History of Atacama

The original inhabitants of the Atacama desert were the atacamenos, who are an extinct indian culture. During the 19th century the area was the center of a lot of conflict between Chile, Bolivia, and Peru because of its mineral resources, specifically sodium nitrate deposits. The mining industry was controlled by British and Chilean interests, but after the Treaty of Ancon the mining rights to all sectors of the Atacama belonged to Chile. This area was a chief source of wealth until World War 1, then the nitrate deposits were mined out. Prior to world war 1 Chile had a world monopoly on sodium nitrate. After the sodium nitrate ran out copper mining began which soon replaced it as the areas chief source of revenue.

Lithium mining in the Atacama