History of the Atacama Region, Chile

Timeline: History of Atacama
List of historical persons (A-M / N-Z)
Demografic data of Atacama

Mining History - World and Atacama
General conclusions of the period 1830-1920
Tres Puntas - Chañarcillo - Potrerillos - Amolanas Aqueduct - Sofía mine - Coquimbana de Astillas -
Cerro Blanco - El Bronce- Jarilla - Chimneys of Labra - Lomas Bayas - Coal Mine of Ternera - Borax in Pedernales - Agua Amarga
more mines and places ...

pic visitantes Atacama
Researchers and Visitors of the last centuries in Atacama
Charles Darwin - Darwin in Vallenar - Darwin en Sauce

Paul Treutler - Introduction
Treutler y Ferrocarril - Accidente ferroviario - Description of Copiapó - Treutler about Copiapó - Treutler in Caldera - Treutler in Tres Puntas - Treutler - Salvadora Mine in Tres Puntas - Terremotos en general - Terremoto en Tres Puntas - Accidente en la mina Cobriza - Treutler the miners of Tres Puntas - Treutler: Mining at Tres Puntas - more Treutler...

Ignacio Domeyko
Ignacio Domeyko y Copiapó - Minería en Atacama en 1840 - Domeyko en Chañarcillo - Domeyko: Carrizal 1840 - Carta Agua Amarga - Text of Agua Amarga - Domeyko in Cerro Blanco - Excursion Río Copiapó - Pulido

Charles Darwin (1834, 1835)
Darwin in Vallenar
Darwin in Sauce
Charles Darwin about Copiapó (1835)
Charles Darwin en el modulo de trabajos históricos

Amado Pissis (1875)
The Atacama desert

Herman Burmeister
Earthquake in Copiapó - Burmeister en Caldera - Viaje en Tren Pabellón-Copiapó - Journey by Train Copiapó to Caldera

V. Pérez Rosales (1859)
Copiapó - Caldera
Carta de Atacama

Rudolfo Amando Philippi
Introduction Philippi - Philippi en Caldera - Drawing of Caldera de Philippi - Philippi trip Caldera Copiapó by train - en Copiapó (1853) - Camino de los Inca - Philippi at Tres Puntas (1856) - Philippi and Tres Puntas (1860) - Philippi: History of Tres Puntas - Desert climate - Philippi (1856): Phenomena in the desert - Maps of Atacama - ...more Philippi

Recaredo Tornero
Pictures of Tres Puntas - Selection of Minerals in the Esperanza Mine, Atacama desert - Chile - Mina Dolores Chañarcillo - Vista parcial de Copiapó - Calle Chañarcillo - Plaza de Copiapó
Texto: Miners at Atacama
Apires y barreteros - Tornero
Copiapó in general (1872)
Copiapó y aguas (1872)
Copiapó, datos generales
Copiapó Public Buildings
Empresas en Copiapó

Hugo Kunz (1890)
Copiapó at 1890 - Caldera - Chañarcillo - Ferrocarril trasandino - Trayecto Carrizal - Cerro Blanco - Ferrocarril de Copiapó

M. Gilliss (1849-55)
Miners of Chañarcillo - Descripción terremoto 1851 - Excursion to the Andes, Come Caballo pass - Carta de Atacama - Imagen de Caldera

Alejandro Bertrand
Railroad Trasandino
Diferenciación Cordillera Principal por Villanueva
Map Pedernales - Co. Bravo
Map Maricunga - San Francisco

Francisco Marcial Aracena (1884)
Mina San Pedro (Inca de Oro)
Huasco - Caldera - Chañaral
Carrizal Bajo - Carrizal Alto - Ferrocarril Carrizal
Cerro Blanco
Technical innovations in mining

Francisco San Román (1894)
Geology de Chañarcillo
Description of Tres Puntas
Description of Puquios
Carrizal Alto
Cerro Blanco and Jarilla (Bronces)
Cachiyuyo de Llampos
Text of Inca and Isla (1894)

Enrique Espinoza (1895)
Map of the Atacama Region
Detailed map of Atacama
Copiapó map of Railways
Ferrocarril Trasandino por Maricunga
Copiapó

Ramírez y Navarrete
Necesidades de Atacama (Copiapó), 1932

J.G.: Letter from a Cornish miner

Introduction
Presentation of some aspects of the history of the Atacama Region, located in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.

The chapter on the history of the Atacama Region (Chile) in the Virtual Museum aims to clarify and visualize some historical facts in the Region. Some pages show the vestiges of pre-Spanish cultures, for example the Inca Smelter Viña del Cerro (here) or the Inca Trail (here). But the focus of the Virtual Museum is the development of the Region after 1830. Historical mining (Chañarcillo), the construction of a railroad network (Intro) from the deposits to the ports.
Also a very interesting topic is Atacama's role in the natural sciences: Charles Darwin's trip for example and his stay in Vallenar. There are still a number of vestiges of these glorious decades where the Atacama Region played a very important role in mining and industry worldwide. The aim of the pages presented here is to generate an awareness of the history of the Region and to value the sites that still show in a living way the events of past centuries.
The mysticism of the Atacama Desert as a combination of the almost endless geological richness always drew attention to the scientific community.
The appearance of abandoned villages - in ruins, cemeteries in the middle of the infinite desert, embankments of a railway that leads to the horizon, all this produces an unreal and almost unique situation in the world. In conclusion, in the Atacama Region the historical interest should illuminate the pre-Columbian era, the beginning of industrialized mining, the geographical recognition of the Atacama Desert, the installation of the railway network, in general the development of infrastructure.

PIC FFCC Atacama
History of the Atacama railroads:
Introduction Railways in Atacama
Gauges and tracks
Interactive map with specific places
Large map and information
List of the historic lines
Stations in northern Chile
Longitudinal Norte Atacama
Longitudinal Norte Coquimbo
FFCC salitrera Taltal
Map of the lines
Schematic map of the lines

Historical records:
Viaje con el Ferrocarril en 1852 (Treutler)
Burmeister Pabellón - Copiapó
Treutler: Accidente
Kunz: Proyecto FFCC Andino