¿Especuladores o industriosos? La política chilena y el problema de la propiedad salitrera en tarapacá durante la década de 1880

Nitrate property was one of the most complex problems that the Chilean administration faced when it annexed the province of Tarapacá during the War of the Pacific, determining how nitrate policies would be in the 1880s. The existence of certificates and bonds not only hampered the restitution of that property but also allowed speculation in the middle of a process of industrialization. This article analyzes the case of nitrate companies founded by J. T. North. The nitrate policies planned in the 1880s were key to assure an expansion of the nitrate economy given that they not only shaped a particular industry in the whole region between Pisagua and Taltal but also a specific kind of entrepreneurial organization that came to be set up in an economic trust until 1910.