Iquique: The saltpeter boom and the glorious years in Chile

The tour took us down the road to the north. In the middle of the Atacama desert is located one of the most beautiful cities in Chile situated on the shores of the sea.

What is this story that gave life to the most glorious years of Chile?

It speaks of aristocracy, elegant women, full of jewels and long dresses that went out to the street to make social life. The men looked from the balconies of the huge colored houses until they found the woman they wanted. When they had it before their eyes, they went out in their search with cigars and cigars on the famous Paseo Baquedano.

Festivals, dances, concerts and much more happened in the wonderful city of Iquique, where we can still walk its streets and imagine the history of so many ancestors who lived here.

This is the history of Iquique in the late nineteenth century, early twentieth century, where the families who managed the nitrates built large houses with American style whose architecture has been recognized nationally and internationally.

With the rise of saltpeter production, these streets became the urban center of Iquique. Many of the inhabitants of Iquique owned or worked in high places of the saltpeter offices of Humberstone and Santa Laura, that are located to 50 kilometers of the great city.

Over the years, they became the largest white gold deposit in the world and made it a powerful cultural focus with a constant exchange of ideas, customs and organizations. It is still possible to visit Humberstone and Santa Laura from a tour that leaves from Iquique, even in the same route you can visit the town of La Tirana, where there is a tremendous religious festival in July in honor of the Virgen del Carmen.

Today, the historic center of Iquique and Paseo Baquedano is considered one of the most touristic places in Iquique, where it is possible to relive the most splendid years of Chile. In addition, it has been part of Chile's national monuments since 1977 and was declared a typical area.