Santiago is located at the northern end of Chile's central intermont basin, extending from the foot of the Andes toward the coastal range at an altitude of 1,800-2,000 feet. The older and central part of the city was built on both sides of a small river, the Mapocho (a tributary of the Maipu, one of Chile's largest rivers), which repeatedly broke its banks, flooding and seriously damaging parts of the city; it is now to large extent enclosed and contained. Snow-capped peaks of the Andes, reaching altitudes of over 20,000 feet, rise above the city. Some of these peaks are extinct, truncated, cone-shaped volcanoes. The backdrop of high mountains gives Santiago a natural landscape of great beauty.
The city is spaciously laid out with large garden suburbs and wide avenues and streets. The center of Santiago, which has preserved the original Spanish colonial pattern, is a mixture of older buildings, some dating from the eighteenth century, and modern skyscrapers. Greater Santiago and its surroundings are Chile's main industrial center, with approximately 60 percent of the country's industrial plants and 56 percent of the industrial workforce.
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The present population, concentrated in one village, numbers aproximately 1,900, some of whom are decendents of the aboriginal inhabitants. They engage mainly in subsistence agriculture.
Archaelogical remains include pyramid-like structures, stone masonry, towers, cisterns, statues, and various stone fish-bone utensils. Unique to this island are numerous statues cut fron soft volcanic rock, depicting the upper part of the human body. Wooden tablets with engraved signs and images resembling a form of pictograph are another unique feature.