Geography of Chile regions: the far north, the near north, central Chile, the south, and the far south. Each has its own characteristic vegetation, fauna, climate, and, despite the omnipresence of both the Andes and the Pacific, its own distinct topography. The far north (Norte Grande), which extends from the Peruvian border to about 27° south latitude, a line roughly paralleled to the Copiapó River, is extremely arid. It mainly contains the Atacama Desert, one of the driest areas in the world. In certain areas, this desert does not register any rainfall at all. Geographically, the aridity can be explained by the following
War of the Pacific in the Andes. For the first five months the war played out in a naval campaign, as Chile struggled to establish a sea-based resupply corridor for its forces in the world’s driest desert. In February 1878, Bolivia imposed a new tax on a Chilean mining company (“Compañía de Salitres y Ferrocarril de Antofagasta”, CSFA) despite Bolivian express warranty in the 1874 Boundary Treaty that it would not increase taxes on Chilean persons or industries for 25 years. Chile protested and solicited to submit it to mediation, but Bolivia refused and considered it a subject of Bolivia’s courts. Chile insisted and