Ireland’s Historic Connections to Chile

Ireland has strong historic links with Chile dating back to the 1500s when Irish soldiers were known as the “Wild Geese”. In 1763 Irish born nobleman Ambrosio O’Higgins arrived in Chile and from 1788-1796 he became the royal Governor of Chile for Spain, he was later promoted to Viceroy of Peru, which included Chile. In 1778 Ambrosio’s son Bernardo O’Higgins was born in Chile. He would later be known as Chile’s Independence leader and Supreme Director of Independent Chile 1817-1823. Decedents of those first migrants are known as Irish Chileans (Spanish: Hiberno-chilenos) for which there still remains to-day a sizable number.

Chile decided to open its Embassy in Dublin in 2000. In 2005 Chile and Ireland signed an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation and in 2016 a Working holiday visa agreement was signed by both nations. 2017 the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade asked the government to agree to an expansion of the State’s Diplomatic and consular network to open an embassy in Santiago – Chile and in 2018 preparations were put in place to open an Embassy in February 2019.