Heritage sites, Archaeological discoveries, History of Archaeology

Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works

Location

Province of Iquique

Country

Chile

Year of Research

2005

Culture

It has over 200 former saltpeter works where workers from Chile, Peru and Bolivia lived in company towns and forged a distinctive communal pampinos culture.
Their rich language, creativity, and solidarity, and, above all, in their pioneering struggle for social justice,that manifested their culture in which had a profound impact on social history.
It lies in the remote Pampas and it is one of the driest deserts on Earth.It has thousands of pampinos and worked in this hostile environment for over 60 years, from 1880, to process the largest deposit of saltpeter in the world.It is famous fertilizer producing site and the sodium nitrate that was to transform agricultural lands in North and South America, and in Europe, and produce great wealth for Chile.
It became a huge cultural exchange complex.