José Agustín de Dios Edwards Ossandón (May 20, 1815 – September 1878) was a Chilean politician and businessman, and one of the main forces behind the early railroad construction in South America.
Agustín Edwards was born in La Serena, the son of George Edwards Brown and Isabel Ossandón Iribarren. At the age of 19, he started to manage the silver smelting operations owned by his father in the cities of Vallenar and Freirina. In 1837, by the age of 22, he became independent and moved to the city of Copiapó, with a small capital he had managed to save.
In 1849 he founded the Bank of Valparaíso. He married Juana Ross Edwards on April 6, 1851, with whom he had eight children. He was an active promoter of the railroads in South America. He worked in the construction of the Copiapó-Caldera railway, the first Chilean railroad (and one of the first in Latin America) that was inaugurated on December 25, 1851. He then concentrated on the nitrate exploitation. He became president of the Nitrate Company, and began the studies for a railroad between Antofagasta and Bolivia.
He was elected to the lower house of parliament on 1861, and then again in 1873. In 1876, he was elected a Senator for Valparaiso, a position he held until his death. He died in the city of Limache in 1878.
Aníbal Pinto Garmendia was a Chilean political figure. He served as the president of Chile between 1876 and 1881.
Caldera is a port city and commune in the Copiapó Province of the Atacama Region in northern Chile. It has a harbor protected by breakwaters, being the port city for the productive mining district centering on Copiapó to which it is connected by the first railroad constructed in Chile.
Agustín Edwards Mac-Clure was a Chilean lawyer, diplomat and businessman, and founder of the Santiago edition of El Mercurio newspaper.
The Edwards family of Chile is of Welsh origin. They became financially and politically influential during the 19th century. They have played and still play a significant role in Chilean politics, especially as owners of its most influential newspaper chain, El Mercurio S.A.P.
Matías Cousiño Jorquera (1810–1863) was a Chilean coal magnate and patriarch of the wealthy Cousiño family. Cousiño's most emblematic coal mine was found in Lota a small coastal town on the coast of the Bío-Bío Region, where steam ships that crossed the Strait of Magellan could be resupplied with coal.
William Wheelwright was a businessman who played an essential role in the development of steamboat and train transportation in Chile and other parts of South America. In 1838, with help from the Chilean government, he founded the Pacific Steam Navigation Company which commenced operations on October 15, 1840 and provided commercial sea access to cities such as Valparaíso and El Callao.
Luis Emilio Recabarren Serrano was a Chilean political figure. He was elected several times as deputy, and was the driving force behind the worker's movement in Chile.
Luis Uribe Orrego was a Vice-Admiral of the Chilean Navy and a hero of the War of the Pacific.
British Chileans are Chilean residents with fully or partial antecedents from the British Isles. The British have been very important in the formation of the Chilean nation. They include Chileans of English, Scottish, Ulster Scots, Irish and Welsh ancestry. The numbers of Scottish and Welsh are higher in Patagonia, in Aysén and Magallanes regions. The highest percentage of British Chileans is found in Punta Arenas, followed by Santiago, Valparaíso, Concepcion, Viña del Mar and Antofagasta.
The Guano Era refers to a period of stability and prosperity in Peru during the mid-19th century. It was sustained on the substantial revenues generated by the export of guano and the strong leadership of president Ramón Castilla. The starting date for the guano era is commonly considered to be 1845, the year in which Castilla started his first administration. It ended shortly after the war between Spain and Peru in 1866.
English Chileans are citizens of Chile who are descended from English people who have emigrated. They are estimated to number 550,000-820.000.
Welsh Chileans are Chileans of Welsh descent whose family roots came from Wales. The Welsh did not settle in Chile. Generally, they were identified with the other British groups in Chile. About 30,000 residents of Chile have Welsh surnames.
The Anglo-South American Bank was a British and Argentine bank established with the acquisition of the Anglo-Argentine Bank in 1900 by the Bank of Tarapacá and London. The new bank first took the name of Bank of Tarapacá and Argentina, which it changed in 1907 to Anglo-South American Bank.
The history of rail transport in Chile has gone through several periods of boom and bust. It began in 1840, with the construction of the first branch in the north. Further construction proceeded apace linking cities from Pisagua all the way to Puerto Montt.
George Edwards Brown (1780–1848) was an English-born Chilean businessman.
Between 1830 and 1850 Chilean silver mining grew at an unprecedented pace which transformed mining into one of the country's principal sources of wealth. The rush caused rapid demographic, infrastructural, and economic expansion in the semi-arid Norte Chico mountains where the silver deposits lay. A number of Chileans made large fortunes in the rush and made investments in other areas of the economy of Chile. By the 1850s the rush was in decline and lucrative silver mining definitely ended in the 1870s. At the same time mining activity in Chile reoriented to saltpetre operations.
Agustín Iván Edmundo Edwards Eastman was a Chilean newspaper publisher, and one of the richest people in Chile. He inherited his family's newspaper company El Mercurio SAP, which publishes Chile's leading national dailies El Mercurio and La Segunda among others, when his father died in 1956. He has been described as a media baron, and is known for his right-wing views. Throughout his time as publisher, he has used El Mercurio SAP's newspapers to influence public opinion in Chile, and he supported the 1973 coup d'état to oust socialist President Salvador Allende.
Charles Chatworthy Wood Taylor, known in Chile as Carlos Wood, was a painter, engineer, mariner, and military officer.
Eusebio Lillo Robles was a poet, journalist and politician. He is the author of the lyrics of the Chilean National Anthem.
Juana Ross Edwards was a Chilean philanthropist. She built and maintained three hospitals, six nursing homes, a hospice, an orphanage, and countless schools.
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