Chapter 5: Thriving Chile and The Iquique Massacre

Chapter 5:

Since Chile had won the nitrate war they owned the biggest deposits in the world.

This video gives a little insight on the nitrate war if you didn't read the blog before

Since all the big countries were so dependent on this nitrate for war and food supply chile struck a gold mine. In the 1900’s Chili made ⅔’s of the world fertilizer. The two biggest buyers were Germany and Great Britain. Germany because they had poor soil and they had to grow their own crops. Great Britain because had a growing army and needed more food for the soldiers. It was hard to get nitrates to Germany though because of their location. Germany was halfway around the world from Chile so the merchants buying the nitrate to sell bought windjammers.

A Windjammer

They were still used even when there were steam ships because of their quickness. The Laeisz Company owned most of the windjammers that why they ruled the nitrate business in Germany. For Chile the nitrate business was booming because the factories and mills doubled in twenty years. The nitrate business was about half of Chile's entire income at this point. In  earlier chapter when Peru discovered guano they spent all their money for lavish living while Chilies decided to do the opposite and invest it into schools, technology, an army, and transportation.

Many people wanted to try to strike it rich with the nitrates so many people moved south. One person named John Thomas North. His first job was in the surefire business which he shipped water to Iquique from springs in the north. Before he came south he was from Great Britain and was a mechanic so he knew about business and what a good deal was. It sparked his interests when he watch the selling of nitrates and he would think to himself if they were good deals or not. When the nitrate war started everyone got scared so they started selling like crazy. He got in good with the new nitrate inspector so he got a job making very good money. He bought many nitrate mills because so many people wanted to sell he got them cheap. He made so much money he started to buy properties in London that had to do with the nitrate business, He owned so many parts in the nitrate business he was now one of the richest men in England.  He met royalty all over the world including the Prince of Wales. Until later when the stocks for nitrate fell to a quarter of the price. He wasn’t poor again, but he had to go back to a private life instead of meeting all the royalty before.

Even though nitrate stocks fell in the North Chile was untouched. They were still as profitable as ever. They made their country great and had many advances in places like technology. Many of their people were employed. The poor people and northerns worked there because they promised easy money, but they lied. The workers had to work in deep holes in the ground six days a week in the very hot conditions carrying back breaking loads of the nitrate. The workers made fichas which was money that could only be used in stores that their company owned. The fichas were worth about three pesos. This system was here for many reasons because the business owners wanted the workers to stay in place because they didn’t want to waste time and money training more people. Another reason is it allowed the company to keep the prices low. The workers were together so often they started to fill with rage they knew they were being used. They said they were being turned into communists or anarchists. They formed radical theatre groups and sang songs about the mill life. Later they made powerful groups of laborers. This was starting an uprising. The in the strikes they all came into a group singing and shouting to end the paying with fichas, better wages, and the bettering of the mill workers lives. They made speeches and stopped working. About and eight of the workers population were doing strikes. The strikes were all peaceful. These strikes were mostly only in Iquique. The owners of the mills took notice, but didn’t accept any of the workers demands. The people began to worry about supplies because if there was n money where would they get food and other necessities. The mill owners were fed up so they went to martial law. General Silva was in charge of taking out the protests. He wasn’t gonna do this peacefully because he had machine guns. When General Silva met the protestors at a protest he demanded them to leave instead the protest leaders had a meeting. The general soldiers put up their guns though some didn’t that grew up in this place. The general told them to shoot. The leaders were taken out first. 126 of the protestors died. Even though historians now believe the number could have been up to 3,000. The protests were stopped. Eventually the mill owners did get rid of the ficha system, but did it at a slow pace.

Soon like the guano age the nitrate age was coming to an end. By 1940 only a few mills were still there and many towns were abandoned. The difference between guano and nitrate ending was that the reason it ended was because there was too much of it.