Santiago

The Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia founded Santiago in 1541 in the valley of the Mapocho river, land then part of the Inca sphere and home to Mapuche and other peoples who fiercely resisted Spanish rule. The city grew slowly, often rebuilt after earthquakes. Chile declared independence in 1818 after the Battle of Maipú, led by Bernardo O'Higgins and José de San Martín. Mining wealth, especially copper and nitrates, fuelled growth in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In 1973 a military coup led by Augusto Pinochet overthrew the elected president Salvador Allende, beginning a seventeen-year dictatorship; the Museum of Memory and Human Rights now tells this story. Democracy returned in 1990, and Santiago has grown into one of Latin America's most modern cities.

Santiaguinos work hard and socialise over long lunches and late dinners. Onces, an early-evening snack of bread, avocado, cheese and tea, is a cherished habit. Chilean wine, especially Carménère, is world-famous and affordable. Try empanadas de pino (beef, onion, egg and olive), pastel de choclo (a corn pie) and seafood at the Mercado Central. The cueca, Chile's national dance, is performed with handkerchiefs during the Fiestas Patrias in September.