Valparaiso

Valparaiso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaiso Province and the Valparaiso Region. Although Santiago is Chile's official capital, the National Congress of Chile was established in Valparaiso in 1990. Valparaiso played an important geopolitical role in the second half of the 19th century, when the city served as a major stopover for ships traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by crossing the Straits of Magellan.