Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Chile)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores) is the cabinet-level administrative office in charge of planning, directing, coordinating, executing, controlling and informing the foreign policy formulated by the President of Chile. It is located in the Edificio José Miguel Carrera at Plaza de la Constitución (Constitution Square), in downtown Santiago.

The present minister of foreign affairs (who is also known colloquially as Chancellor) is Alberto van Klaveren.

History
The office was first organized in 1812, during the War of Independence, under the name of Foreign Affairs Secretariat. It was abolished in 1814, after the Battle of Rancagua, when the Spanish government was re-established.

In 1818, after independence, the secretariat was re-established, but this time as a dependency of the Ministry of the Interior, which at that time was named "Ministry of Government and Foreign Affairs" (1818–1824) or "Ministry of the Interior and Foreign Affairs" (1824–1871). In 1871 is established as a separate government entity.

Since its current creation in 1871, it has undergone different reorganizations, reflected in its different names:
 * Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Colonization 1871–1887
 * Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship 1887–1896
 * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Worship and Colonization 1896–1924
 * Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1924–1929, and again since 1941
 * Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Commerce 1930–1941