Atacama Desert - the most arid area of ​​Chile, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Andes to the east. This desert area of ​​about 106,000 square kilometers, is located on the territory of the regions of Arica and Parinacota, Tarapaca, Antofagasta and the northern part of the Atacama.

The Atacama Desert is rich in salt lakes, hot springs and geysers, as well as mineral resources such as copper (28% of the world reserves of copper), iron, gold and silver, and there are large deposits of boron, salts of sodium and potassium nitrate. There are also many stocks bischofite - a mineral produced from salt lake Salar de Atacama, used in construction and farmakalogii. Development and production of mineral resources on the territory of the Atacama Desert engage mining companies, such as "Codelco" and "Lomas Bayas" (the largest companies in the world in copper production), "Soquimich" (the largest company in Chile for processing salt, iodine and lithium) .

Three million years ago, this area was part of the ocean floor. The main cause of the Atacama Desert is a global climatic phenomenon that creates deserts western coasts of all continents of the southern hemisphere at this latitude. High atmospheric pressure in this zone form a "Pacific cyclone", which is periodically is moving along the coast to the east, creating a storm.
  In addition, the oceanic Humboldt Current brings cold water from Antarctica north along the Chilean and Peruvian coasts, while cooling sea breezes from the west, reducing evaporation and preventing the formation of large rain clouds. The entire resulting moisture condenses along the steep slopes of the Cordillera de la Costa, giving life to the local ecosystem, consisting of cacti, succulents and other local endemic flora.

In the Atacama Desert rain can go once in 15 - 40 years. In this area account periods of up to 400 years without rain. At night the temperature can drop to -25 ° C, while the daytime temperature can rise up to 50 ° C in the shade. In the desert there are seasons of tornadoes and strong winds whose speed reaches 100 km / h.

The Atacama Desert has been inhabited since the beginning of American colonization. In pre-Hispanic times there lived representatives of culture chinchorro approximately between 5000 -1700 years ago.

The name of the Atacama Desert received after the Spanish-American War of Independence, and because of the inaccuracy of documents, this area became officially belong to Bolivia. In spite of the signed agreement, bordering states were unable to resolve disputes, and in 1879 the territory became part of the Antofagasta region of Chile, initiating hostilities against Bolivia. In 1873, a treaty was signed on the defensive alliance of Peru and Bolivia, thus officially been declared the war in the Pacific in 1879, which ended in 1884 victory of Chile and the signing of a peace treaty Ancona.

The Atacama Desert is one of the best places in the world to observe the sky. Because of this more than a dozen observatories located in the Atacama Desert: Paranal (VLT), the astronomical complex ALMA, the largest astronomical project in the world, La Silla, and others. Chile owns 40% of the world astronomical observations.

In the Atacama Desert Rally held for SUVs, such as the Rally Baja Atacama, Rally Baja Chile, Rally Patagonia Atacama. The dunes of this desert is ideal for this sport. In the Atacama Desert are also held race car Solar Atacama Solar Race.