Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization

by Ed Conway

It is hard to think of many other wars with a more consequential result than this. Chile won control of some of the most important mineral resources in the world—not just the nitrates of the Atacama, but the world’s biggest reserves of copper and lithium. This conflict turned the country into a resources superpower, depriving Bolivia of its coastline in the process. In the following years Chilean nitrates helped feed and arm the world. It was Chilean nitrates in the Allied explosives that rained down on the trenches in the First World War. Their revenues helped finance the construction of more roads and railroads, electrical networks and plumbing, and helped Chile build an advanced military and attain the twentieth-century trappings enjoyed by many European countries. Thanks to this white salt, Chile became the richest nation in Latin America.