Chile is a country in South America bordering the Pacific Ocean, Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia. Ancient Inca people once inhabited the land, but they were colonized by the Spanish in the 1500s. Chile declared independence in 1818. In the 1970s and 1980s, Chile was governed by a military dictatorship. The modern state enjoys a high quality of living and high economic prosperity. Association football is Chile’s most popular sport, having appeared in nine FIFA World Cups and hosting the 1962 World Cup. Rodeo is the national sport. Chilean Gabriel Mistral was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1945. Pablo Neruda also won in 1971. Isabel Allende is Chile’s best-selling novelist.