Chile–United Kingdom relations

Chilean-British relations

Chile
United Kingdom
President Sebastián Piñera, and Prime Minister David Cameron, at 10 Downing Street in 2010.

British–Chile relations are foreign relations between the United Kingdom and Chile. The two countries maintain strong cultural ties as Chilean culture was heavily anglicised after Independence.

Both countries have neighbouring territories in the South Atlantic and Pacific, with the Falkland Islands overseas territory of the UK within proximity to Chile's Tierra del Fuego Province and Cabo de Hornos commune, and the Pitcairn Islands in proximity to Easter Island.

History

Sebastián Piñera, and Queen Elizabeth II meet at Buckingham Palace in 2010

The UK played an important role in Chile's history. According to William Edmundson in his book A History of the British Presence in Chile, 2009, Chile had the same head of state as England in the 16th century, Queen Mary I. When she married Philip II, He was still a prince, so the King of Spain Carlos V made him and Mary King and Queen of Chile, as well as of England, Ireland, Naples and Jerusalem. She was Queen of Chile and England from her marriage in 1554 to her husbands coronation as King of Spain in 1556, when Chile became part of the possessions of the Spanish king. Throughout the colonial period, the English, later British, harassed the Spanish authorities in Chile by plundering Spanish ships. The English and the Mapuche both wanted to kick the Spaniards out of Chile for different reasons. Several British men helped the Chileans fight for independence in the 1810s such as the Scotsman, Lord Cochrane. The British Admiral Lord Cochrane was the Chilean Navy's first commander who fought in the Chilean War of Independence and five Chilean Navy ships have been named in his honour. The Chilean Navy and the Royal Navy maintain a close relationship with one ex-British Type 22 frigate and three Type 23 frigates in Chilean service.

During the Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas/Guerra del Atlántico Sur) in 1982, with the still pending Beagle conflict, Chile and Colombia became the only Latin American countries to abstain from voting in the TIAR (as did the United States and Trinidad and Tobago). Chile provided the UK with limited, but significant information. The Chilean position is described in detail by Sir Lawrence Freedman in his book The Official History of the Falklands Campaign.

Embassies

The United Kingdom has an embassy in Santiago[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://www.gov.uk/government/world/organisations/british-embassy-chile
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