68  SELLING  LATIN  AMERICA

on  April  5,  1818,  defeating  forever  Spanish
power  and  becoming  absolutely  independent.
A  republican  form  of  government  was
adopted,  the  executive  power  being  vested  in
a  President,  and  the  legislative  in  two  houses,
a  Senate  and  a  Chamber  of  Deputies.
The  Republic  of  Chile  has  292,580  square
miles,  with  a  ragged  coast  line  of  2,627  miles,
and  varies  in  width  from  90  to  248  miles.  It
is  bordered  on  the  north  by  Peru,  the  east  by
Bolivia  and  Argentine,  the  south  and  west  by
the  Pacific  Ocean.
Two  almost  parallel  ranges  of  mountains,
the  Cordillera  de  la  Costa  and  the  Andes,  run
from  north  to  south,  with  a  valley  over  500
miles  long  and  40  wide  spread  between  them.
In  this  chain  of  mountains  are  more  than  30
extinct  volcanoes  from  11,700  to  21,340  feet
in  height.
Owing  to  its  extreme  length  Chile  possesses
many  climates.  To  the  north  it  is  dry  and
hot,  the  central  portion  being  decidedly  temperate ­
  with  changing  seasons,  almost  like  California, ­
  while  in  the  south  the  temperature  gets