ATACAMA  , a

province of northern Chile, bounded N. and S. respectively by the provinces of Antofagasta and Coquimbo, and extending from the Pacific coast E. to the Argentine boundary line . It has an area of 30,729 sq. m., lying in great part within the Atacama desert region (see below), and a population (1902) of 71,446 . The silver and copper mines of the province are numerous, some of them ranking among the most productive known, .but the majority are worked with limited capital and on a small scale . The silver ore was first discovered in 1832 by a shepherd at a place which bears his name, Juan Godoi . The nitrate and borax deposits are extensive and productive, and common salt is a natural product of large areas in the elevated desert regions of the Andes . The exports include copper and silver and their ores, nitrate of soda, borax, guano and other minerals in small quantities . The capital, Copiap6 (est. pop . 8991 in 1902), is situated on a small river of the same name 37 M. from the coast and 51 M. south-east . by rail from Caldera, the principal port of this great mining district . Before 1842, when guano began to attract notice as an exportable product, Atacama was considered as Bolivian territory, and Coquimbo the extreme northern province of Chile . In that year Chile decided to explore the desert coast, and in 1843 that part of the desert extending north to the 26th parallel was organized into the province of Atacama .