Pampa Culture

Pampinos is the demonym used for the people who lived in the Pampa’s company-towns, where they forged tangible and cultural and intangible cultural ties related to the industry. On the one hand, the physical remains of Humberstone and Santa Laura reflect the particular way of life developed in the Saltpeter Works, in terms of urban planning, social organisation, recreation, and so on. On the other, the Pampa Culture manifested itself in the use of a peculiar language binding together workers from many countries, specific food preparations, creativity, solidarity, a common sense of identity and a shared memory.
One of the most important legacies of pampinos was their struggle for social justice and better life and work conditions, which deeply influenced Chile’s social and historical processes. To this day, the Pampa Culture still has a relevant symbolic association to former mine-workers, their families and their descendants.