Calama, Chile
Encyclopedia
Calama is a city and commune in the Atacama Desert
in northern Chile
. It is the capital of El Loa Province
, part of the Antofagasta Region
. Calama is one of the driest cities in the world with average annual precipitation of just 5 mm (0.196850393700787 in). The River Loa, Chile's longest, flows through the city. Calama has a population of 143,000 (2005 census
).
The commune also encompasses the Quechuas
communities of Estación San Pedro, Toconce
and Cupo; and the Lickan-antay communities of Taira, Conchi Viejo, Lasana
, San Francisco de Chiu Chiu
, Aiquina-Turi
, and Caspana
.
At an elevation of 2260 m (7,414.7 ft), Calama is the gateway to the geological and archaeological wonders of Chile’s high central desert. Some of these places of interest include: the town of Chuquicamata
, the village of San Pedro de Atacama
, Valle de la Luna
(Valley of the Moon), the Licancabur
volcano, R. P. Gustavo Le Paige Archaeological Museum
, Los Flamencos National Reserve
, the Aguas Calientes salt flat, the Tuyajto lagoon, the El Tatio Geysers
, the village of Chiu-Chiu.
In 2003 the nearby town of Chuquicamata, by one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world, was dismantled, partly because of environmental reasons, and partly due to encroachment from the mine's expansion. Residents of Chuquicamata then moved to Calama, away from company-owned residences, to find housing on their own.
, spoken in the past by the Lickan-antay, an ethnic group that to this day resides in the El Loa Province
.
Hector Pumarino Soto suggests that "Calama" stems from the Kunza word "Ckara-ama," which means "town in the middle of the water". This affirmation is supported by the fact that, until the middle of the 20th century, the urban site of Calama and the surrounding oasis were flanked by the River Loa (in its south and east borders) and the fertile plain and swamps of the western sector, creating a true island in the middle of the desert surrounded completely by water.
Emilio Vaïsse, meanwhile, says that Calama comes from the Kunza word "Ckolama," which means "place where partridge
s abound". This is supposed testimony to the abundance of such a bird, living over everything in the middle of the western swamp sector.
s and the caves of Yalquincha (NE of the city), the chullpas of Topáter (pre-Columbian cemeteries to the east of the city), the Copper Mummy, and other remains in Chuquicamata
.
At the intersection of the Camino del Inca
(the longitudinal one) and the routes that crossed the coast of the Altiplano, Calama became the main shelter of the Despoblado of Atacama. Their extensive lands for growing corn
and alfalfa
give testimony of the high capacity to supply food to the troops of Chasquis and to give tribute to the Inca. In fact, when Diego de Almagro
, returning from Cusco
, passed by the Calama shelter, the natives gave him copper horseshoes, which were made using a mysterious Incan technique used by towns conquered by the Incas. The science of such a technique still has yet to be explained, but the presence of such horseshoes further suggests strong Incan influence in Prehispanic times.
and the cattle farms of Salta and Tucumán. In this sense, Calama continued as a main point of provision for commercial routes. In the 18th century, with the Bourbon Reforms
, Calama depended directly of the Intendencia de Potosí.
's Declaration of Independence (6 August 1825), and with gradual changes in the administration of the territory, Calama remained constituted under the Departamento de Litoral (1829), subdivided in the Provincia de Lamar y la Provincia de Atacama (Cobija being the departmental capital). Calama was an important town in the Atacama Province
, through which traveled the weekly mail between Cobija and Salta-Potosí, since 1832. In 1840, the provincial capital transferred from Chiuchiu to Calama, increasing the communication boom.
The border conflicts between Chile and Bolivia
did not reach either Calama or the Atacama Province. The greater dispute concentrated in the central prairie and in the coast, where they began to discover rich silver deposits, saltpeter
, and guano
. The ambiguity that led to the frontier conflicts was the possession of the central plain and the Atacama coast. The environment was made tense when Chilean troops, under the command of colonel
Emilio Sotomayor Baeza, invaded the port of Antofagasta
on the morning of February 14, 1879. Later, Bolivia declared war on Chile on March 1.
, Calama returned as an administrative center of 3° order, inaugurated as the municipality on the 13th of October. Prior to that, in 1886, Calama was chosen for a railway station of the Antofagasta-Bolivia Railway
, which further expedited shipments through Calama.
and the Andes
Mountain Range. Between 2000 and 3000 m (6,561.7 and 9,842.5 ), the cold desert climate
is characterized by annual precipitation
that does not surpass 35 millimetres (1.4 in). The average temperature is 11.2 °C (52.2 °F) throughout the year with drastic changes between daily highs of over 20 °C (68 °F) and daily lows below zero in winter and maximums of over 30 °C (86 °F) in summer.
of the National Statistics Institute
, Calama has an area of 15596.9 km (9,691 mi) and has 138,402 inhabitants (70,832 men and 67,570 women). Of these, 136,600 (98.7%) lived in urban area
s and 1,802 (1.3%) in rural areas. The population grew by 3.6% (16,595 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.
, headed by an alcalde
who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Esteban Velásquez Núñez.
Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Calama is represented in the Chamber of Deputies
by Mr. Marcos Espinosa (PRSD
) and Mr. Felipe Ward (UDI) as part of the 3rd electoral district, (together with Tocopilla
, María Elena
, Ollagüe
and San Pedro de Atacama
). The commune is represented in the Senate
by Carlos Cantero Ojeda (Ind.
) and José Antonio Gómez Urrutia (PRSD
) as part of the 2nd senatorial constituency (Antofagasta Region).
Atacama Desert
The Atacama Desert is a plateau in South America, covering a strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. It is, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications, the driest desert in the world...
in northern Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
. It is the capital of El Loa Province
El Loa Province
El Loa Province is one of three provinces of the northern Chilean region of Antofagasta . It is named after the longest of rivers in Chile, the Loa River...
, part of the Antofagasta Region
Antofagasta Region
The II Antofagasta Region is one of Chile's fifteen first-order administrative divisions. It comprises three provinces, Antofagasta, El Loa and Tocopilla...
. Calama is one of the driest cities in the world with average annual precipitation of just 5 mm (0.196850393700787 in). The River Loa, Chile's longest, flows through the city. Calama has a population of 143,000 (2005 census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
).
The commune also encompasses the Quechuas
Quechuas
Quechuas is the collective term for several indigenous ethnic groups in South America who speak a Quechua language , belonging to several ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Argentina.The Quechuas of Ecuador call themselves as well as their...
communities of Estación San Pedro, Toconce
Toconce
Toconce is a small Chilean village located on the south rim of the Toconce River Canyon at 3,350 m above sea level. To the north, the landscape is dominated by the volcanoes Cerro Paniri, Cerro del León and Toconce....
and Cupo; and the Lickan-antay communities of Taira, Conchi Viejo, Lasana
Lasana
Lasana is a small village located northeast of the city of Calama in the Calama province of Chile's northern Antofagasta Region. It sits along the banks of the Loa River....
, San Francisco de Chiu Chiu
San Francisco de Chiu Chiu
San Francisco de Chiu Chiu, or simply Chiu Chiu, is a village located about northeast of the city of Calama, in the Calama province of Chile's northern Antofagasta Region...
, Aiquina-Turi
Ayquina
Ayquina is a village located on the northern flank of Salado River Canyon in the Calama commune of the El Loa Province in Chile's Antofagasta Region. It sits at an elevation of above sea level...
, and Caspana
Caspana
Caspana is a Chilean village located 85 km northeast of the city of Calama, in the gorge carved by the river that shared its name and that is a tributary of the Salado River. Agricultural terraces form part of the landscape of the area.-References:...
.
At an elevation of 2260 m (7,414.7 ft), Calama is the gateway to the geological and archaeological wonders of Chile’s high central desert. Some of these places of interest include: the town of Chuquicamata
Chuquicamata
Chuquicamata, or "Chuqui" as it is more familiarly known, is by digged volume the biggest open pit copper mine in the world, located in the north of Chile, 215 km northeast of Antofagasta and 1,240 km north of the capital, Santiago...
, the village of San Pedro de Atacama
San Pedro de Atacama
San Pedro de Atacama is a Chilean town and commune in El Loa Province, Antofagasta Region. It is located east of Antofagasta, some 106 km southeast of Calama and the Chuquicamata copper mine, overlooking the Licancabur volcano. It features a significant archeological museum, the R. P...
, Valle de la Luna
Valle de la Luna (Chile)
Valle de la Luna is located west of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile in the Cordillera de la Sal, in the Atacama desert of Chile. It has various stone and sand formations which have been carved by wind and water. It has an impressive range of color and texture, looking somewhat similar to the surface...
(Valley of the Moon), the Licancabur
Licancabur
Licancabur is a highly symmetrical stratovolcano on the southernmost part of the border between Chile and Bolivia. It is located just southwest of Laguna Verde in Bolivia. The volcano dominates the landscape of the Salar de Atacama area...
volcano, R. P. Gustavo Le Paige Archaeological Museum
R. P. Gustavo Le Paige Archaeological Museum
R. P. Gustavo Le Paige Archaeological Museum is a museum located in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. It houses a collection of about 380,000 pre-Columbian artifacts from the Atacameño culture. The museum is named after Jesuit missionary Father Gustavo Le Paige, who was its founder.This museum belongs...
, Los Flamencos National Reserve
Los Flamencos National Reserve
Los Flamencos National Reserve is a nature reserve located in the commune of San Pedro de Atacama, Antofagasta Region of Chile. The reserve covers a total area of in the Central Andean dry puna ecoregion and consists of seven separate sectors....
, the Aguas Calientes salt flat, the Tuyajto lagoon, the El Tatio Geysers
El Tatio
thumb|A geyser bubbling at El Tatio geyser fieldEl Tatio is a geyser field located within the Andes Mountains of northern Chile at 4,200 meters above mean sea level. Contrary to some reports, it is not the highest-elevation geyser field in the world. Puchuldiza Geyser Field, Chile, and possibly...
, the village of Chiu-Chiu.
In 2003 the nearby town of Chuquicamata, by one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world, was dismantled, partly because of environmental reasons, and partly due to encroachment from the mine's expansion. Residents of Chuquicamata then moved to Calama, away from company-owned residences, to find housing on their own.
Name's Origin
There are a variety of hypothesis with respect to the origin of the name "Calama," but the two main accounts maintain that its origin comes from the language KunzaKunza
Kunza Cunza, also known as Likanantaí, Lipe, Ulipe, or Atacameño, is an extinct, unclassified language spoken in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and southern Perú by the Lickan-antay people, who have since shifted to Spanish.The last Kunza speaker was found in 1949, although some have...
, spoken in the past by the Lickan-antay, an ethnic group that to this day resides in the El Loa Province
El Loa Province
El Loa Province is one of three provinces of the northern Chilean region of Antofagasta . It is named after the longest of rivers in Chile, the Loa River...
.
Hector Pumarino Soto suggests that "Calama" stems from the Kunza word "Ckara-ama," which means "town in the middle of the water". This affirmation is supported by the fact that, until the middle of the 20th century, the urban site of Calama and the surrounding oasis were flanked by the River Loa (in its south and east borders) and the fertile plain and swamps of the western sector, creating a true island in the middle of the desert surrounded completely by water.
Emilio Vaïsse, meanwhile, says that Calama comes from the Kunza word "Ckolama," which means "place where partridge
Partridge
Partridges are birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are a non-migratory Old World group.These are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails. Partridges are native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East...
s abound". This is supposed testimony to the abundance of such a bird, living over everything in the middle of the western swamp sector.
Prehispanic Era
The exact evidence related to the history of Calama does exist, including petroglyphPetroglyph
Petroglyphs are pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images...
s and the caves of Yalquincha (NE of the city), the chullpas of Topáter (pre-Columbian cemeteries to the east of the city), the Copper Mummy, and other remains in Chuquicamata
Chuquicamata
Chuquicamata, or "Chuqui" as it is more familiarly known, is by digged volume the biggest open pit copper mine in the world, located in the north of Chile, 215 km northeast of Antofagasta and 1,240 km north of the capital, Santiago...
.
At the intersection of the Camino del Inca
Inca road system
The Inca road system was the most extensive and advanced transportation system in pre-Columbian South America. The network was based on two north-south roads with numerous branches. The best known portion of the road system is the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu...
(the longitudinal one) and the routes that crossed the coast of the Altiplano, Calama became the main shelter of the Despoblado of Atacama. Their extensive lands for growing corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
and alfalfa
Alfalfa
Alfalfa is a flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae cultivated as an important forage crop in the US, Canada, Argentina, France, Australia, the Middle East, South Africa, and many other countries. It is known as lucerne in the UK, France, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, and known as...
give testimony of the high capacity to supply food to the troops of Chasquis and to give tribute to the Inca. In fact, when Diego de Almagro
Diego de Almagro
Diego de Almagro, , also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo , was a Spanish conquistador and a companion and later rival of Francisco Pizarro. He participated in the Spanish conquest of Peru and is credited as the first European discoverer of Chile.Almagro lost his left eye battling with coastal...
, returning from Cusco
Cusco
Cusco , often spelled Cuzco , is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region as well as the Cuzco Province. In 2007, the city had a population of 358,935 which was triple the figure of 20 years ago...
, passed by the Calama shelter, the natives gave him copper horseshoes, which were made using a mysterious Incan technique used by towns conquered by the Incas. The science of such a technique still has yet to be explained, but the presence of such horseshoes further suggests strong Incan influence in Prehispanic times.
Colonial Era
Spanish colonization obviously caused some changes; however, the hostile climate impeded establishment of greater control. These changes influenced the control of trade routes that crossed the desert and communication to the port of Cobija with the deposits of Potosí silverSilver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
and the cattle farms of Salta and Tucumán. In this sense, Calama continued as a main point of provision for commercial routes. In the 18th century, with the Bourbon Reforms
Bourbon Reforms
The Bourbon Reforms were a set of economic and political legislation introduced by the Spanish Crown under various kings of the House of Bourbon throughout the 18th century. The reforms were intended to stimulate manufacturing and technology in order to modernize Spain...
, Calama depended directly of the Intendencia de Potosí.
Bolivian Republic Era
After BoliviaBolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
's Declaration of Independence (6 August 1825), and with gradual changes in the administration of the territory, Calama remained constituted under the Departamento de Litoral (1829), subdivided in the Provincia de Lamar y la Provincia de Atacama (Cobija being the departmental capital). Calama was an important town in the Atacama Province
Atacama Province, Chile
Atacama Province was one of the administrative divisions of Chile from 1843 to 1974. It was created by law on 31 October 1843.The capital was Copiapó.The first departments were:* Copiapó Department* Freirina Department* Vallenar Department...
, through which traveled the weekly mail between Cobija and Salta-Potosí, since 1832. In 1840, the provincial capital transferred from Chiuchiu to Calama, increasing the communication boom.
The border conflicts between Chile and Bolivia
Atacama border dispute
The Atacama border dispute was a dispute between Chile and Bolivia in the 19th century that ended in the transfer to Chile of all of the Bolivian Coast and the southern tip of Bolivia's ally Peru through the Treaty of Ancón with Peru and the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1904 between Chile and...
did not reach either Calama or the Atacama Province. The greater dispute concentrated in the central prairie and in the coast, where they began to discover rich silver deposits, saltpeter
Sodium nitrate
Sodium nitrate is the chemical compound with the formula NaNO3. This salt, also known as Chile saltpeter or Peru saltpeter to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter, potassium nitrate, is a white solid which is very soluble in water...
, and guano
Guano
Guano is the excrement of seabirds, cave dwelling bats, and seals. Guano manure is an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and also its lack of odor. It was an important source of nitrates for gunpowder...
. The ambiguity that led to the frontier conflicts was the possession of the central plain and the Atacama coast. The environment was made tense when Chilean troops, under the command of colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Emilio Sotomayor Baeza, invaded the port of Antofagasta
Antofagasta
Antofagasta is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2002 census, the city has a population of 296,905...
on the morning of February 14, 1879. Later, Bolivia declared war on Chile on March 1.
Chilean Republic Era
Since that day, the changes in the administration have been very deep. It being part of the administrative center of 2° order in Bolivia, returned as one of 4° order under the Chilean administration (subdelegation). Recently in 1888, under the government of José Manuel BalmacedaJosé Manuel Balmaceda
José Manuel Emiliano Balmaceda Fernández was the 11th President of Chile from September 18, 1886 to August 29, 1891. Balmaceda was part of the Castilian-Basque aristocracy in Chile...
, Calama returned as an administrative center of 3° order, inaugurated as the municipality on the 13th of October. Prior to that, in 1886, Calama was chosen for a railway station of the Antofagasta-Bolivia Railway
Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia
The Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia is a private railway operating in the northern provinces of Chile. It is notable in that it was one of the earliest railways built to the gauge of , with a route that climbed from sea level to over , while handling goods traffic totaling near 2 million tons...
, which further expedited shipments through Calama.
Geography and Climate
Calama contains two distinct entities: the desertDesert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
and the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
Mountain Range. Between 2000 and 3000 m (6,561.7 and 9,842.5 ), the cold desert climate
Desert climate
A desert climate , also known as an arid climate, is a climate that does not meet the criteria to be classified as a polar climate, and in which precipitation is too low to sustain any vegetation at all, or at most a very scanty scrub.An area that features this climate usually experiences less than...
is characterized by annual precipitation
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...
that does not surpass 35 millimetres (1.4 in). The average temperature is 11.2 °C (52.2 °F) throughout the year with drastic changes between daily highs of over 20 °C (68 °F) and daily lows below zero in winter and maximums of over 30 °C (86 °F) in summer.
Demographics
According to the 2002 censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of the National Statistics Institute
National Statistics Institute (Chile)
The National Statistics Institute of Chile is a state-run organization of the Government of Chile, created in the second half of the 19th century and tasked with performing a general census of population and housing, then collecting, producing and publishing official demographic statistics of...
, Calama has an area of 15596.9 km (9,691 mi) and has 138,402 inhabitants (70,832 men and 67,570 women). Of these, 136,600 (98.7%) lived in urban area
Urban area
An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
s and 1,802 (1.3%) in rural areas. The population grew by 3.6% (16,595 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.
Administration
As a commune, Calama is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal councilMunicipal council
A municipal council is the local government of a municipality. Specifically the term can refer to the institutions of various countries that can be translated by this term...
, headed by an alcalde
Alcalde
Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...
who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Esteban Velásquez Núñez.
Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Calama is represented in the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Chile
The Chamber of Deputies of the Republic of Chile is the lower house of Chile's bicameral Congress. Its organisation and its powers and duties are defined in articles 42 to 59 of Chile's current constitution....
by Mr. Marcos Espinosa (PRSD
Social Democrat Radical Party
The Social Democratic Radical Party is a social democratic party in Chile.The party is a member of Socialist International....
) and Mr. Felipe Ward (UDI) as part of the 3rd electoral district, (together with Tocopilla
Tocopilla
Tocopilla is a city and commune in the Antofagasta Region, in the north of Chile. It is the capital of the province that bears the same name.Tocopilla celebrates its anniversary on September 29 every year with a big show the day before, which includes a parade down the main street of the city, food...
, María Elena
María Elena
María Elena is a Chilean city and commune in Tocopilla Province, Antofagasta Region. According to the 2002 census, the commune population was 7,530 and has an area of .- History :...
, Ollagüe
Ollagüe, Chile
Ollagüe is a Chilean frontier village and commune in El Loa Province, Antofagasta Region. The village is located 215 km northeast of the city of Calama with a station on the FCAB railine....
and San Pedro de Atacama
San Pedro de Atacama
San Pedro de Atacama is a Chilean town and commune in El Loa Province, Antofagasta Region. It is located east of Antofagasta, some 106 km southeast of Calama and the Chuquicamata copper mine, overlooking the Licancabur volcano. It features a significant archeological museum, the R. P...
). The commune is represented in the Senate
Senate of Chile
The Senate of the Republic of Chile is the upper house of Chile's bicameral National Congress, as established in the current Constitution of Chile.-Composition:...
by Carlos Cantero Ojeda (Ind.
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
) and José Antonio Gómez Urrutia (PRSD
Social Democrat Radical Party
The Social Democratic Radical Party is a social democratic party in Chile.The party is a member of Socialist International....
) as part of the 2nd senatorial constituency (Antofagasta Region).