Chile Geographical Data and Territorial Extent

Geographical Context of Chile

Chile is a country located in the Southern Hemisphere. It is considered a tricontinental country, possessing territories across three continents. In this sense, the country is divided into Continental Chile, Insular Chile (which is further divided into "Insular Continental Chile" and "Insular Oceanic Chile"), and the Chilean Antarctic Territory ¹ (territorial claims subject to the Antarctic Treaty ²).

Continental Chile is located in South America within the region known as the Southern Cone. It exhibits a high latitudinal extent but is longitudinally narrow, spanning 39 degrees of latitude from the tripartite point shared with Peru and Bolivia down to the Diego Ramírez Islands. The Tropic of Capricorn crosses the northern part of the country. Antarctic Chile is located in the high southern latitudes, extending from 61° S toward the geographic South Pole.

Land Area Statistics

• Continental Chile (including "Insular Continental Chile," which comprises the Juan Fernández Archipelago and the Desventuradas Islands) totals 755,915 km² of territory.
• Oceanic Chile (or "Insular Oceanic Chile," including Easter Island and Salas y Gómez Island) totals 181 km².
• Antarctic Chile has an area of 1,250,257 km².

Summary of Land Area: Continental and Oceanic Chile combined total 756,096 km². The total surface area, including Continental, Oceanic, and Antarctic Chile, is 2,006,353 km².

Maritime Zones and Surface Area

• Territorial Sea (12 nautical miles): 120,827 km²
  • Continental Chile Territorial Sea: 106,707 km²
  • Oceanic Chile Territorial Sea: 14,120 km²
• Contiguous Zone (24 nautical miles): 131,669 km²
• Continental Shelf (Oceanic Chile, extending 350 nm): 1,934,433 km²
• Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) or "Patrimonial Sea" (200 nm): 3,681,989 km² ⁵
• Extended Maritime Area (from the EEZ to the western meridian of the Easter Island continental shelf): 17,751,361 km²

Note: The total length of the mainland coast and adjacent islands is 83,850 km.

National Borders and Coastline

Chile has a coastline of 6,435 kilometers. ³ It borders to the north with Peru, to the east with Bolivia and Argentina, to the west with the Pacific Ocean, and to the south with the South Pole (Antarctica). Chile totals 6,339 kilometers of land borders, ⁴ broken down as follows:

• 171 km with Peru
• 860 km with Bolivia
• 5,308 km with Argentina

The border shared with Argentina is the third longest land border in the world, following the border between the United States and Canada (8,893 km) and that of Russia with Kazakhstan (6,846 km). ⁴