5 ATLASES

History of Chile in maps

Chile as it appears in 5 interactive history atlases, from 1150 to 1991: Chalco, Chile. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.

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Map of the Basin of Mexico in 1428, showing Chile — MAP OF THE BASIN OF MEXICO IN 1428

These maps are reconstructed from published sources · Natural Earth administrative references · García Quintana and Romero Galván: Tenochtitlan waterworks · Basin of Mexico, c.1519 — published lake and causeway map · Hanns Prem: Tenochtitlan and islands in Texcoco Lake, 2008 · Mexico Secretariat of Culture / INAH: Tlatelolco archaeological-site location · Cliopatria v0.2.1 historical polities · GeoNames geographic controls · Natural Earth v5.1.2 full geographic reference · Aztec tribute provinces, 1519 — published vector map · Rio Verde Archaeology: independent Tututepec

Source details

Natural Earth contributors. Public domain
García Quintana and Romero Galván: Tenochtitlan waterworks. Historical facts cited; no source artwork or prose reproduced
Yavidaxiu, Historicair, Sémhur and named Commons contributors. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Registered source paths and island holes. The two coarsely drawn city holes are superseded by the locally registered Prem city plan; all other shorelines remain. Farm-islet groupings and lake subdivisions are documented derivatives, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Hanns Prem. Public domain dedication by the author (PD-self), worldwide reuse for any purpose · Observed city-shoreline and named causeway pixels registered locally to temple/Tacuba/Chapultepec references. No area rescaling. Pixel observations, controls, matrix and review are published.
Mexico Secretariat of Culture / INAH: Tlatelolco archaeological-site location. Historical facts cited; no source artwork or prose reproduced
Cliopatria contributors / Seshat Global History Databank. CC BY 4.0
GeoNames contributors. CC BY 4.0
Natural Earth contributors. Public domain
Yavidaxiu, Ssolbergj, Keepscases and Sémhur. CC BY-SA 3.0 · Registered original province edges; grouped into teaching regions. Published derivative geography and processing records available with attribution.
Rio Verde Archaeology: independent Tututepec. Historical facts cited; no source artwork or prose reproduced

These maps are reconstructed from published sources. The layer record provides the source geometry, registration controls, reference dates and derivatives.

Lake shores and tribute-region edges are registered from two published 1519 maps. The detailed Prem city plan supplies the central island and its five connecting routes. Where a better downloadable map was unavailable, earlier chapters deliberately reuse these later-source geographic references.

The lake-map control RMS is 2.67 km, and the regional province-map control RMS is 14.79 km. The separate local city fit has a 61 m control RMS and a 330 m leave-one-out RMS. These figures diagnose the control fits; they do not prove the exact position of ancient shorelines. Region grouping, strategic-site margins and independent-state substitutions are documented.

Chinampa layers identify islets mapped by the source in the named agricultural districts. Their filled areas are not a cadastral inventory of every field.

proxy: Lower Río Verde / coastal Oaxaca geographic reference · proxy: Published geographic reference; not a medieval administrative survey · reconstruction: c.1519 named strategic locality · trace: Conquest-era city reference; Prem plan published 2008 · trace: Conquest-era named route; Prem plan published 2008 · trace: c.1519 published reconstruction · vector: 1497–1520

Layer records and reconstruction methods

What was Chile before it was Chile? The sections below follow this land through every era covered by the Maps of History atlases: who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed. Each line links to the dated map. Modern borders serve as an approximation, as each atlas says on the map itself.

Chalco · Norse and Aztecs

Chalco was a confederation of southeastern towns with rich chinampas and maize lands, making it the granary of the basin. It resisted the Triple Alliance for decades before being conquered around 1465. In 1521 Chalco joined the Spaniards against Tenochtitlan, one of many former subjects to change sides.

c. 1150	Other peoples and states — the opening position
1428	Independent of or opposed to the Triple Alliance
1428	Independent of or opposed to the Triple Alliance
1469	Tributary provinces of the Triple Alliance
1469	Tributary provinces of the Triple Alliance
MAY–AUG 1521	Independent of or opposed to the Triple Alliance
MAY–AUG 1521	Independent of or opposed to the Triple Alliance

NORSE AND AZTECS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →

Chile · Industrial Revolution

Victory in the War of the Pacific (1879–84) gave Chile the nitrate deserts of the Atacama. They were the world’s main source of nitrogen for fertilizer and explosives, and taxes on nitrate funded about half of state revenue. After the First World War, synthetic ammonia began to undercut the trade; it had first been made in Germany in 1913.