Santiago is the capital city of Chile, located in the Central Valley and surrounded by the Andes and the Chilean Coastal Range.
The city occupies the Santiago Basin, with the Andes rising to the east and the coastal mountains to the west. The Mapocho River runs through the basin, which helped make the area a major settlement and agricultural center.
Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia founded Santiago del Nuevo Extremo on February 12, 1541. Its original grid was laid out around what is now the Plaza de Armas. Despite Indigenous resistance, floods, food shortages, and major earthquakes, Santiago became the political center of the Captaincy General of Chile.
A common mix-up is confusing Santiago with Valparaíso, Chile’s historic port city, or with Buenos Aires, the capital of neighboring Argentina. Santiago’s enclosed basin gives it spectacular mountain views but also contributes to winter smog because air can become trapped by the surrounding terrain.