The Matte family is a rich, powerful and influential Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an family of Catalan

Catalan people

The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...

 origin. According to Forbes Magazine, their wealth amounts to US $8.1 billion. The World's Billionaires
(2010).

Family origins

The Matte family's rise to power began in the 19th century when Francisco Javier Matte and his wife opened a textile store in downtown Santiago. In 1855 their son Domingo (who fathered 16 children) opened a bank in Valparaíso

Valparaíso

Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...

 with two of his sons, Augusto and Eduardo.

Prominent members

• Claudio Matte: created the Matte syllabary and was rector
  Rector
  The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
  
   of the University of Chile
• Augusto Matte: Lawyer, diplomat, deputy and senator; also Finance Minister and Justice Minister
• Ricardo Matte: Lawyer, senator and minister
• Luis Matte Larraín
• Eugenio Matte Hurtado
• Arturo Matte Alessandri
• Luis Matte Valdés: minister under Salvador Allende
  Salvador Allende
  Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
  
  
• Eliodoro Matte Ossa: owner of the Compañía Manufacturera de Papeles y Cartones paper mill (La Papelera) who famously protested president Allende's attempt to nationalize it
• María Patricia Matte Larraín: president of the Primary Instruction Society, owner of several schools for poor children in Santiago
  Santiago, Chile
  Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
  
  
• Eliodoro Matte Larraín: president of conservative and influential think-tank Public Studies Center (Centro de Estudio Públicos, CEP)
• Bernardo Matte Larraín
• Magdalena Matte Lecaros
  Magdalena Matte
  Magdalena Matte Lecaros is a civil engineer, businesswoman and politician. She is member of the Independent Democratic Union and was part of Chile's Ministry of Housing and Urban Development under Chile's current President Sebastián Piñera for the term of 2010-2014...
  
  : Minister of Housing & Urbanism; wife of senator Hernán Larraín
  Hernán Larraín
  Hernán Larraín Fernández is a conservative Chilean lawyer, university lecturer, and politician; he is a current Senator and former President of the Senate, and is also currently serving as the president of the Independent Democrat Union. Larraín was elected to the Senate representing the 11th...
  
  
• María Olga Matte Lira: actress, wife of economist and politician Guillermo Larraín.
• Taylor Matte: famous male Chilean stripper

Sources

• "La sostenedora de la elite" La Nación
• “La sagrada familia”: Un recorrido por las dinastías chilenas Revista Cosas