The family Carabidae is the fourth largest Coleoptera family in Chile, The present work includes a brief compilation on the taxonomic history of the family and the first expeditions to Chile. In addition, knowledge of carabid diversity in Chile is compared with that of the Neotropics and other South American countries. There are 21 tribes of Carabidae represented in Chile (38.8% of the total found in Neotropics), with 95 genera (28.2% of the Neotropical fauna), and 365 species (7.9% of the total from the Neotropics). Chile has a low number of tribes compared with other countries, but it is an important area because six relictual tribes occur within it, being mostly gondwanan or pangeic. At the generic level, 18 genera are endemic (18.5% of Chilean genera), 28 genera are restricted to Chile and Argentina, and six to Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay. The number of carabid species in Chile is low compared with other South American countries, but the number of endemic species is high, 204, which is 55.8 % of the total carabid fauna of the country. This high endemicity in Chile might be due to Chile's isolated situation in South America. The Andean mountains and the Northern Desert region, separate Chile from most of the neotropical fauna, as is shown by the absence of important tribes such Lis the Galeritini, Scaritini, and Brachinini. Keys for all genera present in Chile are provided, with a brief description of habitat and species richness of each.