Dairy cows passing dunes, Chile

The wind sweeps the volcanic dust inland. Its strength and consistency have made vast dune fields. Here, an oceanic climate showers the land with abundant moisture, allowing grass to grow rapidly and favoring livestock farming. Chile is known for its remarkable geography. It measures 2.608 miles (4.200 km) from north to south, stretching over 35 degrees of latitude, but is only 62 miles (100 km) wide at its narrowest point—and 250 miles (450 km) at its widest. The North of the country is extremely arid; the Chilean economy here is dominated by copper, iron ore and sulphur mining. Central Chile has a more Mediterranean climate and contains the biggest cities and associated industry, as well as farming, mainly fruits and vineyards. In the south, with its oceanic climate, fields give way to pasture, vast forests, and lakes until, gradually, the great glaciers of Patagonia take over. Chile’s territory ends at Cape Horn, at the far southern tip of South America, where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans meet.