The Abandoned Humberstone And Santa Laura Saltpeter Works

Forty-eight kilometers eastward of the urban center of Iquique inward the Atacama Desert inward northern Republic of Chile , lies the remains of ii large saltpeter works. Between the piece of cake 19th century too early on 20th century , thousands of workers drawn from Republic of Chile , Republic of Peru too Republic of Bolivia lived too worked inward the hostile surround of 1 of the driest deserts on basis extracting too processing sodium nitrate , likewise known every bit saltpeter , which was used to create fertilizers too , historically , gunpowder.

These deposits were exploited yesteryear Republic of Bolivia , Republic of Chile too Republic of Peru since the 1840s. H5N1 fighting betwixt these countries to command the nitrate-rich part eventually led to the War of the Pacific (1879–1883) , likewise known every bit the Saltpeter War , inward which Republic of Chile defeated Republic of Peru too Republic of Bolivia , too gained a pregnant amount of terra firma from both countries. These acquisition enabled Republic of Chile to practically monopolize the production of natural nitrate. By the 1890s Republic of Chile was supplying virtually 80% of the nitrogen used inward the world.

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Photo credit: Carlos Varela/Flickr

At that fourth dimension to a greater extent than than 200 saltpeter plant were inward performance inward the Atacama Desert , all of which were interconnected yesteryear a peculiarly built modern railway system. H5N1 dozen or then fellowship towns such every bit Chacabuco , Maria Elena , Pedro de Valdivia , Puelma too Aguas Santas sprang upwardly , where the workers lived too “forged a distinctive communal Pampinos civilization , manifest inward their ain rich linguistic communication , inventiveness , too solidarity ,” every bit noted yesteryear UNESCO’s website.

The First World War brought radical changes inward both the provide too require side of Blue Planet nitrate marketplace position , the most notable is the shift inward nitrogen consumption from agricultural role towards large-scale production of gunpowder too explosives. Before the state of war , Deutschland was the largest marketplace position of Chilean nitrate , but in 1 lawsuit the merchandise routes of saltpeter came nether British command , the substance of nitrate exports moved towards Great U.K. , the United States too other European countries , where it was used inward the production of ammunition for the war.

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The master copy processing facility at Santa Laura. Photo credit: El ojo etnográfico/Flickr

Denied of natural nitrate , Deutschland stepped upwardly enquiry inward synthetic nitrate production leading to a crucial breakthrough when Fritz Haber (1868–1934) developed the procedure of nitrogen fixation through ammonia inward 1913 , making large-scale production of synthetic nitrogen economically feasible. This procedure , combined amongst the method developed yesteryear only about other Russian-German scientist too Nobel Prize winner Wilhelm Ostwald (1853–1932) for converting ammonia into nitric acid freed Germany’s military machine manufacture from its dependence on Chilean nitrate.

The evolution of synthetic nitrate non solely prolonged the state of war , but likewise transformed Blue Planet nitrogen market. Synthetic nitrates displaced Chilean saltpeter every bit the master copy beginning of nitrogen , too the Latin American saltpeter manufacture started to decline. By the 1960s , all the mines had shutdown too sold-off for scrap.

The ghost towns of Humberstone too Santa Laura plant are today the best preserved ones. The industrial surface area of Santa Laura mine has ruins of industrial installations too equipment , including the solely leaching shed too a saltpeter grinder that stay intact today. The Humberstone site has preserved living quarters , populace spaces too communal buildings of the fellowship town. Both sites were declared National Monument inward the 1970s , too inward 2005 they were declared a World Heritage Site yesteryear UNESCO for beingness the “most instance remaining vestiges of an manufacture that transformed the lives of a large proportion of the population of Chile” too “brought nifty wealth to the country.”

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