Chile is located on the western side of the Andes mountain range in the southern cone of the Americas. Its territory covers an area of 756,626 square kilometers (291,893 square miles), about twice the size of California, extending over a narrow and elongated strip between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean. With 4,200 kilometers (2,653 miles) from its northern border with Peru all the way down to Cape Horn facing the Drake Passage and Antarctica, Chile's territory is about 320 kilometers (200 miles) longer than the distance between New York and Los Angeles. The Andes mountain range is its natural boundary to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Atacama Desert—among the world's driest—to the north, and the islands, fjords, glaciers, and archipelagos that connect it to Cape Horn constitute its southern natural border. Argentina and Bolivia are the bordering countries to the east. To the north, the border with...