The littoralization of Tarapacá during the globalization process of nitrate of soda (1867-1919): from political violence to economic violence

Abstract

With the saltpeter cycle, the Peruvian province of Tarapacá began a process of globalization of saltpeter, especially from the government of José Balta (1868-1872), coinciding with the first industrial boom of saltpeter, a product of the consolidation of the steam engine in the nitrate leaching process. This slow globalization of saltpeter produced a structural change in this territory, moving from a province dependent on the department of Moquegua to a fully autonomous province upon achieving the quality of a coastal province. In addition, the emergence of population settlements in the desert (nitrate offices, service towns, railway stations) and, mainly, shipping ports on the coast, pressured for a new political-administrative order and a new territorial planning whose main consequence would be the change from the traditional capital of the province (San Lorenzo de Tarapacá) to the port of Iquique. This change, which would take approximately a decade, generated resistance that led to political violence. The nitrate expansion cycle will reach its maximum expression during the period of the Chilean political administration of this province —begun in 1880 and concluded in 1918— where the process of littoralization of the province of Tarapacá would generate other conflicts (competition between ports) characterized by economic violence during the consolidation process of the saltpeter export port platform.