| The Atacama Desert is an amazing place - | | | | capital in to the Chilean nitrates industry |
| renowned as the driest place on earth it | | | | and took control of nearly all nitrate |
| conjures up images of a desolate barren | | | | production. During this boom period towns |
| wilderness. Which, of course much of it is, | | | | sprang up around the nitrate plants. |
| but it is also a land of great natural beauty | | | | |
| and fascinating human history. One such | | | | The best preserved of these towns is |
| period of its colourful history was the | | | | Humberstone, built in 1862 and named after a |
| nitrates boom, which resulted in the British | | | | later owner, James Humberstone. It is located |
| ghost towns, that still stand, arrogantly | | | | inland from the city of Iquique in an area |
| Victorian in uninhabited parts of the desert | | | | known as the Pampa - a plateau between the |
| where it never rains. | | | | costal mountains and the Andes. Humberstone, |
| | | | like the other nitrate towns, is a ghost |
| Nitrates first began to be commercially | | | | town. |
| exploited in the 1860 when the Atacama Desert | | | | |
| belonged to Peru and Bolivia. However, in | | | | The invention of a synthetic method for |
| 1878 a dispute between Chile and Bolivia over | | | | producing ammonium nitrate killed the booming |
| export licences resulted in Chile sending | | | | business off as quickly as it had sprung up. |
| troops to the region to protect her | | | | Walking through the deserted streets of |
| interests. War broke out with Peru joining in | | | | Humberstone you get the sense that its |
| on the side of Bolivia. The result of the | | | | inhabitants fled a great natural disaster. |
| ensuing five year war was that Chile remained | | | | Everything is as it was then, just aged by |
| in possession of the Atacama and its | | | | the harsh sun and cold nights. There is a |
| nitrates. | | | | church, a theatre, the humble dwellings of |
| | | | the workers, the grand houses of the managers |
| Nitrates were in much demand in Europe and | | | | and the processing plant. The only sound is |
| North America as the raw material for | | | | the dry desert wind blowing through the long |
| fertilisers and the production of explosives. | | | | since empty streets relentlessly returning |
| After the war British companies poured | | | | this Victorian relic to desert. |