Period       Description  SIXTEENTH CENTURY  October 21, 1520          Ferdinand Magellan first European to sight (but not          identify) Chilean shores.  1535-37          Diego de Almagro leads first  Spanish expedition to          explore Chile.  1540          Pedro de Valdivia conquers Chile.  February 12, 1541          Valdivia founds Santiago.  1553-58          Indigenous Araucanian uprising.  1557          Mapuche rebel chief Lautaro defeated.  1560s          Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga composes epic poem "La          Araucana."  SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 1603          First army-like force, or militia, established in Chile.  1609          Pope Paul V authorizes war against Araucanians.  1643          Although warfare against Araucanians continues, Indians          help Spaniards repel invasion of southern Chile by Brouwer          expedition.  1647          Earthquake destroys Santiago.  EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 1730          Earthquake causes great destruction in Santiago and most          of central Chile.  1759-96          Bourbon reforms give Chile greater independence from          Viceroyalty of Peru.  1791          Governor Ambrosio O'Higgins y Ballenary outlaws          encomiendas and forced labor.  NINETEENTH CENTURY          September 18, 1810 Criollo leaders of Santiago declare          independence from Spain.  1814-17          (La Reconquista)  October 2, 1814          The Reconquest Spanish troops from Peru reconquer Chile at          Battle of Rancagua.  February 12, 1817          Troops led by Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme, father of          Chile, and General José de San Martín defeat Spanish in          Battle of Chacabuco.  1817          O'Higgins (1817-23) becomes supreme director of Chile.  April 5, 1818          Chile wins formal independence after San Martín defeats          last large Spanish force in Battle of Maipú.  August 1818          First provisional constitution approved in plebiscite.  1818-30          Period of civil wars.  April 17, 1830          Liberals defeated by Conservatives at Battle of Lircay.  1830-61          Period of Conservative rule.  1830-37          "Portalian State" initiated by businessman Diego Portales          Palazuelos, who dominates politics.  1833          New Portalian constitution implemented.  1836-39          Chile wages war against Peru-Bolivia Confederation.  January 1839          Chile wins war by defeating Peruvian fleet at Casma on          January 12 and Bolivian Army at Yungay on January 20.  1861-91          Period of Liberal rule.  1879-83          Chile wages war against Bolivia and Peru in War of the          Pacific.  1883          Chile seals victory with Treaty of Ancón.  1891          Civil war pits supporters of President José Manuel          Balmaceda Fernández against Congress, which wins.  TWENTIETH CENTURY 1891-1925          Period of Parliamentary Republic.  1925          Chile's second major constitution approved.  1945          Gabriela Mistral wins Nobel Prize for Literature.  September 4, 1970          Popular Unity's Salvador Allende394
 de Gossens wins presidential          election.  1971          Pablo Neruda wins Nobel Prize for Literature.  September 11, 1973          Military led by General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte overthrows          Allende government.  September 1973-90          Period of military rule under General Pinochet.  1980          New military-designed constitution is approved in a          plebiscite.  1988          Plebiscite held on Pinochet rule.  1990          Transition to democracy begins with presidency of Patricio          Aylwin Azócar.  March 11, 1994          Aylwin is succeeded by Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle. 

Data as of March 1994