Federico Errázuriz Echaurren

Federico Errázuriz Echaurren (1850 to 1901) was a Chilean lawyer and politician who served as the 13th president of Chile from 1896 until his death in office in 1901. The son of President Federico Errázuriz Zañartu, he became a lawyer in 1873, entered politics as a Liberal deputy in 1876, served as Minister of War and Navy in 1890 and as a senator and Minister of Justice and Public Instruction in 1894. He took office at 46 after a contested election, facing a nitrate crisis, a divided Congress and tense relations with Argentina. He leaned increasingly on the Conservative Party within his Liberal-Conservative coalition and went through 17 cabinets. His administration expanded public education and urban infrastructure, and he agreed to submit the Argentine border dispute to British arbitration, marked by the 1899 Embrace of the Strait. He died of cerebral thrombosis in Valparaíso in July 1901.