Chacabuco

Chacabuco - darkometer rating : 6 - One of northern Chile 's countless former nitrate mining ghost towns , which, in addition to that fact alone, earns a special place on the dark tourism map because it was used as a concentration camp for political prisoners during the earliest period of the Pinochet military dictatorship from 1973 to the end of 1974. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: Mineral extraction from Chile 's soils has very much determined the country's fortunes over the last two centuries, for better and for worse. Currently it is copper mining/smelting and the associated exports that fill the state's coffers (see Chuquicamata ). In the future, lithium extraction may become more important (large deposits have been found in the Salar de Atacama and other salt flats – see also Uyuni in Bolivia ). But around a century ago it was nitrate that made the northern parts of Chile "gold-rush" country. Nitrate, also called saltpetre, is a natural fertilizer and its mining became big business in the second half of the 19th century as agriculture in the developed world became increasingly "industrialized". In fact, access to the nitrate deposits in this arid desert land was the principal cause for/in the "War of the Pacific" that Chile fought with Peru and Bolivia from 1879 – which Chile won in 1883, i.e. by ending up annexing the disputed territory. To this day that fact remains a sore point in the relations between Chile and its northern neighbours. Peru lost some of its southern parts while Bolivia was hit doubly hard, cut off not only from the rich nitrate deposits but it also became a landlocked country after losing access to the Pacific coast and the port of Antofagasta.