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Atacama Desert, Spanish Desierto de Atacama, cool, arid region in northern Chile, 600 to 700 miles (1,000 to 1,100 km) long from north to south. Its limits are not exactly determined, but it lies mainly between the south bend of the Loa River and the mountains separating the Salado-Copiapó drainage basins. To the north, the desert continues to the border of Peru.
The original inhabitants of the region were the Atacame?os, an extinct Indian culture different from that of the Aymaras to the north and the Diaguitas to the south. For much of the 19th century, the desert was the object of conflicts among Chile, Bolivia, and Peru because of its mineral resources, particularly sodium nitrate deposits located northeast of Antofagasta and inland from Iquique. Much of the area originally belonged to Bolivia and Peru, but the mining industry was controlled by Chilean and British interests, which were strongly supported by the Chilean government. From the War of the Pacific (1879–83), Chile emerged victorious. The Treaty of Ancón (1883) gave Chile permanent ownership of sectors previously controlled by Peru and Bolivia, the latter losing its whole Pacific coastline.
The desert is completely barren and while most areas only receive moisture from an occasional fog or a shower every few decades, the rain gauge at Calama has never recorded any measurable precipitation. The Atacama is a high (most elevations are over 8000 feet) and cold desert, average temperatures range from 0° to 25° Celsius (32° to 75° F).
Chile's leading export of the nineteenth century was nitrate which came from mines in the Atacama Desert. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, when synthetic nitrates began to be produced, the Atacama Desert became responsible for Chile's current leading export, copper. Copper is mined in the eastern portion of the country, lying near the Argentina border.
Population in the Atacama Desert is severely limited. Settlements are limited to oases and mining towns. Water was once shipped to mining towns via mules and barrels but now arrives via aqueduct.
The original inhabitants of the region were the Atacame?os, an extinct Indian culture different from that of the Aymaras to the north and the Diaguitas to the south. For much of the 19th century, the desert was the object of conflicts among Chile, Bolivia, and Peru because of its mineral resources, particularly sodium nitrate deposits located northeast of Antofagasta and inland from Iquique. Much of the area originally belonged to Bolivia and Peru, but the mining industry was controlled by Chilean and British interests, which were strongly supported by the Chilean government. From the War of the Pacific (1879–83), Chile emerged victorious. The Treaty of Ancón (1883) gave Chile permanent ownership of sectors previously controlled by Peru and Bolivia, the latter losing its whole Pacific coastline.
The desert is completely barren and while most areas only receive moisture from an occasional fog or a shower every few decades, the rain gauge at Calama has never recorded any measurable precipitation. The Atacama is a high (most elevations are over 8000 feet) and cold desert, average temperatures range from 0° to 25° Celsius (32° to 75° F).
Chile's leading export of the nineteenth century was nitrate which came from mines in the Atacama Desert. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, when synthetic nitrates began to be produced, the Atacama Desert became responsible for Chile's current leading export, copper. Copper is mined in the eastern portion of the country, lying near the Argentina border.
Population in the Atacama Desert is severely limited. Settlements are limited to oases and mining towns. Water was once shipped to mining towns via mules and barrels but now arrives via aqueduct.
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