Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works are two former
saltpeter
Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with a sharp, salty, bitter taste and the chemical formula . It is a potassium salt of nitric acid. This salt consists of potassium cations and nitrate anions , and is therefore an alkali metal nitrate ...
refineries located in northern
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
. They were declared a
UNESCO World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
in 2005, as a testament to the historical importance of saltpeter mining in Chile and the culture and social agenda that developed around it in the late 19th century.
The works were placed on the World Heritage List in Danger that same year, due to the fragility of the derelict buildings, but was removed in 2019.
Geography
Humberstone and Santa Laura are located 45km east of the city of
Iquique
Iquique () is a port List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the At ...
in the
Atacama Desert
The Atacama Desert () is a desert plateau located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of South America, in the north of Chile. Stretching over a strip of land west of the Andes Mountains, it covers an area of , which increases to if the barre ...
in the
Tarapacá Region
The Tarapacá Region (, ) is one of Chile's 16 first-order Administrative divisions of Chile, administrative divisions. It comprises two provinces, Iquique Province, Iquique and Tamarugal Province, Tamarugal. It borders the Chilean Arica y Par ...
in northern
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
.
Other saltpeter works or "nitrate towns" include
Chacabuco
Chacabuco is one of the many abandoned nitrate or "saltpeter" towns ("oficinas salitreras" in Spanish) in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Other nitrate towns of the Atacama Desert include Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works. Unlik ...
, Maria Elena, Pedro de Valdivia, Puelma and Aguas Santas.
Humberstone
File:Oficinas salitreras de Humberstone y Santa Laura, Chile, 2016-02-11, DD 82.jpg, View of Humberstone
File:Humberstone-- Joline & Neil.jpg, Humberstone Locomotive
File:Humberstone Church.jpg, Humberstone Church
File:Humberstone Theater.jpg, Humberstone Theater
File:Oficinas salitreras de Humberstone y Santa Laura, Chile, 2016-02-11, DD 61.jpg, Exterior of the theater.
File:Oficinas salitreras de Humberstone y Santa Laura, Chile, 2016-02-11, DD 23.jpg, Entrance to Humberstone.
Santa Laura
Santa Laura.JPG, Santa Laura plant
Santa Laura 5.jpg, Saltpeter Works
Santa Laura Machinery.jpg, Abandoned Machinery
History
In 1872, the Guillermo Wendell Nitrate Extraction Company founded the saltpeter works of Santa Laura, while the region was still a part of Peru. In the same year,
James Thomas Humberstone founded the "Peru Nitrate Company", establishing the works of "La Palma". Both works grew quickly, becoming busy towns characterized by English-style buildings.
While La Palma became one of the largest saltpeter extractors of the whole region, Santa Laura did not do well, as production was low. It was taken over in 1902 by the Tamarugal Nitrate Company. In 1913 Santa Laura halted its production until the Shanks extraction process was introduced, which enhanced productivity.
However the economic model collapsed during the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
of 1929 because of the development of the synthesis of
ammonia
Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...
by the Germans
Fritz Haber
Fritz Jakob Haber (; 9 December 1868 – 29 January 1934) was a German chemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his invention of the Haber process, a method used in industry to synthesize ammonia from nitrogen gas and hydrog ...
and
Carl Bosch
Carl Bosch (; 27 August 1874 – 26 April 1940) was a German chemist and engineer and Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. He was a pioneer in the field of high-pressure industrial chemistry and founder of IG Farben, at one point the world's largest ...
, which led to the industrial production of fertilizers. Practically bankrupt, both works were acquired by COSATAN (Compañía Salitrera de Tarapacá y Antofagasta) in 1934. COSATAN renamed La Palma into "Oficina Santiago Humberstone" in honor of its founder. The company tried to produce a competitive natural saltpeter by modernizing Humberstone, which led to its becoming the most successful saltpeter works in 1940.
Both works were abandoned in 1960 after the rapid decline that caused COSATAN to disappear in 1958. In 1970, after becoming ghost towns, they were declared national monuments and opened to tourism. In 2005 they were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
In 2001 Humberstone was remodeled when it served as a film set for the soap opera
Pampa Ilusión. The celebration of Saltpeter Week, authorized by Óscar Andía, was the key for the expampinos to fight to protect the office. This is how the Corporación Museo del Salitre (Saltpeter Museum Corporation) was formed, which took steps to transform both saltpeter offices into World Cultural Heritage by Unesco in 2005. The museum's mission was to protect the saltpeter offices.
See also
*
War of the Pacific
The War of the Pacific (), also known by War of the Pacific#Etymology, multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Treaty of Defensive Alliance (Bolivia–Peru), Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought over Atacama Desert ...
*
List of Saltpeter works in Tarapacá and Antofagasta
References
External links
Oficina Humberstone, formerly La PalmaChile's Mining Past Draws Tourists North: Santa Laura's pictures explaining saltpeter process
*
Explore Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works in the UNESCO collection on Google Arts and Culture
{{Authority control
Saltpeter works in Chile
Mining museums
Museums in Tarapacá Region
History museums in Chile
Mines in Chile
Atacama Desert
Ghost towns in South America
Former populated places in Chile
World Heritage Sites in Chile
Former mines in Chile