CTF ESANE DEL
NORTE
ANTOFAGASTA
SECOND
REGION,
REGION
OF ANTOFAGASTA
Profesor: Ronald Low
Código: 154.06.01
Antofagasta, Septiembre 12 de 2002
Index
Introduction………………………………………………………………
3
Geography……………………………………………………………… 4
Access
Ways……………………………………………………………… 5
Relief………………………………………………………………
5
Climate……………………………………………………………… 5
Flora
and Fauna……………………………………………………………… 6
Economic
Activity……………………………………………………………… 6
Historical
Background Information …………………….. 6
History
of Towns
Antofagasta ………………………………………………………………
8
Mejillones ………………………………………………………………
8
Taltal ……………………………………………………………… 8
Sierra Gorda
……………………………………………………………… 9
Tocopilla ……………………………………………………………… 9
María Elena ………………………………………………………………
9
Calama ……………………………………………………………… 10
San
Pedro de Atacama ……………………………………………… 10
Ollagüe ……………………………………………………………… 11
Conclusion ……………………………………………………………… 12
Introduction
What
makes Chile so interesting is that it has everything Nature has to offer, from a rainy forest in the southern regions
to the world’s driest desert. This makes us a main attraction here in Latin
America. The reasons Chile seems so special are many, we are the most one can
go to the South, and we are not the Antarctic, even when we still have part of
it as our national territory.
Not everybody in the world knows this country is divided in twelve different regions and Santiago, the capital city. Every Region has its own Municipality and obeys the National Government. The country’s regions were created to manage the country easier. It is too long and the geographic conditions change from place to place. The First Region is way up North and settles our limits with Peru. The Southern regions are closer to the Antarctic, and climate depends also on the land and its location so we have different weather conditions too. For example, up north doesn’t rain much, when way down south, like the City of Valdivia, in the Tenth Region rains a whole lot.
But
we live that I think represents Chile on a great way. The Second Region is the
widest part of Chile’s long territory and it has beautiful beaches at the
coast, historic ghost towns in the middle of the Sierra and Salt lakes on the
high Andes. Eventhough it remains next to the ocean, it has the driest desert,
Atacama Desert.
That
is not all, now we will discover more and more about the geography from the
place we live in, historical background from early years and much more. This is
an invitation to dive in the magical Region of Antofagasta.
ANTOFAGASTA
REGION
GEOGRAPHY
Region:
Region of Antofagasta
Regional
Capital:
Antofagasta
Provinces:
Antofagasta, Tocopilla, El Loa
Provincial
Capitals:
Antofagasta, Tocopilla, Calama
Towns of the Province of
Antofagasta:
Antofagasta, Taltal, Mejillones, Sierra Gorda
Towns of the Province of
Tocopilla:
Maria Elena, Tocopilla
Towns of the Province of El
Loa:
Calama, Ollague, San Pedro de Atacama.
Demographic Detail by
Province:
Inhabitants Surface
Antofagasta
247.000 Inhabitants 68.152.5km2
Tocopilla
38.465 Inhabitants 16.353.9km2
El Loa
125.079 Inhabitants 41.937.5km2
Located on a zone
known as The Far North of Chile, the Region of Antofagasta is extended in a
surface of 125.626 km2, with an estimate population of 410.750 inhabitants and
a demographic density of 2.27 inhabitant per km2. It raises from see level up
to 5.000 meters in the Precordillera.
Antofagasta is the
Second Region of the Chilean National Territory. It’s divided in three
provinces and nine towns, being its Capital the city of Antofagasta.
Its northern border is
the Tarapacá Region, Bolivia and Argentina to the east, to the south with the
Atacama Region and to the west with the Pacific Ocean.
Access Ways
Terrestrial: The highway
called Ruta 5 Chile (Part of the Panamericana Highway) crosses the region and
it is its main entrance and exit to the North of the country. Internationally,
the region is connected with Argentina through the Paso de Sico and Paso de
Jama (Province of Salta and Jujuy in Argentina).
Railways: The region is
connected to the National Railway Net and internationally it has connections
with Argentina and Bolivia to transport heavy loads.
Airway: The city of
Antofagasta has the International Airport
Cerro Moreno and El Loa in Calama,
which are connection points to national airlines.
See: The Region has
two big Ports: Antofagasta and Tocopilla, capables of receiving heavy load
ships. Other minor ports are Taltal and Mejillones.
RELIEF
The regional relief allows us to see:
a.
Cordillera
de la Costa. This mountain
range reaches the highest height of the country.
b.
Intermediate
Depression. It is the biggest and widest
of the country. It cannot be forgotten that this is the widest part of the
country, in the Peninsula of Angamos and the Nevado de Poquis. The Atacama
Desert presents its harshness, no dust and complete absence of life in some
places. It is a very singular place that cannot be compared to any other desert
of the world.
c.
Cordillera
de Los Andes. It is divided in
two: Cordillera del Medio and Cordillera Domeyko. Between this two remains the
biggest salt lakes of the world, with very important mineral sources such as
Copper and Lithium.
CLIMATE
Inside this region, three different climates can be found:
a.
Desert Coastal
Climate. It is presented right by the ocean, characterized by the fog that
intensifies during winter and the high humidity due to the camanchaca.
b.
Desert Normal
Climate. The desert climate prevails between the mountains, where the humidity
level is low, the atmosphere is clear and sudden changes of temperature occur
between daylight and night, but no rain at all.
c.
High Desert
Climate. 3.000mts over the see level, the media temperature is 10 Degrees
Celsius. The height lowers the temperature that registers no variation through
out the year. Nevertheless, extreme temperatures are presented during day and
night. Despite of the fog, we can see sun every single day of the year.
FLORA AND FAUNA
Flora.
The vegetation is characterized because it develops on a dry environment.
In the coast as in the precordillera there are big size species of trees such
as:
Tamarugo
Pimiento
Algarrobo
Chañar
Yareta
Cactus
Fauna.
Here we could find typical species of arid zones.
In the Precordillera and Cordillera are Lamas, vicuñas, alpacas, vizcachas, chinchillas, rabbits, hares and
guanacos, which are raw material for the textile industry. At the coast,
birds such as Pelican, Garuma, and Seagull can be found.
In the Salt Lakes of the Atacama Desert, there are spectacular birds
such as Parimas or Flamingoes, which with their beauty attract hundreds of
tourists. Higher, Condors and Eagles can be seen.
Many fishes and mollusks live in the see. Octopus, clams, hedgehogs,
limpets, snails, oysters and crabs, as well as Sea Bass, Golden, Jurel,
Albacora and other kind of fishes.
ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
The exploitation of natural sources, specifically the mining industry
represents the most important activity of the region. Basic resources are
copper, saltpeter, iodine and lithium. The mines of Chuquicamata, El Abra,
Radomiro Tomic, La Escondida and Mantos Blancos make the region to produce most
of the copper in the country. Saltpeter production centralizes through the
Office of Maria Elena.
Also, the sea gives work to many people, being fishing part of the main
industries too.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
INFORMATION
Three different periods can be distinguished in this region, as well as
in the Far North.
1.
Prehispanic Period
2.
Hispanic Period
3.
Contemporary Period
- Prehispanic Period or of the
early inhabitant. From 14.000 b.C.
Until the conquest of the Spaniards in 1.540 a. C.
In 2.000 b. C, the
Atacameños’ culture is consolidated. Their language was the main idiom of the
region (Cunza.) An agricultural revolution took place, being completely related
to the use of the Lama, the most useful animal in the high Andes, and the
animal that can be tamed.
Pottery, metallurgy, textile
industry and bone and woodcarving reached a high development, standing out the
influence of the Tihuanaco Empire. The must settle down on small and narrow
valleys, and live from agriculture. El Loa medio offered its crops and trees,
leaving prove of this people’s advance. Around 1.350 a.C. Arrived the Inca
Empire, with all of its traditions and religious rituals that are all adopted
by the Atacameños.
This culture develops next
to the Oasis of Rio Loa and the small rivers born at the high mountains. At the
coast, the inhabitants are nomads. All of this culture’s background is shown in
the Museums “Reverendo Padre Le Paige” in San Pedro de Atacama and “Museo
Regional” in Antofagasta.
- Prehispanic Period. It starts
out with the arrival of the Spaniards, under the command of Don Pedro de
Valdivia, in 1540, settling down initially in today’s Chiu-Chiu, using the
road “Camino del Inca” located through the mountains.
The Pukaras, remain from the
10th century a.C. And were located very high in easy defense places.
They counted on walls made of stones and their houses were small and made of
wood and straw as ceiling and they also built storage places. In places known
today: Chorrillos, Dupont and Ojo de Opache, the first nucleus was located.
This made them want to be called Lican Antay, which means “Inhabitants of the
village”.
Later on, San Pedro de
Atacama, Peine, Toconao, Calama were founded. This period is highly
characterized for the introduction of the Catholic Religion and the Spanish
language.
- Contemporary Period. In 1888,
the Province of Antofagasta was created, with its divisions: Tocopilla,
Antofagasta and Taltal. In 1924,
the division of El Loa, with Calama as the Capital was created.
This Period is characterized
for the development of the iron, copper, saltpeter, silver and gold
exploitation and with the establishment or decadence of some mining towns.
During this time, the main English and Croatian migration took place.
W.W.II gives the mineral
industry a push.
HISTORY OF TOWNS
Every single
place has its own history, so we are going to take a look at how every city in
this region has growth and developed.
ANTOFAGASTA
It means “Town of the big
salt lake” in Quechua language. Its formation and growth started due to the
exploitation of saltpeter.
The first inhabitant was the
miner Juan Lopez, best known as “El Chango Lopez”. He came from Copiapo and
started to live in Antofagasta’s bay, which he named “Peña Blanca”, today’s
Chimba. His work here was to look for copper streaks and he achieved his goal
not too far from the coast, in the Salar del Carmen. The road to Salar del
Carmen was built in 1871, and later on, this road was used for everyone.
The city celebrates
its day on February 14th. Where many special events take place with
the support of the Municipality and social institutions.
In present times the
city has grown enormously. In the
beginning as result of the saltpeter industry and then, with the copper
industry. Antofagasta’s port is the one that exports the most copper in the
world. Since the 60s, the city has had many immigrants due to the education
places in town, such as Universidad Catolica del Norte, Universidad de
Antofagasta, Universidad Jose Santos Ossa, and some other schools, making
Antofagasta the center of scientific, cultural and technical formation of the
north.
MEJILLONES
The founders named
this town "Mejillones" because the “mejillon” is a typical mollusk in
this place, which was also their favorite food.
On 1841 the
exploitation of “guano” an organic fertilizer. Under the government of the
President Manuel Bulnes, the exploitation of guano was given to the French
Domingo Latrille. This industry was diminishing its importance in economy and
as a work source. The situation turned
around in 1870, with the discovering of “Caracoles”, a silver mine that gave
Mejillones’ port a new opportunity to grow.
Between 1873 and 1875
an attempt to build a trail to connect Caracoles and the port. The project
failed completely due to the lack of money. This caused Mejillones a crisis and
in 1883 it had only 90 inhabitants, causing the port to shut down.
In 1905 Mejillones was
reborn, as a consequence of the saltpeter industry. The town flourished until
the 30s, going back down with the break down of the industry.
During the 50s, the
establishment of the “Sociedad Chilena de Fertilizantes” (Chilean Society of
Fertilizers) create a new work source for Mejillones.
Mejillones was
declared a community by the President Carlos Ibañez del Campo on January 4th,
1957.
TALTAL
This port is located between Chañaral and Antofagasta. Its beaches were the ancient settlement for the “changos.” Some archeological studies say that this settlement is about 10.000 years old.
After the boom of
saltpeter in Peru, also explorations are made in Chile and Jose Antonio Moreno
discovered and founded the Saltpeter District in Taltal (1858). He installed a
mineral processing plant after exploring, discovering and development of the
deposits in Caleta el Cobre. On July 12th, 1858 the Chilean
government establishes Taltal as a landing stage or mineral port.
Around 1876, 21
Saltpeter Offices were open and they did their shipments through Caleta Oliva.
In 1877, the government ordered to build a city there and as the years went by,
Taltal had more than 40 Saltpeter Offices and 7 shipment piers. This was a very
successful town until the 30s. Some of the Saltpeter Offices such as “Flor de Chile”
and “Oficina Alemania” are National Monuments today.
SIERRA GORDA
Geological term given by
Ignacio Domeyko to this consecutive mountain range of low height. It is located
in the highway between Calama and Antofagasta, a point where today is the international
route to Paso de Jama, which connects
this region with Jujuy and Salta in Argentina.
It was created in 1872
with the discovering of Caracoles. Its Municipality was located in Baquedano.
Its Railroad Station was the most important in the Second Region. In 1913 it
had a length of 1.000 mts. And it was 40 Mts. wide. It was very important
because it was a loading station as well as a passenger station for the
National Railway “Longino” that used to go between La Calera and Iquique and
also a transfer station for the Railway Antofagasta Bolivia. Baquedano was
declared National Monument in 1983.
TOCOPILLA
The name means,
“Corner of the Devil”, as the inhabitants say. Doming Latrille Lountaunou, who
traced the first streets, founded it on September 29th, 1843.
15 years after its
settlement, important copper export is made.
During 1870 the first saltpeter shipments took place from El Canton
Toco. A year after that, Tocopilla is declared Minor Port. Its mayor boom
starts during this century, with the inauguration of the Railroad to Toco.
On 1815 the
thermoelectric plant that feeds Chuquicamata started to work.
Though the last years,
Tocopilla’s port has incorporated much new technology to its installations,
becoming the second port of this region and the first saltpeter port of the
world.
MARIA ELENA
The first
administrator, Don Elias Anton Ceppelen, after his wife “Mary Helen” named
Maria Elena.
During 1824 he decides
to purchase the territories of Salar de Miraje in order to build Maria Elena
(1926) and Pedro de Valdivia (1930). Both plants have gigantic sizes compared
to the size of the common Saltpeter Offices. He utilized the criteria of
“Zoning” which mean to divide the city in three different parts: the industry,
the neighborhood and the mining camp. Its distribution simulates the British
Flag, so everything merges from the center of town, the Plaza.
He designed a new
procedure for the extraction and purification of the mineral. The international
name for this new system is Guggenheim. On 1965, the company goes to the
Sociedad Quimica Minera de Chile, SOQUIMICH.
Maria Elena’s
Municipality was created on November 20th, 1980.
Maria Elena is the
biggest office in the history of the saltpeter industry.
CALAMA
The name “Calama”
comes from the cunza language “Cklama” and it means a place plentiful of
quails”. It was founded on March 23rd, 1879. The Municipality of
Calama was founded on October 13th, 1888, during the government of
the President Jose Manuel Bulnes.
It was presumed that
the first location of Calama was where today remains Chiu-Chiu. It has very
remote origin, and it was consolidating through out the years. The Quechuas and
Aymara Indians first settled around the banks of the Loa river; having the
purpose of development agriculture and livestock. Some historians say that
before them, there was another settlement of Indians that were also interested
in the search of silver and gold, but they only found copper.
Around 1833, Calama
functioned as an administrative center and hospital service to the people who
used the road between Cobija and Potosi. In 1858 increases the prosperity due
to the exploitation of San Bartolo and other mines that had 1.000 men working
and 4.000 inhabitants, being even bigger than Calama. After the creation of the
port La Chimba, and the opening of the mine Caracoles, Calama became the supply
center for thousand of workers.
Following the
decadence of the mineral Caracoles, many workers and families looked for new
opportunities in other mines. A new thrust was given by the economic
development, when the Railroad to La Paz was built (1886). Also, the needs of
the saltpeter offices were supplied in Calama.
During 1911 was the
installation of the mineral of Chuquicamata, today’s biggest open-pit mine of
the world, property of Codelco Chile. In these days, the exploitation of two
other mines, “El Abra’ and “Radomiro Tomic”, which added to other mines of the
region results as the total production that is superior as the production in
the U. S. A.
The 31st of
October 1924, the Department of El Loa was created, being its capital Calama.
SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA
San Pedro de
Atacama is named after Saint Peter. The word “Atacama” comes from the Atacameño
Language and it means “ head of the country”.
From old times it was the
main center of the Atacama Culture, with a defensive fort in Quitor and a
population divided in 15 “ayllús” or economic and social association with
family ties. Its first inhabitants developed their life around agriculture,
possible influenced by the Aymara Indians.
San Pedro de Atacama
integrates itself to the hispanic history with the arrival of Diego de Almagro
in 1536 and Pedro de Valdivia in 1540. Historians think that Pedro de Valdivia
founded San Pedro de Atacama after his first trip to Chile. The reasons were
mainly the climate and geographic location (It is an oasis.)
This town was born
with the construction of the house of Pedro de Valdivia, as well as the
construction of Church of San Pedro de Atacama. In 1555 the Cabildo of San
Pedro de Atacama (a town council) was built. It worked for several years
serving the community and the government.
OLLAGÜE
The name of this town
comes from the Aymará “ullañahua” that means “beautiful view”. It was formed
between 1886 and 1889.
In those years the
International Railway Antofagasta Bolivia was rebuilt. The land’s desolation and the difficulties
of the construction of a road for the train made the company in charge of the
project to build homes and its own installations for workers and their families.
It is important to
point out that in this place the biggest locations of sulfate can be found
within 5.000 and 6.000 Mts. height. Due to this location, climate conditions
made work possible only for the people who was used to live in that height, and
were resistant to cold temperatures and puna.
Ollagüe, Buenaventura, Amincha, Aucalquincha were the first locationsexploited and they also supplied copper industry and the Chemical Society.
Conclusion
Personal
opinion
I think this place has too much to offer to every single person that visits it. The foreigner people I know are always fascinated with our climate, that the fact that almost doesn’t rain at all makes it even more interesting. For them, here in the City of Antofagasta is like we have evergreen climate, and it is always mild and nice here at the coast.
Then,
in the higher places, the desert has much to offer to anyone’s sight, also the
air is different, and not to say the attractions are uncountable. The history
of every single place makes it even more interesting to those who don’t know
much about us….
The hardest part of everything is a problem that we may have as a country. We went to get all the information to Sernatur, which is the National Service of Tourism. They are suppose to give information to any person who is interested in knowing more about our own place, our own identity, but instead of treating people well, they seem to not care at all… I wonder if that is a way to make people want to come back and visit us once more…
