Chile is characterized by geographic isolation. Elongated and narrow, the country is confined by strong natural barriers: a bleak desert on the north, the freezing Antarctic area on the south, the towering Andes mountain chain on the east, and the Pacific Ocean on its entire western side. This separation, combined with the absence of a strong pre- Hispanic culture such as those that highly influenced other Latin American countries, greatly shaped the nation’s architecture during the 20th century. Because the population is mostly of European origin, there is a discontinuity between the cultural links with a different continent and the Entries A–F 463 great distances from all the major centers of Western civilization. Architects and planners struggle to find Chile’s own image, with very little historic precedent. In the first two decades of the 20th century, Chilean architecture was dominated by a strong academic tradition. The influence of the École des Beaux-Arts produced important ins...