Santiago, officially named Santiago de Chile, is the federal capital of Chile, and the center of its largest metropolitan area, known as "Greater Santiago, whose total population is 7 million. Santiago is also considered one of the largest cities in the Americas.

Founded in 1541 by the Spanish conqueror Pedro de Valdivia, Santiago has been the capital city of Chile since colonial times.

The city lies in the center of the Santiago Basin, an enormous bowl-shaped valley consisting of a broad and fertile plain surrounded by mountains. It is flanked by the main chain of the Andes on the east and the Chilean Coastal Range on the west. On the north, it is bounded by the Cordón de Chacabuco, a transverse mountain range of the Andes, whereas at the southern border lies Angostura de Paine, a valley narrowing where an elongated spur of the Andes reaches nearly to the Coastal Range.

Santiago has a cool semi-arid climate with Mediterranean patterns: warm dry summers with temperatures reaching up to 35 °C on the hottest days.

• Santiago covers a total area of 641 square kilometers.
• The Andes Mountains can be seen from most points in the city.
• Due to Santiago's location on the Pacific Ring of Fire at the boundary of the Nazca and South American plates, it experiences a significant amount of tectonic activity.
• Head of state: President Sebastian Pinera
• Language: Spanish
• Country motto: By right or might
• Currency: Chilean peso (CLP)
• Median age: 34.8 years
• Life expectancy: 79.1 years
• Religion: 88.3% Christianity, 9.7% unaffiliated, 1.5% Folk
   

Although Santiago is the official capital of the Republic of Chile, Valparaiso has been the seat of the Chilean congress since 1990.

Greater Santiago lacks a metropolitan government for its administration, which is currently distributed between various authorities, complicating the operation of the city as a single entity. The highest authority in Santiago is the intendant of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, an unelected delegate of the president.

The whole of Greater Santiago does not fit perfectly into any administrative division, as it extends into four different provinces and 37 communes.

Each municipality in Chile is headed by a mayor (alcalde) elected by voters every four years. The members of the municipal council (concejales) are elected in the same election on a separate ballot.

Santiago is an economically divided city. The western half of the city is, on average, much poorer than the eastern communes, where the high-standard public and private facilities are concentrated.

Santiago is the industrial and financial center of Chile and is home to the country's Stock Exchange, major banks, and much of the nation's industry. The city generates 45% of the country's GDP and is one of the three major financial centers of South America, along with Buenos Aires and São Paulo. Some international institutions, such as ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean), have their offices in Santiago.

The metropolitan area of Santiago contains Chile’s greatest concentration of industry. Many Santiago residents work in factories which main products are foodstuffs, textiles, shoes, and clothes; metallurgy and copper mining are also important.

Santiago's steady economic growth over the past few decades has transformed it into a modern metropolis. The city is now home to a growing theater and restaurant scene, extensive suburban development, dozens of shopping centers, and a rising skyline, including the tallest building in Latin America, the Gran Torre Santiago.

Santiago de Chile is served by two airports:

Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport is Santiago's national and international airport and the main hub of the city. It is the largest airport in Chile, ranked sixth in passenger traffic among Latin American airports, 
Eulogio Sánchez Airport  is a small privately owned general aviation airport in the commune of La Reina. 
Santiago has 37% of Chile's vehicles. An extensive network of streets and avenues stretching across Santiago along with a network of free flow toll highways connects the various areas of the city and facilitate travel between the different communities that make up the metropolitan area.

Apart from an extensive system of buses, the city is also served by the Santiago Metro, a rapid transit system that consists of seven lines and 136 stations. The Santiago Metro carries around 2.5 million passengers daily.