Peru & Bolivia went to war with Chile for that region, but they lost in the War of the Pacific.
Why fight? Natural resources: guano and saltpeter.
Back then, guano was the world’s main fertilizer (and this area had most of the world's guano, thanks to the climate).
"""
That fertilizer produced iconic advertising in mid XX Century Portugal and Spain: https://c8.alamy.com/comp/AR22G9/nitrato-de-chile-advertisin...
Peru & Bolivia went to war with Chile for that region, but they lost in the War of the Pacific.
Why fight? Natural resources: guano and saltpeter.
Back then, guano was the world’s main fertilizer (and this area had most of the world's guano, thanks to the climate).
"""
That fertilizer produced iconic advertising in mid XX Century Portugal and Spain: https://c8.alamy.com/comp/AR22G9/nitrato-de-chile-advertisin...