Chilean culture

Chile was ruled by Spain for several centuries and the culture of Chile is largely Spanish. The  culture in Chile can be divided into 2 categories: the cosmopolitan culture of the affluent urban population, and the popular culture of the peasants, which is predominantly Spanish but contains traces of Araucanian heritage. The latter influences are strongest in Chilean music and dance.

Chile has a long literary tradition and has produced two Nobel Prize winners in literature, Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda, both poets. Soldier-poet Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga wrote what is considered the greatest Spanish American epic poem, La Araucana, about the Spanish struggle against the Araucanians.