Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works, Chile

Following the end of the Saltpeter War between Chile, Peru and Bolivia in the 1880s, the Chilean territory annexed the provinces of Tarapacá and Antofagasta. These lands had a great variety of minerals. Among them, nitrate, which dramatically changed the country’s economy. During that period Chile became the world’s largest producer of this natural fertilizer.

Nitrate was exploited in Chile through three production systems, known as “Paradas”, “Shank” and “Guggenheim”. The Paradas System, the most rudimentary of them, was invented by Czech naturalist and geologist Tadeo Haenke and was used by the nitrate industry’s pioneers in the Tarapacá region. According to this system, saltpeter was heated over a direct fire to extract pure nitrate.

During the nitrate boom, there were over two hundred saltpeter works in northern Chile. All of them were interconnected by a specially-built modern railway system, whose construction began in the second half of the 19th century and was financed by private British companies.

The arrival of thousands of people to the Atacama Desert highlighted the need for urban development planning at the saltpeter offices, paving the way to a region-wide transformation during the first half of the 20th century. While Santa Laura’s urban installations have been mostly dismantled, the remains of Humberstone’s old town display the “Pampa” way of living and the infrastructure that made it possible: a regular grid pattern, living quarters that respond noticeably to a set hierarchy in the labour force, marital status and family and public buildings.

The isolation of Humberstone and Santa Laura, located far away from main cities, made it necessary for the companies to provide food, water and other elements to the mine-workers and their families. Each office had its own general store (called pulpería), where the employees could get all they needed to survive, from groceries to clothes.

The theatre of Humberstone’s office is located in front of the main square and was built between 1934 and 1935. Of Art Deco style and made of Oregon pine wood, it reflects the improvement in living conditions that the offices experienced during that period. With a capacity of around 360, in its heyday the theatre hosted operetta and zarzuela companies, as well as popular plays.

A great number of children migrated to the Pampa with their parents. Due to high poverty rates existing among mine-workers and their families, most of them had to work at the nitrate industry as well, receiving a lower salary than their adult counterpart. Their education was directly affected by this situation; although some attended school after working hours, most did not receive formal education at all.

Nowadays, the recently restored classrooms of San Mauricio School (Humberstone’s primary school) attest to the effort of teachers and parents to grant children the right to basic education despite extreme conditions in the middle of the Atacama Desert.

Pampinos is the demonym used for the people who lived in the Pampa’s company-towns, where they forged tangible 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.

Mine-workers and their families had to confront difficult living and working conditions in the Pampa. Along with their exposure to the harsh desert weather, they had to face poverty, long working hours, an unequal relation to more senior employees, and a salary paid in tokens. Their fight for a better quality of life and greater social justice motivated the birth of saltpetre workers’ unions. 

Nowadays, through a significant exhibition, these struggles are revived on site. The displays narrate the origins of the Chilean labour movement, which brought about an enduring social and political transformation.

Following the First World War, growing competition from the recently developed artificial saltpeter resulted in a gradual decline of this natural fertilizer’s commercialisation. Being Chile a major nitrate exporter, this situation had a severe impact on the country’s economy and led to the progressive closure of the Saltpeter Works. This triggered dramatic unemployment, poverty increase, as well as the migration of thousands of men to central and southern Chile. 

Acknowledging the progressive deterioration that Santa Laura and Humberstone suffered after their abandonment and their great value as a testimony of the nitrate boom in Chile, in 1970 the Chilean state began working on measures to protect and recognize this heritage. The first one was their declaration as a Historical Monument by the National Monuments Council, which is the most important statute for safeguarding tangible heritage in the country. From 2001, both sites are under the umbrella of the Saltpeter Museum Corporation, which has led various restoration works. Four years later, in 2005, Humberstone and Santa Laura entered the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The main criteria used to define these sites’ Outstanding Universal Value relate to both their importance for the nitrate industry in the world, and their contribution to Chile’s economy. Besides, these Saltpeter Works bear witness to the development of a particular set of skills, knowledge, culture and urban planning associated with this industry. 

Along with the inscription of Humberstone and Santa Laura on the World Heritage List in 2005, these sites were also placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, in order to cater for the serious threats to the conservation of their authenticity and integrity.

Among the conservation efforts undertaken to date in the Saltpeter Works, one can find interpretive design, security measures, the delimitation of the site’s buffer zone, the restoration of several buildings, operational planning, the construction of visitor infrastructure, the reinforcement of Santa Laura’s leaching tower, and the building of a bypass to facilitate arrival to the sites. 

Humberstone’s Interpretation Centre occupies the general store’s former building, which has been refurbished to host an exhibition recreating scenes from pampinos’ everyday life. Through human-scale sculptures, visitors can imagine how these people worked, shopped and socialized. The Centre also gives an account of the nitrate industry’s history in Chile, through glimpses at railway and maritime transport, the token system and gender roles.

Every third week of November, “Saltpeter Week” is celebrated in the Tarapacá Region. The commemoration programme, which is elaborated by pampinos’ associations, includes activities that take place both in Iquique – a major nearby city – and in Humberstone. This event gathers over two thousand visitors annually to celebrate the Pampa Culture and remember Humberstone’s old times.