THE SALTPETER WAR 1879-1884

However, Chile did not show interest in these lands, which were considered of little value, and at the time its greatest wealth was in the agricultural area of the center of the country.
The desert seemed to be an abandoned territory when Bolivian President Andrés de Santa Cruz decided to found the port of Cobija (1829) within the territory theoretically claimed by Chile, but whose government did not present any protest to the Bolivian Foreign Ministry.
Chilean indifference would end when the economic value of the desert was discovered in the late 1839s.
Important deposits of guano were found, a rich fertilizer in great demand by European countries and the United States. That's when the border conflicts between the two countries began. The Government of President Bulnes decided to send an exploratory commission to recognize the potential of the deposits in the area. A law, dated 1842, declared the guaneras south of Mejillones Bay (23", south latitude) national property, which meant establishing the country's northern border on that line.