valparaiso

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English - English
A port city of Chile
{i} seaport in Chile; town in Florida (USA); city in Indiana (USA); university in Indiana (USA)
Port of Chile. Official spelling: Valparaíso
the chief port and second largest city of Chile; located on a wide harbor in central Chile

Related Terms

Valparaíso
City (pop., 2002 est.: 262,000) and port, central Chile. It was founded by the Spanish in 1536; few of its colonial buildings have survived a succession of pirate raids, storms, fires, floods, and earthquakes. After Chilean independence in 1818, the city's port developed with the growth of the Chilean navy. In 1884 a treaty was signed there by which Bolivia ceded to Chile a coastal region containing principal nitrate deposits (see War of the Pacific). As Chile's principal seaport, it handles the bulk of the country's imports, and it is still a naval facility. It also produces chemicals and textiles. Chile's bicameral parliament, the National Congress, has been situated there since it was reestablished in 1990