Chilly? England – amazingly – is anything but cold today. We are bathing in 24˚C, sunny, warm weather over here. And tomorrow is the Summer Solstice – the longest day – when the tilt of Earth’s semi-axis is most inclined towards the sun in the northern hemisphere.
But today, in terms of the FWL blog, is about the southern hemisphere, more specifically, ‘South American Friday’. Chile is located on the south western part of South America and, although it is called Chile, its official name is the Republic of Chile with its capital, the city of Santiago de Chile.
Chile comprises a long narrow strip of land known as continental Chile, between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains. Also, Chile oversees island territories in the Pacific Ocean, such as the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Sala y Gómez, Desventuradas Islands and Easter Island (located in Polynesia), totalling an area of nearly 756,000 square kilometres.
Though, Chile claims over one million square kilometres of Antarctica – called the Chilean Antarctic Territory and between the meridians 90 º and 53 º west, which prolongs Chile’s claimed southern boundary to the South Pole – this claim is not recognised in accordance with the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty, which without Chile’s signature constitutes a waiver by Chile. Due to its presence in South America, Oceania and Antarctica, Chile defines itself as a tri-continental country.
Records-wise, FamilySearch hosts Chilean baptisms 1585-1932, Cemetery Records 1821-2013, Civil Registration 1885-1903, Deaths 1700-1920 and Marriages 1579-1930, along with a comprehensive guide to Chilean research. There is a professional research firm, Melick Professional Researchers.com who specialise in Chilean research. They are the only ones I can find online. But I have never used them, so cannot recommend them, sadly. It would be so handy to have a ‘complete’ professional network of genies across the globe….. Hmm…..
