lunes, 28 de mayo de 2012

Chile


Chile
Official Languages
The people of Chile refer to their Spanish as Castellano but not Espanol.  The language has some similarities with Spanish.  There are still differences in all aspects of the language.  The official language is Spanish.  The immigrant languages include Croatian, English, Hunsrik, Italian, German and Vlax Romani.  There are 11 languages listed for Chile.  Of these languages there are 9 languages that are still alive and there are two languages that have no speakers.  Many of the indigenous people speak Mapuche and other indigenous languages.  In Chile, 14 million speak Chilean Spanish as their first language.  This is a Spanish dialect.  It is sometimes hard for other Spanish speakers to understand.  It is very similar to the Spanish spoken in Andalucía.  The Chilean Spanish has a lot of slang. 



History
Native Americans first settled here along the fertile valleys.  Chile was at first ruled by the Incas of the North.  The Peregrin Araucanos ruled Chile in the South.  The Portuguese pioneer Ferdinand Magelen was one of the first Europeans to go to Chile.  This man ground at Chiloe Island in 1520.  The region at this time was called Tchili.  Pedro de Valdivia established the city of Santiago in 1541.  The country of Chile gained its independence from Spain in 1818.  Jose de San Martin and Bernardo O’Higgins led Chile to their independence.  Bernardo O’Higgins was the dictator until 1823.  The history of Chile can be separated into three phases.  These include the culture of the Incas and Mapuches, the Spanish colonialism and the Independent Chile.


Interesting Facts
English is taught in schools and it is used for international business.  There is German heritage found throughout Southern Chile.  The population of Chile is around 16 million people.  The literacy rate is right around 93 percent.  The population is mostly of Meztizos.  The indigenous groups that are surviving include the Aymara in the North and Mapuche in the South.  It is home to a lot of immigrant groups from nearly every European country.  Although there are about 150,000 Chileans that have some German ancestry, today German is only spoken by 20,000 people. Of the population, 96.2 percent are literate.  The Peso is the currency used throughout Chile.  They have one of the longest dry spell, they didn’t get rain for 40 years.  

No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario