Colonial and Early Republican Period

Since the introduction of Catholicism in the 16th century by Franciscan and Dominican friars, the Catholic Church has been an integral part of Chilean culture. Chile remained a frontier colony during the three centuries of Spanish rule. Its location on the periphery of the Spanish Empire, the hostile indigenous population in its south, and the absence of mineral wealth comparable to other Andean territories reinforced this situation. During the colonial period, Spain’s disregard for the relatively unproductive colony left the army and the Church as the most important actors in Chilean society and politics. While the military provided most of the political leadership, the Church held a monopoly on virtually all social services, including the issuance of birth, marriage, and death certificates, the provision of education, and the operation of cemeteries. In addition, civil law was subordinate to canon law, thus consolidating the Church’s supremacy. After independence in 1818, Chile’s first three leaders were liberal and anticlerical, and two went into exile. Their administrations were followed by three decades of conservative rule (1830-61) in which the authority of the Church was protected, followed by three decades of liberal rule (1861-91), during which clerical power began to erode. The struggle, manifested largely in terms of a limited democratic politics and oligarchic rule, lasted through the 19th century. Formal separation of church and state occurred in 1925 with the ratification of a new constitution.