COMPENDIUM OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY OF THE KINGDOM OF CHILE.

BOOK ONE.

SITUATION, METEORS, AND CLIMATE OF CHILE.

In the 18th century, "meteors" (Spanish: meteoros) referred to all atmospheric phenomena, including wind, rain, and lightning. "Climate" here translates temperamento, which in this period described the physical constitution of the air and its effect on living things.

Location.

The Kingdom of Chile, a country in South
America, lies along the coasts of the
Pacific Ocean, extending for a space
of 420 geographical leagues between the 24th
and 45th degrees of southern latitude. Its width—
which we shall measure from the 304th to the
308th degrees of longitude, fixing the first meri-
dian at the island of El Hierro—is more or less
considerable, depending on how closely the great
chain of mountains, called the Cordillera or the Andes,
approaches or recedes from the ocean,
surrounding the land to the east; or speak-
ing more accurately, according to how much the
sea approaches or recedes from that same cha-
original: "ca-", part of "cadena" (chain). The text breaks here to continue on the next page.

The island of El Hierro in the Canaries was historically used as the Prime Meridian (zero longitude) by many European geographers before the international adoption of the Greenwich Meridian. The longitude coordinates 304–308 reflect this older system.