{"id":39548,"date":"2023-11-25T16:40:32","date_gmt":"2023-11-25T16:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/miamiheatnation.com\/?p=39548"},"modified":"2023-11-25T16:40:32","modified_gmt":"2023-11-25T16:40:32","slug":"once-bustling-neighbourhood-now-a-perfect-ghost-town-in-middle-of-the-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/miamiheatnation.com\/world-news\/once-bustling-neighbourhood-now-a-perfect-ghost-town-in-middle-of-the-desert\/","title":{"rendered":"Once bustling neighbourhood now a ‘perfect’ ghost town in middle of the desert"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A once bustling centre tightly linked to its industry has turned into a ghost town.<\/p>\n

Humberstone is an abandoned town located in the inhospitable Atacama Desert in Chile.<\/p>\n

The life and death of this northern Chilean settlement were both linked to the extraction of saltpetre.<\/p>\n

Between the 1880s to 1930s, this material dug out of caliche was used to make fertiliser – and was much sought after by countries around the world who were seeing their population grow at a rapid pace.<\/p>\n

As this deserted area was particularly rich in saltpetre, towns like Humberstone popped up over the late 19th century to answer the demand.<\/p>\n

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Founded in 1872, Humberstone was initially called La Palma but was eventually renamed after James Humberstone, a British chemical engineer who emigrated to South America three years later.<\/p>\n

Mr Humberstone made his fortune from saltpetre, which at the time had been dubbed “white gold” due to how much it was sought after.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the importance of the material between the 19th and 20th century, Julio Pinto, a historian at the University of Santiago in Chile, previously told the BBC: “During the golden age of saltpetre, from 1880 to 1930, it was monumentally important.<\/p>\n

“It accounted for between 60 percent and 80 percent of Chilean exports and between 40 percent and 60 percent of Chile’s fiscal revenue. Chile literally lived off one product: saltpetre.”<\/p>\n

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