D2.Geo.11.9-12: Nitrate, Lithium and the Atacama: Globalization, Scarce Resources, Conflict and Cooperation

Overview

Lesson Procedure

65-70 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction15 minutes
3. Guided Practice20 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Two neighbors share a fence line. Under it, someone finds something that buyers all over the world want. Write two things that could happen next: one that leads to a fight and one that leads to a deal."

   Collect answers in two columns, conflict and cooperation. Point out that many answers depend on two things: how rare the find is (scarcity) and how many outside buyers want it (globalization). Tell students that today's case had both outcomes, sometimes at the same time.

2. Direct Instruction15 minutes

   Part 1: Terms. A scarce resource is one whose supply is limited compared with the demand for it; scarcity can come from geology (few places have the deposit) or from use (demand grows faster than supply). Nitrate here means sodium nitrate, also called saltpetre, dug from the desert and shipped as fertilizer. Guano is seabird droppings, also a fertilizer. A duty is a tax on goods, and an export duty is charged when goods leave a country. A brine is very salty water; a salar is a salt flat. Within countries means between groups inside one country (workers and owners, voters and government); among countries means between governments.

   Part 2: The geography. Use Diagram 1. The disputed coast lay between 23° and 25° south latitude; treaties in 1866 and 1874 drew the line at 24°. The gray borders on the map are today's; in 1879 Bolivia had a Pacific coast, including Antofagasta and Cobija, and Peru's southern department of Tarapacá included Iquique. Then show Table 1 (the sequence of events) and Table 2 (lithium today).

   Table 1. The nitrate coast, 1866-2024 (from the sources on this page and the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1879)

   Date	Event	Source
   December 9, 1866	Chile-Bolivia treaty: boundary at 24° S; guano and mineral export duties from the old disputed zone to be divided equally	Source 1
   August 6, 1874	New treaty: boundary again at 24° S; for 25 years, no higher export duties and no higher taxes on each other's citizens, industries or capital in the old zone	Source 1
   February 1878	Bolivian congress passes a tax of ten cents a quintal (a unit of about 100 pounds) on nitrate exports	Source 1
   February 14, 1879	Chilean forces occupy Antofagasta	Source 1
   March 1, 1879	Bolivia's president proclaims war on Chile	U.S. Minister Osborn, dispatch of April 3, 1879
   April 1879	Chile declares war on Peru, Bolivia's ally; its manifesto to other nations is dated April 12	U.S. Minister Osborn, dispatch of April 19, 1879
   By January 1880	Chile's army occupies Peru's Tarapacá department and taxes and sells its nitrate	Source 2
   Early 1909	At Iquique, now Chilean, ships load nitrate; English-owned companies coordinate prices and output	Source 3
   2024	World lithium production rises 18% on battery demand; companies form alliances to secure supply	Source 4

   Table 2. Lithium mine production and resources, in tons of lithium content (real data: U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025; 2024 values are estimates)

   Country	Production 2023	Production 2024	Resources (million tons)
   Australia	91,700	88,000	8.9
   Chile	41,400	49,000	11
   China	35,700	41,000	6.8
   Argentina	8,630	18,000	23
   Bolivia	not listed	not listed	23
   World, not counting the United States	204,000	240,000	about 96 outside the U.S.

   Two more facts from the USGS. From 2020 to 2023, 50% of U.S. lithium imports came from Chile and 47% from Argentina (Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025). A USGS study of lithium (Bradley and others, Lithium, USGS Professional Paper 1802-K, 2017) calls the Salar de Atacama in Chile the world's most significant lithium district and says it lies in one of the driest places on Earth; it describes Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni as likely the largest lithium accumulation in the world but not yet in production at that time.

   • Sorting the timeline

     Use Table 1. Which events show cooperation among countries, and which show conflict among countries?

     Result: Cooperation among countries: the 1866 and 1874 treaties, which set a shared boundary and rules on duties. Conflict among countries: the 1878 tax dispute, the 1879 occupation and the declarations of war. The same resource produced both, in that order.

   • Measuring expanding use

     Use Table 2. By what factor did Argentina's lithium production grow from 2023 to 2024?

     Result: 18,000 ÷ 8,630 ≈ 2.09, so production more than doubled in one year. Rapid growth like this is what the indicator calls the expanding use of a scarce resource.

   • Resources are not production

     Bolivia's lithium resources (23 million tons) equal Argentina's, but Bolivia has no production listed in Table 2. What does that suggest?

     Result: Holding a scarce resource does not by itself bring trade or income: it must be extracted, processed and sold. The USGS study notes Uyuni's brine is hard to process because of its magnesium, which shows that geology and technology both matter.

   • Weighing the two causes

     Before nitrate was found, Source 1 says the disputed zone was regarded as "of little or no value." What two things together turned it into a prize?

     Result: A scarce deposit (vast nitrate beds in a desert) and world demand that made the deposit valuable (fertilizer sold abroad and carried by foreign ships). Without both, there would have been little to fight or bargain over.

3. Guided Practice20 minutes

   Read Sources 1 and 2: two governments' cases. Source 1 is a report from the U.S. Minister in Santiago, Chile's capital, to the U.S. Secretary of State, written six days after Chile occupied Antofagasta; it summarizes the treaties and reports Chile's position. Source 2 is a circular (an official letter sent to many governments) from Peru's foreign minister, written after Chile had occupied Peru's Tarapacá department. Words to know: jurisdiction is legal control; promulgated means officially announced; relinquished means gave up; abrogated means canceled; levied upon means seized to pay a debt; revindication means taking back what one claims; fisc means the state treasury; neutral countries are those not in the war. Paragraph numbers count only the paragraphs shown.

   1Sir: Chili is involved in another dispute concerning her boundaries. It is with Bolivia now, and concerns the territory on the Pacific coast lying between the 23d and 25th degrees of latitude. Prior to 1866, jurisdiction over this territory was claimed by both of these governments, but on December 9 of that year they promulgated a treaty which had for its purpose a settlement of the dispute. In substance, the treaty provided that the 24th degree should constitute the line of division, but that all guano deposits within the territory prior thereto in dispute, as also all duties which might be derived from the exportation of minerals therefrom, should be equally divided between the two countries. It soon became evident, however, that the treaty had failed to accomplish the purpose for which it was intended, and on the 6th of August, 1874, they celebrated another.

   2In this the 24th degree was reasserted as the line of division, and each government relinquished its right, within the jurisdiction of the other, to duties arising from exportation of minerals. They agreed, also, that within the hitherto disputed territory neither government should, for the term of twenty-five years, impose upon the exportation of minerals a higher duty than was then provided for, and that neither government should, within said territory tax the citizens, industries, or capital of the other, of whatever character, in excess of that then fixed by law.

   3The country referred to as the disputed territory is in the heart of what is known as the desert of Atacama, and was regarded, until about the time of the execution of the first treaty, except for the deposit of guano at Majillones, its northern boundary, as of little or no value. The discovery of vast nitrate deposits about that time, however, in that part of the territory, set apart to Bolivia by the treaty, soon brought it into prominent notice, and companies were organized for the purpose of developing that industry. [...]

   4In February of last year the Bolivian congress enacted a law exacting a tax of ten cents a quintal on all exportations of nitrate, and from this has arisen the present difficulty with Chili. The Chili Government promptly protested against the execution of this law, claiming that it was in direct conflict with the guaranties of the treaty of 1874. The law was allowed to remain dormant for several months, but no action was taken looking to its revocation.

   5A short time since, however, the Bolivian authorities notified the company at Antofagasta that the law was to be executed, and that the amount which was due from it on account of shipments made since the passage of the law was something in excess of $90,000. The Chili Government protested anew, and caused Bolivia to be informed that if she insisted upon executing the law Chili would regard the treaty as abrogated, and would proceed to assert her right of dominion to the territory claimed by her prior to 1866. Notwithstanding this threat the works at Antofagasta were levied upon and notice was given that they would be sold; whereupon, on the 12th instant the Chilian minister at La Paz was instructed by telegraph to demand his passport, and forces were immediately forwarded by water with instructions to take possession of the territory on the coast as far north as the 23d degree of latitude. On the 14th the Chilian forces occupied Antofagasta without firing a gun, and the disputed territory is now held by Chilian troops.

   1Your excellency is aware that a question of limits, though twice decided, finally brought on war between Bolivia and Chili, which latter country finished by declaring war against Peru also, on account of her having formally expressed her intention of remaining faithful to the treaty of alliance adjusted with the former of the two countries, although at the same time, and in virtue of that very treaty, she was straining every effort to re-establish fraternal relations between the belligerents and preserve the equilibrium and peace of the continent.

   2Chili, pretending to enforce an act of revindication in which she was herself both judge and plaintiff, had already, in a treacherous and violent manner, seized hold of the Antofagasta region, which had been adjudged to belong to Bolivia by two successive treaties, and subsequently occupied the entire Bolivian coast and opened hostilities on Peru without allowing herself to be detained in her course by any consideration of humanity for defenseless towns, or out of respect for the rights conceded by the laws of nations, or even out of consideration for the interests of neutral nations.

   [...]

   3Finally, the department of Tarapacá, which forms the southern boundary of the Peruvian territory, has been occupied by the Chilian army, and Peru will reply to this act in the only way which her honor and pride dictate.

   4Chili, however, in the mean time, whose actions with respect to the territory temporarily occupied by her, should be limited to the exercise of the hostilities permitted by the law of nations, doubly violates it, attacking both the sovereignty and property of the republic. She arrogates the former to herself, imposing taxes on the nitrate industry of the department in question, the importance of which is notorious throughout the world, and she assails the latter, appropriating to her own uses the portion of the nitrate riches belonging to the Peruvian fisc, exporting and selling same in foreign markets.

   5[...] it is an actual fact that the saltpetre of Tarapacá, as well as that of the Bolivian coast, is being exported in neutral vessels, without the aid of which Chili would be powerless to carry out her criminal intent.

   1. Map the agreements. On Diagram 1, students trace the 24° line and the 23°-25° band, then mark what the 1866 treaty (Source 1, paragraph 1) and the 1874 treaty (paragraph 2) each said about duties.
   2. Find the trigger. Students locate the 1878 law in Source 1, paragraph 4, and write Bolivia's action and Chile's objection in one sentence each, attributing each to the government that held it.
   3. Compare the cases. Students list two claims from Source 2 about Chile's actions and decide which are statements of fact that could be checked and which are judgments. Prompt: which of Source 2's claims does Source 1 support, and which does Source 1 not address at all?
   4. Find globalization. Students underline every reference to foreign buyers, foreign markets or neutral ships in Sources 1 and 2, and explain why a war in a desert concerned countries far away.
4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Read Sources 3 and 4: thirty years later, and today. In Source 3, Hiram Bingham of Yale University, traveling as a U.S. delegate, describes Iquique in early 1909, about thirty years after the war. Words to know: a roadstead is open water where ships anchor; schooners are sailing ships; husbanding means using carefully; exigencies are needs. Source 4 is the U.S. Geological Survey's 2025 summary of lithium. Words to know: tailings are waste left after mining; joint ventures are businesses owned together by two or more companies.

   Students write a paragraph of 6-8 sentences answering: "In the Atacama, did economic globalization and the expanding use of scarce resources lead more to conflict or more to cooperation?" They must use at least one source from the 1800s (Sources 1-3) and Source 4 or Table 2, cite by paragraph, and include one example within a country and one among countries.

   1The morning of the fourth day saw us at Iquique, once the centre of Peru’s nitrate industry, now rivaling Valparaiso as the scene of Chilean commercial activity. Numbers of sailing-vessels were lying in the roadstead waiting for cargoes of the precious fertilizers. It was a pleasure to see several of the vessels actually flying the American flag! The West Coast depends largely on Oregon and Puget Sound for its lumber-supply and these three-masted American schooners find a profitable trade in bringing lumber and returning with nitrates. The Limarí’s cargo consisted largely of merchandise which had come from Europe and America through the Straits of Magellan. While this was being discharged we had time to see the city, where a few months before an angry mob of strikers from the nitrate works, had been mown down by well-trained government troops.

   [...]

   2[...] But the most interesting place in Iquique is what is known as the Combination, the central office of the Nitrate Association, where the different companies, mostly English, unite to arrange scales of prices and quantity of output and maintain an efficient Bureau of Propaganda.

   [...]

   3As there is a heavy export duty on the nitrates, Chile has been, and will continue to be, as long as the supply holds out, in the very enviable position of making foreigners pay the bulk of her taxes. How long this exceptional state of affairs will last is a problem for the geologists to settle. As there is undoubtedly enough material in sight to satisfy the demands of the present generation and the next, no one has any very stringent reason for husbanding the output or for investing the national income from the export duties in such a way as to provide for the exigencies of future tax-payers. [...] Nevertheless Chile would do well to take warning from the experience of Peru, whose revenue for many years depended almost exclusively on the yield of guano from the Chincha Islands. The exhaustion of that valuable product left the country in a far worse state than she was before her easily acquired income had commenced to corrupt her politicians and financiers.

   1Events, Trends, and Issues: Excluding U.S. production, worldwide lithium production in 2024 increased by 18% to approximately 240,000 tons from 204,000 tons in 2023 in response to strong demand from the lithium-ion battery market, high lithium prices from 2021 to early 2023, and an increase in global lithium production capacity. Global consumption of lithium in 2024 was estimated to be 220,000 tons, a 29% increase from revised consumption of 170,000 tons in 2023. [...]

   [...]

   2Four brine operations in Argentina, nine mineral operations in Australia, one mineral tailings operation in Brazil, two mineral operations in Canada, two brine operations Chile, seven mineral and five brine operations in China, and four mineral operations in Zimbabwe accounted for the majority of world lithium production. [...]

   [...]

   3Lithium supply security has become a priority for technology companies in Asia, Europe, and North America. Strategic alliances and joint ventures among technology companies and exploration companies continued to be established to ensure a reliable, diversified supply of lithium for battery suppliers and vehicle manufacturers. Brine-based lithium sources were in various stages of development or exploration in Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, China, and the United States; [...]

   4[...] Resources are distributed as follows: Argentina, 23 million tons; Bolivia, 23 million tons; Chile, 11 million tons; Australia, 8.9 million tons; China, 6.8 million tons; [...]

5. Closure10 minutes

   Exit ticket. "Name one condition that makes cooperation over a scarce resource more likely, and one that makes conflict more likely. Support each with a detail from today's sources."

   Teacher note on the sources. Source 1 was written by a U.S. diplomat in Chile's capital and reports Chile's position; Source 2 is the official view of Peru's government during the war; Bolivia's own case appears here only through documents written by others, chiefly these two; no Bolivian source is on the page, so tell students that a full study would add Bolivian sources. Historians note that Bolivia's government defended the 1878 tax as a condition of its congress's approval of its earlier contract with the nitrate company, a matter between Bolivia and a company working under Bolivian law; Chile's government rejected that view, as Source 1 reports. Source 3 reflects the views of a U.S. visitor in 1909: it describes a deadly attack by troops on striking workers in a single phrase and calls the strikers a "mob." The event was the massacre at the Santa María School in Iquique on December 21, 1907, when troops fired on striking nitrate workers and their families gathered there; the number killed is disputed, from official figures in the low hundreds or fewer to later estimates of 2,000 or more. Bingham's "a few months before" is loose, since he passed through in early 1909, about a year later. "Mob" is his judgment, not a neutral description, and students should not repeat it as fact. The excerpt leaves out several of Bingham's sweeping judgments about Chilean voters and character, as noted in its caption. Discuss his word choices as evidence of his point of view. The war ended with Chile holding the nitrate coast; Bolivia and Chile still disagree today about Bolivia's access to the sea, so treat that as a question with more than one side, not as settled. The lesson does not evaluate any current government's lithium policy.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which of these is the clearest example of economic globalization?

   AA mining company selling its ore to factories on three other continents BA town council setting new opening hours for its weekly market CTwo farmers in one valley trading seed with each other each spring DA desert basin that receives less than an inch of rain a year

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 1, paragraph 3, what happened soon after the discovery of vast nitrate deposits in the part of the territory set apart to Bolivia?

   AChile and Bolivia agreed to move the boundary to 23° S BBolivia's congress banned all nitrate exports CCompanies were organized to develop the industry DPeru's army occupied the port of Antofagasta

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 1, paragraph 1, how did the 1866 treaty handle duties on minerals exported from the old disputed zone?

   AEach country kept the duties collected on its own side BThe duties were divided equally between the two countries CAll duties were paid to the company that mined the minerals DDuties were frozen at their 1866 level for 25 years

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 1, paragraph 4, what did the Chilean government claim Bolivia's 1878 nitrate tax violated?

   AThe law of nations on neutral shipping BThe boundary line of the 1866 treaty CThe price agreement of the nitrate companies DThe guaranties of the treaty of 1874

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Source 1, paragraph 2, says the 1874 treaty limited export duties "for the term of twenty-five years." If it had stayed in force, in what year would that term have ended?

   A1899 B1891 C1903 D1904

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 2, paragraph 4, what is Peru's main complaint about Chile's actions in Tarapacá?

   AChile refused to share the nitrate duties equally with Bolivia BChile closed Tarapacá's ports to all foreign ships CChile taxes the nitrate industry and sells Peru's nitrate abroad DChile moved the boundary of Tarapacá to the 24th degree

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why does Source 2, paragraph 5, single out "neutral vessels"?

   ANeutral ships had blockaded Peru's ports for Chile BChile needs foreign ships to export the nitrate it has taken CPeru wants neutral ships to carry its army to Antofagasta DNeutral countries had signed the 1874 treaty as witnesses

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which detail in Source 2 most clearly shows that it was written by a government at war?

   AIt names the department of Tarapacá BIt mentions "two successive treaties" CIt addresses the reader as "your excellency" DIt calls Chile's seizure "treacherous and violent"

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 3, paragraph 1, why were American schooners in Iquique's roadstead?

   AThey brought lumber from Oregon and Puget Sound and returned with nitrates BThey carried troops sent to end the strike at the nitrate works CThey delivered fresh water, which the desert town could not supply itself DThey took on guano from the Chincha Islands for farms in the United States

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Source 3, paragraph 2, what was "the Combination"?

    AA treaty office where Chile and Peru set the border BA union hall where nitrate workers planned strikes CWhere nitrate companies jointly set prices and output DA bank that lent money to Bolivia for its railroad

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    What warning does Bingham give in Source 3, paragraph 3?

    AForeign companies will soon buy all of Chile's nitrate beds BRevenue from a resource that runs out can leave a country worse off CPeru will go to war again to win back the nitrate of Tarapacá DExport duties are too low to pay for Chile's government

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Use Table 2. About what share of 2024 world lithium production (not counting the United States) came from Chile?

    A49% B56% C11% D20%

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to Source 4, paragraph 1, what helped drive the 18% rise in world lithium production in 2024?

    AStrong battery demand, high earlier prices and more production capacity BA treaty among Argentina, Bolivia and Chile to raise their output CLower demand for batteries, which pushed miners to cut their prices DNew lithium discoveries in the United States, which raised world supply

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    What kind of cooperation does Source 4, paragraph 3, describe?

    AA shared price set by the governments of lithium-producing countries BAlliances and joint ventures among companies to secure supply CA treaty dividing the Salar de Atacama between two countries DAid from consumer countries to farmers near the salt flats

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Evaluate this claim: "If the world had not wanted nitrate, Chile and Bolivia would never have gone to war." Use at least two sources.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Using Source 1, explain why the cooperation set up by the 1866 and 1874 treaties broke down. Evaluate whether the breakdown came more from the treaties' design or from the rising value of nitrate.

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17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Diagram 2 shows Australia mining the most lithium in 2024 although it holds fewer resources than Argentina, Bolivia or Chile. Using Source 4, paragraph 2, give one reason production does not simply follow resources, and explain what that means for conflict or cooperation.

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18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Source 4 says world lithium consumption rose 29%, from 170,000 tons in 2023 to 220,000 tons in 2024. If it rose another 29% the next year, about how much would it be? Evaluate whether growth like this makes conflict or cooperation more likely, giving one reason for each.

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19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Source 3, paragraph 1, says that "a few months before" Bingham's visit, strikers from the nitrate works "had been mown down by well-trained government troops." Evaluate how this event connects to economic globalization, and what it shows about conflict within a country.

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20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Source 4 is a U.S. government summary written for readers in a country that imports most of its lithium. Evaluate one strength and one limitation of Source 4 as evidence for judging conflict and cooperation over lithium.

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These standards connect to D2.Geo.11.9-12: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.