18 September 2026 marks 216 years since Chile formed its First National Government Junta. Chile’s National Archives and National Library date the open cabildo in Santiago to that day. It is the country’s principal national holiday, not the date of the independence proclamation.

In 1810 the Spanish monarchy was in crisis after the Napoleonic invasion and the removal of Ferdinand VII. Across the American territories the question was who still held legitimate authority. In Santiago the cabildo secured an open meeting; institutional accounts speak of about 400 participants from the city’s leading families, in the building of the Real Tribunal del Consulado.

The junta was presided over by Mateo de Toro Zambrano. Speeches recorded by secretary José Gregorio Argomedo stressed loyalty to the captive king. Independence was not proclaimed. Even so, a share of power passed to a local body rather than remaining with the colonial governor.

Years of internal conflict, royalist intervention and war followed. Independence was formally declared on 12 February 1818 under Bernardo O’Higgins. 18 September marks the start of the process, not the final legal act.

Fiestas Patrias bring ceremonies, music, dance and communal meals. 19 September is associated with the Day of the Glories of the Army. The holiday recalls both the gradual break from colonial administration and regional traditions.

An anniversary article does not turn the junta into a finished state. It records the 1810 transfer of authority and the distance from 1818.

Two hundred and sixteen years later, the institutional references remain: 18 September 1810 as the starting point of the process, not the instant birth of the republic.

Image: military parade at La Moneda Palace, Santiago, 1944. Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Not an image of the 1810 junta. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Memoria Chilena — Primera Junta de Gobierno (1810); Archivo Nacional de Chile — Acta de la Primera Junta, 18 de septiembre de 1810.