Valparaíso is a city, port, and commune of Chile,
center of its third largest conurbation, and one of the country's
most important seaports. The city is the capital of the
Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region. Although
Santiago is Chile's official capital, the National Congress of
Chile has met in Valparaíso since 1990.
Valparaíso played a very important geopolitical
role in the second half of the 19th century, when the city served
as a major stopover for ships traveling between the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans by crossing the Straits of Magellan. Examples of
Valparaíso’s former glory include Latin America’s
oldest stock exchange, the continent’s first volunteer fire
department, Chile’s first public library, and the oldest
Spanish language newspaper in continuous publication in the
world, El Mercurio de Valparaíso.
< Back to the index
