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Americans and Canadians in Chile
American Chileans and Canadian Chileans are Chileans of North American ancestry. Over 300,000 Chileans have North American ancestors, with 100,000 said to be of Cherokee Indian. Along with the British, U.S. citizens came to Chile to develop the country's economy and trade from the early 19th century onwards. Even though very few compared to the British, they did contribute to Chile's wealth and economic development well into the 20th century. Other Anglosphere immigrants included Irish, Canadians and Australians.
Valparaiso was on the route from Britain to California, which the US won from Mexico in 1845. That same port was even the scene of one of the battles of the Anglo-American War of 1812. One American who was in Chile was Wheelwright, who introduced the railway in Chile and nearby Argentina in the 1850s. In the California Gold Rush, a massive influx of Chilean miners went to California and many had returned to Chile wealthier than before.
To Chileans, Americans, almost all of British ancestry at the time, were so similar to the British that they were both lumped together as gringos, a term still used for Americans. Today, (North) American culture is a dominant force in Chilean society, and an increase of North American tourists from the US and Canada in the 1990s and 2000's attracted to the world-renowned scenery and increasing economic opportunity in Chile.
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Americans and Canadians in Chile
