When Chileans won independence from Spain in 1818, the country had limited scientific expertise, no natural sciences institutions, no popular natural history tradition and even the government had little knowledge of Chile’s natural environment. By the time the century ended, Chile boasted multiple natural history museums, government-funded research, formal training in the natural sciences, flourishing local scientific societies and internationally-known publications on Chilean natural history. This natural history culture flourished thanks to collaboration between career-minded naturalists, for whom Chile’s ‘unexplored’ status proved irresistible, and non-naturalist supporters, for whom fostering the natural sciences aided national progress. From positions within the government, these supporters made the case again and again that the state had a responsibility to, and would benefit from, natural history. In this collaboration, three foreigners stand out: French Claudio Gay, Venezuelan Andrés Bello and Prussian Rodulfo Philippi. In 1830, the government contracted Gay to survey Chile, write the country’s natural history and found a museum. This work lasted the rest of his life, and his publications trained Chile’s literate public in natural history. Bello was an important advocate of natural history, supporting the field through various government roles and translating and disseminating natural history writing. Philippi, director of the museum Gay founded for four decades, built the collections, sponsored scientific expeditions and published his results, both nationally and internationally.

But the creation of a natural history culture extended beyond an elite, as it was also based on the efforts of natural history enthusiasts and hobby collaborators, whose reward came from participation in a community of like-minded naturalists, and who founded amateur societies and scoured the countryside for personal and public collections. This paper also discusses the work of local natural history communities, whose members presented their findings at amateur societies, founded regional museums and acted as suppliers for national and international exchange networks. All these naturalists worked in an environment in which Chile sought to establish itself as a continental power, in which the natural environment became a component of national identity and in which success in the natural sciences contributed to national pride.