Region of Atacama, Chile: City Diego de Almagro

Diego de Almagro: p.1 │ p.2│ p.3 │ FFCC

deutsch  /español / english

"Pueblo Hundido" ("Sunken Town") was formed by the mining activities of the sector and as the last oasis before the deserted "despoblado" Atacama. The name "Sunken Town" (Pueblo Hundido) probably comes from a natural disaster. Bishop Rafael Valentín Valdivieso reported a natural catastrophe, with trees overturned and buried and open cracks. The descriptions seem to be a great mudflow that obviously buried parts of a mythical village, at least buried large amounts of vegetation in the area. Climatic conditions, geomorphology and the drainage system could confirm this fact.

The social life of Pueblo Hundido between 1900 and 1950 looked like a screenplay for a western film: The gang of the pisqueros secured the supply of alcohol inside the mining companies (alcoholic beverages were -as they are today- totally forbidden inside a mining site). This group with their emblematic figures did not enter into verbal discussions with authorities or other gangs......

Espinoza (1895) indicates that in Pueblo Hundido about 265 people lived in 1895. In that year, the railway line only reached "El Salado". But the people have already converted the village to a major mining center. It is worth mentioning that in those times "Pueblo Hundido" was the closest town to the borax deposits of the Salar de Pedernales.