereignty. If you count this distance, I believe that no country in the world except Russia can be "long and short" with Chile.
However, the Antarctic Treaty, introduced in 1952, stipulated that Antarctica was not part of the territory of any State, so Chile's unilateral acts were not recognized by other States.