There are many who every day try to break records and achieve worldwide fame by appearing in the famous Guinness World Records. Chile holds several records, many of them thanks to its extreme geography both in the north and south, but it also has great sporting, gastronomic, cultural and artistic achievements. Which are the most impressive? Check them out here.
Window to the universe and into prehistory
The clear skies of northern Chile have become a window to the universe for the world. Precisely that gives our country two records in one of the observatories being built in Cerro Pachón, in the Coquimbo region, Vera C. Rubin. On the one hand, the highest resolution digital camera in the world, 3.2 gigapixels; and on the other, the largest optical lens in the world (1.57 meters).
But astronomical observation is not the only record-holder in science. Chile also has the youngest person to discover a fossil of an unknown dinosaur species is Chilean Diego Suárez, who, in 2004, when he was only 7 years old, discovered the first bones of the dinosaur Chilesaurus diegosuarezi, during a research trip with his geologist parents in the Aysén region.
The narrowest country in the world
Considering its length and width, Chile is the narrowest country in the world, with an average width of 175 kilometers, and a length of 4,300 kilometers, according to Guinness World Records.
Atacama Desert: fertile ground for records
The Atacama Desert is known for being the driest desert in the world. And that data is registered in the Guinness World Records. For the period between 1964 and 2001, the average annual rainfall at the Quillagua weather station, in the Antofagasta region, was 0.5 millimeters, making it the driest place in the world. The record without rainfall is also in Chile: no rainfall was recorded in Arica between October 1903 and January 1918, a total of 14 years.
The impressive Atacama Desert also holds geological records: the highest active geyser field in the world, El Tatio, located 4,250 meters above sea level, with more than 80 active geysers, and the highest active volcano in the world, Ojos del Salado, located on the border with Argentina. The latter has been the scene of 2 world sporting records: the highest altitude reached by an electric motorcycle, driven by Francisco "Chaleco" López in November 2015, and the record for driving a car at the highest altitude, achieved by Chileans Gonzalo Bravo and Eduardo Canales in 2007.
Also in the Atacama Desert, copper contributes to Chile's record list: In the Antofagasta region, Escondida and Escondida Norte are the most productive mines in the world, with up to 750 million tons of undiscovered copper in them.
Mummies and anthropomorphic figures
The north of Chile is also the scene of two records that put our country in the focus of world culture. On the one hand, in Arica there are the oldest mummies in the world: those of Chinchorro, which in 2021 were declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco. Meanwhile, in the Tarapacá region there is the largest figure in the world drawn on a hill, the Atacama Giant, an anthropomorphic figure located on Cerro Unita.
Sports: from the first red card in a World Cup to a defiant swim in freezing water
In soccer, our country holds two curious records. The first one, in 1974, was set by Carlos Caszely. The player was the first player to receive a red card in a World Cup, during the Chile vs. West Germany match.
Chile also broke the record for the largest number of players in an exhibition match: 2,357 players kept the ball moving for 120 hours at the Estadio Bicentenario de La Florida in Santiago in May 2016.
Chile also has the highest horse jump in the world, at 2.47 meters, achieved by Chilean captain Alberto Larraguibel in February 1949; and the polo player who played the longest, Pablo Moreno Wilson, who had more than 62 years of polo career.
Chilean swimmer Bárbara Hernández broke two Guinness World Records in February 2022 at Cape Horn: she was the first person in the world to swim 3 nautical miles between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean (a total of 5,550 meters) and also broke the speed record for the mile swum in just 15min 03 seconds. In an unprecedented way, the Chilean Navy facilitated the navigation of a ship to sail to Cape Horn. The most favorable weather window for this challenge, considering that the weather conditions in the area are among the most adverse in the world, was Sunday, February 27.
Our country also holds the record for the person who has performed the most chest-to-ground burpees in one hour. Felipe Pérez García did 965 in this period of time.
From sopaipillas to completos: gastronomic records
It doesn't matter if it's with mustard, pebre or pasadas. In winter there are few traditions more Chilean than eating sopaipillas. And in July 2019, in the middle of the Chilean winter, the record for the largest plate of sopaipillas in the world was broken, with a total of 511.25 kg. Another Chilean classic, completos, has its own record, with the longest line of hot dogs in the world (250 meters). And while Chile held the world record for the largest bunch of grapes for 34 years, in 2018 it was dethroned by a Spanish farming family.
The south of the south
When it comes to the south, Chile has several brands. The most recent was registered in November 2021, when the Domino's Pizza fast food restaurant in Punta Arenas was established as the southernmost branch of a fast food chain in the world.
Chile also has the southernmost inhabited place in the world (excluding Antarctica) in Puerto Toro, Navarino Island, and the southernmost lighthouse, on Hornos Island in the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego. The Cape Horn Lighthouse, an iron tower 11 meters high, began operating in 1991.
The southernmost forest on Earth is also in Chile, in the Magallanes region, 800 kilometers from the Antarctic Peninsula.
Strongest earthquake
The most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the history of mankind was the one that occurred off the coast of Valdivia on May 22, 1960, with a magnitude of 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale (MW). This devastating phenomenon was felt in different parts of the world and left more than 2,000 dead and 2 million victims in Chile.
Juan Fernández: land of biodiversity
The remote island of Juan Fernández, in the Pacific Ocean, is the area with the highest diversity and number of endemic plants in the world per square meter. On this small island of 100 km2, scientists have identified 209 plant species, 126 of which are endemic.
The longest running program: Sábado gigante
Sábado Gigante, thanks to its host, Don Francisco (Mario Kreutzberger), became in 2015 the longest-running TV variety show in the world, having been on the air for 53 years, since August 1962.
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