Chañarcillo
 
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Chañarcillo is a historic mining town in the Little North of the South American Andean state of Chile . It is located in the Región de Atacama .
The old silver mines of Chañarcillo are about 50 km south of Copiapó .
history
In May 1832, the huge Chañarcillo silver deposit was discovered by Juan Godoy. At times Chañarcillo was the third largest silver mine in the world. Up to 14,000 people lived in the nearby town of Juan Godoy in the middle of the Atacama Desert .
In 1855 a railway connection between Copiapó and Chañarcillo was built.
In 1859 there was the Revolución Constituyente in Copiapó and Chañarcillo . The mine owner Emiterio Goyenechea introduced his own silver currency in the Atacama region. The city of Copiapó minted its own silver pesos and centavos because it wanted to split off from the central government. The government of Manuel Montt Torres then sent troops to suppress the revolution. On April 29, 1859, an army unit under Lieutenant Salvador Urrutia defeated General Pedro León Gallo's revolutionaries near La Serena .
The silver rush that had turned the nearby town of Copiapó into a cultural center ended around 1890.
Today the mining area is deserted. There are no official tours. Entering the mine area is very dangerous as there are many unsecured tunnel entrances. However, a new tourist center is under discussion.
See also
Web links
Coordinates: 29 ° 5 ′ 0 ″ S , 70 ° 8 ′ 0 ″ W.