La Tirana is a

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 ...

an town in the commune of

Pozo Almonte Pozo Almonte () is a city and commune of Chile located in the interior of Atacama Desert. It has been the capital of Tamarugal Province since this province was established in 2007. The city is located at from Tacapacá Region's capital, Iquique ...

El Tamarugal Province Tamarugal Province () is one of two provinces in the northern Chilean region of Tarapacá. The capital is the city of Pozo Almonte. Name The province is named after Pampa del Tamarugal. Spanish name: * Provincia de Tamarugal: Used by the gover ...

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 ...

. The town lies in an oasis in the middle of the

Pampa del Tamarugal Pampa del Tamarugal ("Plateau of the Tamarugal") is a vast plain encompassing a significant portion of the Norte Grande, Chile, and originally named for the '' Prosopis tamarugo'' trees that used to cover its surface. It is located between the pa ...

, about 72 km inland from the port 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 ...

. The town is notable for its religious feast in honor of

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Our Lady of Mount Carmel, or Virgin of Carmel, is a Roman Catholic Titles of Mary, title of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated as patron saint, patroness of the Carmelites, Carmelite Order. The first Carmelites were Christian hermits living on M ...

. It is celebrated on July 16 of each year, being the most important religious feast of the

Norte Grande The Norte Grande (''Big North'', ''Far North'', ''Great North'') is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. It borders Peru to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Altiplano, Bolivia and A ...

. The area around La Tirana was deforested in the 19th century largely as a result of high demand for firewood driven by the

paradas method The paradas method (, ''sistema de paradas'') was a process to extract nitrate from caliche by leaching. In this method caliche was boiled in water in large pans called "paradas". It was a firewood and labour-intensive process, and it required the ...

used to process

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 ...

References

Populated places in El Tamarugal Province {{Tarapacá-geo-stub