From nitrate town to internment camp: the cultural biography of Chacabuco, northern Chile

Chacabuco is one of the many abandoned nitrate or 'saltpeter' towns in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. The nitrate industry flourished from about 1880 to 1930, introducing a new system of production and social relations in the country. Founded in 1924, Chacabuco was active only until 1938, when synthetic nitrate developed by German chemists in the early 20th century began to dominate the industry. Unlike other nitrate ghost towns, Chacabuco later became an internment camp for a short period (1973-1974) during Pinochet's military dictatorship. Chacabuco's architecture of surveillance worked well for the military as they reused the nitrate workers' residential units as cells for political prisoners. This article examines this change of use as well as other issues of continuity and change between the two occupations of the town. The author also discusses the ways in which archaeology may offer parallel and complementary evidence to documentary and oral sources.