Plaza de Armas (Santiago) in the context of "Central Post Office Building (Santiago)"

Santiago (/ˌsæntiˈɑːɡoʊ/ SAN-tee-AH-goh, US also /ˌsɑːn-/ SAHN-, Spanish: [sanˈtjaɣo]), also known as Santiago de Chile (Spanish: [sanˈtjaɣo ðe ˈtʃile] ), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. Most of the city is situated between 500–650 m (1,640–2,133 ft) above sea level. Located in the Chilean Central Valley within the Santiago Basin, between the Andes to the east and the Chilean Coastal Range to the west, it anchors the Santiago Metropolitan Region and its conurbation of Greater Santiago, which comprises more than forty communes and concentrates over a third of the national population and around 45% of Chile’s GDP. Most of the city lies between 500 and 650 m (1,640–2,133 ft) above sea level, with recent urban growth extending into the Andean foothills.

The basin that Santiago occupies has been inhabited since at least the 10th millennium BC, with early agricultural villages established along the Mapocho River and later incorporated into the Inca sphere of influence. During the Spanish invasion of the Americas, conquistador Pedro de Valdivia founded the colonial city of Santiago del Nuevo Extremo on 12 February 1541, laying out a grid plan around the Plaza Mayor (now Plaza de Armas). Despite early food shortages, Indigenous attacks, floods, and devastating earthquakes—notably in 1647—the city consolidated as the capital of the Captaincy General of Chile. Santiago remained the political center during the Chilean War of Independence, beginning with the First Government Junta in 1810 and culminating in patriot victory at the Battle of Maipú in 1818, and subsequently expanded through 19th-century railway construction, state-building projects, and the creation of major educational and cultural institutions.

Santiago (/ˌsæntiˈɑːɡoʊ/ SAN-tee-AH-goh, US also /ˌsɑːn-/ SAHN-, Spanish: [sanˈtjaɣo]), also known as Santiago de Chile (Spanish: [sanˈtjaɣo ðe ˈtʃile] ), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. Located in the Chilean Central Valley within the Santiago Basin, between the Andes to the east and the Chilean Coastal Range to the west, it anchors the Santiago Metropolitan Region and its conurbation of Greater Santiago, which comprises more than forty communes and concentrates over a third of the national population and around 45% of Chile’s GDP. Most of the city lies between 500 and 650 m (1,640–2,133 ft) above sea level, with recent urban growth extending into the Andean foothills.

The basin that Santiago occupies has been inhabited since at least the 10th millennium BC, with early agricultural villages established along the Mapocho River and later incorporated into the Inca sphere of influence. During the Spanish invasion of the Americas, conquistador Pedro de Valdivia founded the colonial city of Santiago del Nuevo Extremo on 12 February 1541, laying out a grid plan around the Plaza Mayor (now Plaza de Armas). Despite early food shortages, Indigenous attacks, floods, and devastating earthquakes—notably in 1647—the city consolidated as the capital of the Captaincy General of Chile. Santiago remained the political center during the Chilean War of Independence, beginning with the First Government Junta in 1810 and culminating in patriot victory at the Battle of Maipú in 1818, and subsequently expanded through 19th-century railway construction, state-building projects, and the creation of major educational and cultural institutions.

The Palacio de la Real Audiencia de Santiago (English: Royal Court Palace or Palace of the Boxes) is a building located on the Plaza de Armas in Santiago, Chile. The building dates back to 1808 and houses, since 1982, the National History Museum of Chile.

The building was built between 1804 and 1807 to serve as the home for the royal courts of justice. It was the work of Juan Goycolea, a pupil and disciple of the Italian-born Joaquin Toesca who had designed the nearby La Moneda Palace and the east facade of the Cathedral during the last two decades of the 18th century. The courts were there for two years until Chile's first government junta, in 1810, assembled to replace the Spanish governor. Eight years later the Chilean Declaration of Independence was solidified and the building served as the first meeting place for the new congress. It served as the seat of government until 1846, until President Manuel Bulnes moved to La Moneda Palace.