20th Century
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1904 | "Meat" Massacre in Santiago. The workers revolt against the central government due to an increase in the price of meat and the general soaring costs of living. The government responds sending the army. Two days of riots continue, where hundreds of civilians are killed on street fighting. | |
| 1907 | Massacre of the Escuela Santa María de Iquique; soldiers fire on saltpeter workers and their unarmed associates. It will be years before the workers, terrorized by the brutal repression, resume the struggle for their rights. | |
| 1910 | The centenary of independence is darkened by the death of President Pedro Montt, the only president between 1831 and 1925 who failed to complete his term of office. | |
| 1914 | 1 November | Britain is defeated by Germany at the Battle of Coronel, off the coast of Chile |
| 1920 | Arturo Alessandri Palma elected president, indicating a rise to power by the Chilean middle class. | |
| 1924 | Chile's first income tax levied. | |
| 1925 | After intense political agitation the Chilean Constitution of 1925 is adopted, only slightly less authoritarian than that of 1833. The Impuesto Global Complementario, a graduated income tax, is introduced. | |
| 1927 | Amidst great political instability, and by way of a bloodless coup, Carlos Ibáñez del Campo takes the presidency. He will govern as dictator, until 1931. Also in 1927, the corps of carabineros — militarized police — is founded. | |
| 1929 | The economic crash of 1929 strikes Chile with more force than any other country on earth. | |
| 1931 | The deep economic crisis obliges Ibáñez del Campo to step down. A series of civilian governments and military juntas follows, some of which last no more than a few days. | |
| 1932 | The period of political anarchy ends with the return to power of Arturo Alessandri Palma. | |
| 1938 | Massacre of Seguro Obrero. | |
| 1939 | The Radical Party gains power, which they will keep until 1952. | |
| 1940 | Pedro Aguirre Cerda, president of the nation, establishes internationally the first Chilean claims in Antarctica. | |
| 1945 | Gabriela Mistral receives the Nobel Prize for Literature. | |
| 1946 | Gabriel González Videla becomes president, backed by a broad alliance of parties, including the Radicals and Communists. Once in power, he acceded to pressure from the United States and promulgates the Law of Permanent Defense of the Democracy, also known as the Ley Maldita ("accursed law"), which outlawed his former allies the Communists, some of whom were placed in concentration camps in Pisagua. Poet Pablo Neruda hounded into exile. | |
| 1952 | Carlos Ibáñez del Campo returns to the presidency, this time via the ballot box, ending the era of the Radical Party. His emblem is the broom, with which he proposed (fruitlessly) to sweep away the Radicals' legacy of corruption. | |
| 1958 | Argentina forces destroy a Chilean Lighthouse during the Snipe incident | |
| 1960 | The Great Chilean Earthquake, with its epicenter near Valdivia, is the most intense earthquake ever recorded, rating a 9.5 | |
| 1964 | Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei Montalva becomes president, proclaiming the so-called "Revolution in Liberty". | |
| 1970 | Salvador Allende elected president; his leftist orientation greatly displeases the government of the United States. See 1970 Chilean presidential election. | |
| 1971 | Poet Pablo Neruda receives Nobel Prize for Literature. | |
| 1973 | The Armed Forces, carabineros, and others stage a coup, overthrowing Allende, who dies in the course of the coup. Augusto Pinochet establishes himself as the head of a military junta. The subsequent repression of leftists and other opponents of the military regime results in approximately 130,000 arrests and at least 2,000 dead or "disappeared" over the next 17 years. See Chilean coup of 1973. | |
| 1977 | Beagle conflict: The binding Beagle Channel Arbitration award the Picton, Nueva and Lennox islands to Chile | |
| 1978 | Beagle conflict: Argentine refuses to abide by the binding international award and started the Operation Soberania to invade Chile. | |
| 1980 | The military government promulgates the Chilean Constitution of 1980, which is adopted by plebiscite. Economic policy begins to be significantly influenced by the ideas of the Chicago School and of Neoliberalism. The United States oblige President Ferdinand Marcos, to cancel a scheduled visit by President Pinochet to the Philippines. | |
| 1982 | Support for British Forces in the Falkland War | |
| 1984 | Beagle conflict: Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984 between Chile and Argentina signed | |
| 1988 | Pinochet loses the plebiscite foreseen by the constitution, which brings about, by agreement of all, elections the following year. | |
| 1990 | Patricio Aylwin takes office as President. Transition to democracy begins. | |
| 1991 | Mount Hudson erupts. | |
| 1994 | Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle is elected President. | |
| 1998 | During a visit to London for medical reasons, Augusto Pinochet is arrested in accord with the orders of Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, beginning an international struggle between his supporters and detractors. He returns to Chile the following year, and the charges against him are later thrown out on the basis of his ostensibly deteriorated mental state. Chile suffers greatly from the world economic crisis, resulting in years of inflation and unemployment. | |
| 2000 | In the second round of voting, in a tight contest with right wing candidate Joaquín Lavín, Ricardo Lagos Escobar is elected President. |
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of Chilean History
Famous quotes containing the word century:
“As the quality of water changes with the nature of the soil;
So will a man’s reason vary with the quality of his friends.”
—Tiruvalluvar (c. 5th century A.D.)