Chile is a long and narrow republic located in the southwestern corner of South America.

From north to south, Chile is about 4,272 km long, yet its average width is less than 180 km.

The most noticeable feature in Chile's remarkable slenderness is the massive, virtually impassable, wall of the Andes, a mountain range that is still rising and contains more than fifty active volcanoes. Chile’s western border is the vast Pacific Ocean.

Other natural barriers isolate the country: to the north, the Atacama Desert—the driest desert in the world— and to the south, the Antarctic Sea.

Yet Chile is much more than the steep western slope of the Andes peaks. All along its length, Chile is marked by the changing landscape between the mountains and the sea.