It started out as one of the Spanish empire’s backwaters, a small, poor colony isolated by the vast Pacific Ocean to the west, the Andes mountains to the east and the world’s driest desert to the north. It had a front row seat during the Cold War, with Salvador Allende’s ill-fated socialist government ending in a brutal military coup in 1973. It made a painstaking democratic transition beginning in 1990 to become one of the region’s most stable and prosperous nations. And today, September 18, Chile marks its 202nd year of independence.
Earlier this month Google announced it was opening its first Latin American data center near Santiago, a $150 million project to be completed next year: http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/09/google-chile/
Notes on the Americas 