Norte Grande

Norte Grande, the northernmost desert region of Chile, whose two major administrative regions, Tarapacá and Antofagasta, have a combined population of 747,635 (1990). The Norte Grande region was not a part of Chilean territory until after the War of the Pacific (1879–1884), when the victorious Chileans claimed the land and its rich copper and nitrate deposits from the beaten Bolivians. By the early twentieth century the region was in the midst of an unprecedented nitrate boom, which just as quickly deflated when European companies developed new petroleum-based fertilizers. Thereafter, the copper industry experienced an upswing, and in the early twenty-first century many copper mines dotted the landscape, including the world's largest open pit copper mine, Chuquicamata.

The physical features of the Norte Grande are the coastal strip, where most of the important centers are located (Arica, Iquique, Mejillones, and Antofagasta); the central basin, or Pampa del Tamarugal, and the extended interior high basin of the Loa River; the Chilean Altiplano in the upper Andes; and the Chilean segment of the Puna de Atacama. The coastal cities are mainly dedicated to trade and to the export of minerals from the interior and from Bolivian mines. Fisheries in Arica and Iquique also contribute to the economy. In the interior basins, nitrate (María Elena, Pedro de Valdivia, and Mantos Blancos), iodine, and copper mining (Chuquicamata and El Salvador) are dominant. The Chilean Altiplano is populated by Aymara people engaged mostly in pastoral activities. In the Puna de Atacama, natural salt and borax are the principal extractive resources. Agriculture thrives in some river oases fed with the snowmelt from Andean volcanoes. Valued crops are the vegetables and olives from the Azapa Valley, north of Arica, and the citrus fruits and tomatoes from Pica and Matilla, in the Pampa del Tamarugal.

See alsoAgriculture; Chile, Geography; Mining: Modern; Nitrate Industry; War of the Pacific.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Instituto Geográfico Militar, "Región de Tarapacá," in Geografía de Chile, vol. 22 (Santiago, 1986).

Sara Larraín, Norte Grande: 500 años después (Santiago, 1989).

Instituto De Investigaciones Del Patrimonio Nacional, Universidad De Chile, El Norte Grande. Vol. 3, Jornadas territoriales (Santiago, 1989).

Additional Bibliography

Jordá, Eduardo. Norte Grande: viaje por el desierto de Atacama. Barcelona: Ediciones Península, 2002.

Melcher, Gerardo. El norte de Chile: su gente, desiertos, y volcanes. Santiago de Chile: Universitaria, 2004.

Rector, John Lawrence. The History of Chile. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003.

                                     CÉsar N. Caviedes