British–Chile relations are foreign relations between the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. The two countries maintain strong cultural ties as

Chilean culture The culture of Chile reflects the population and the geographic isolation of the country in relation to the rest of South America. Since colonial times, the Chilean culture has been a mix of Spanish colonial elements with elements of indigenous (m ...

was somewhat anglicised after independence, seeing many mutual investments since. Standard visits, on terms each country applies, allow visitors and short-term study, without need for a

travel visa A visa (from the Latin ''charta visa'', meaning "paper that has been seen") is a conditional authorization granted by a polity to a foreigner that allows them to enter, remain within, or leave its territory. Visas typically include limits on ...

endorsed in a passport. Neighbouring territories in the South Atlantic and Pacific are notable. The

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

overseas territory of the UK is near to Chile's Tierra del Fuego Province and Cabo de Hornos commune. The Pitcairn Islands are near to

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its ne ...

. As more bases have been built across the research-based Antarctic, one of those of the United Kingdom has become the

Teniente Luis Carvajal Villaroel Antarctic Base The Teniente Luis Carvajal Villaroel Antarctic Base ( es, Teniente Carvajal) is a seasonal Chilean Antarctic base on the south-west tip of Adelaide Island, in Graham Land off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The nearest land is the ...

of Chile.

Country comparison

History

England played an important role in

Chile's history The territory of Chile has been populated since at least 3000 BC. By the 16th century, Spanish Empire, Spanish conquistadors began to colonize the region of present-day Chile, and the territory was a colony between 1540 and 1818, when it gained Ch ...

. According to William Edmundson's ''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 Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...

. When she married

Philip II Philip II may refer to: * Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC) * Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor * Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374) * Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404) * Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497) * Philip ...

, he was still a prince, so the King of Spain,

Carlos V, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) fr ...

made him and Mary the King and Queen of Chile, as well as of England, Ireland, Naples and Jerusalem. Mary became such from her marriage in 1554 to her husband's coronation as King of Spain in 1556, when Chile became part of the possessions of the Spanish. Although there is no record or evidence to support the claim that Phillip was made 'King of Chile', it still remains as known anecdote in the country. Throughout the Chilean colonial period, British naval vessels in times of war, occasional privateers – and in times of peace British and colonial pirates, outlaws, at risk of execution by neutral parties – harassed the wealthy Spanish authorities in Chile by plundering their ships. In times of peace private trade ships from both empires brought mutually needed goods. British forces and the Mapuche both allied themselves to depose the Spanish hold in the country. Britain assisted the Chileans' fight for independence in the 1810s, led by 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. In the early 1910s, Britain sold a super-

dreadnought The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...

battleship Almirante Latorre to Chile. Although retained by the Royal Navy through the war, the ship was delivered after it and served as the Chilean Navy's flagship for many decades thereafter. In the modern era Chilean Navy and the Royal Navy maintain a close relationship with one ex-British Type 22 and three

Type 23 frigate The Type 23 frigate or Duke class is a class of frigates built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The ships are named after British Dukes, thus leading to the class being commonly known as the Duke class. The first Type 23, , was commission ...

s in Chilean service. During the Falklands War in 1982, with the still pending

Beagle conflict The Beagle conflict was a border dispute between Chile and Argentina over the possession of Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands and the scope of the maritime jurisdiction associated with those islands that brought the countries to the brink of war i ...

and Colombia became the only Latin American countries to abstain from voting in the

TIAR The Tiar are found in North India. They are also known as the Parihar.People of India Bihar Volume XVI Part Two edited by S Gopal & Hetukar Jha pages 933 to 934 Seagull Books History and origin The word tiar is a corruption of the Sanskrit w ...

(as did the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

). 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''.

Economic relations

From 1 February 2003 until 30 December 2020, trade between Chile and the UK was governed by the Chile–European Union Association Agreement, while the United Kingdom was a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. Following the

withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

, the UK and Chile signed a continuity trade agreement on 5 February 2021, based on the EU free trade agreement; the agreement entered into force on 3 May 2021. Chile was the first country which signed a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom post-Brexit. Trade value between Chile and the United Kingdom was worth £1,881 million in 2022. In July 2023, the United Kingdom has signed the agreement to acceed to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, a

trade bloc A trade bloc is a type of intergovernmental agreement, often part of a regional intergovernmental organization, where barriers to trade (tariffs and others) are reduced or eliminated among the participating states. Trade blocs can be stand-alone ...

of which Chile is a founding member.

Resident diplomatic missions

* Chile has an embassy in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. * United Kingdom has an embassy in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

. File:Embassy of Chile in London 1.jpg, Embassy of Chile in London File:Embassy of the United Kingdom in Santiago de Chile.jpg, Embassy of the United Kingdom in Santiago

References

External links

* http://ukinchile.fco.gov.uk/en/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Chile-United Kingdom relations Bilateral relations of the United Kingdom