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ATACAMA

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 822 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ATACAMA , a See also:

province of See also:northern See also:Chile, bounded N. and S. respectively by the provinces of See also:Antofagasta and See also:Coquimbo, and extending from the Pacific See also:coast E. to the See also:Argentine boundary See also:line. It has an See also:area of 30,729 sq. m., lying in See also:great See also:part within the Atacama See also:desert region (see below), and a See also:population (1902) of 71,446. The See also:silver and See also:copper mines of the province are numerous, some of them ranking among the most productive known, .but the See also:majority are worked with limited See also:capital and on a small See also:scale. The silver ore was first discovered in 1832 by a shepherd at a See also:place which bears his name, Juan Godoi. The nitrate and See also:borax deposits are extensive and productive, and See also:common See also:salt is a natural product of large areas in the elevated desert regions of the See also:Andes. The exports include copper and silver and their ores, nitrate of soda, borax, See also:guano and other minerals in small quantities. The capital, Copiap6 (est. pop. 8991 in 1902), is situated on a small See also:river of the same name 37 M. from the coast and 51 M. See also:south-See also:east . by See also:rail from Caldera, the See also:principal See also:port of this great See also:mining See also:district. Before 1842, when guano began to attract See also:notice as an exportable product, Atacama was considered as Bolivian territory, and Coquimbo the extreme northern province of Chile. In that See also:year Chile decided to explore the desert coast, and in 1843 that part of the desert extending See also:north to the 26th parallel was organized into the province of Atacama.

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