Pre-Columbian home to the Mapuche and other Indigenous peoples before Spanish conquest in the 1530s and 1540s.
1818: Secures independence from Spain under Bernardo O'Higgins and José de San Martín.
1879–1884: Victory in the War of the Pacific against Peru and Bolivia expands northern territory rich in nitrates and copper.
1970: Salvador Allende becomes the world's first democratically elected Marxist president.
1973: Augusto Pinochet leads a military coup, initiating 17 years of dictatorship characterized by human rights abuses and free-market economic restructuring.
1990: Peaceful transition back to democracy following the 1988 plebiscite.
21st Century: Develops into a high-income South American economy while navigating major social movements and constitutional reform processes.