Question about nitrates

abc123

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Before discovery of haber-Bosch process in 1912 the majority of world's nitrates ( essential for production of ammunition ) was coming from Chile.
Can someone tell me is there any other large source of nitrates except Chile?
 
Norway, via hydro-electricity.

Haber–Bosch was actually demonstrated as workable in 1909, although the first production factory wasn't up and running until IIRC 1913 (overall production didn't hit wartime sustainability until 1915).
 
Chile and Peru.

Both the guano islands off the coast and the Ca(NO3)2 deposits in the desert.

There were guano islands elsewhere, e.g. in the Pacific, but simply not to the same level. The Humboldt current provides incredibly rich sources of food for seabirds, and the dry climate means it doesn't all wash away.

India produced a lot of nitrates, too, and were the leading world source until the 1840s (IIRC), but by the 1860s or so, the Chile/Peru sources swamped their production.
 
I own a bound monograph printed in 1870 by an ex-Confederate general. It's about the nitrate production in the Confederacy, and how it limited the amount of gunpowder available. Apparently some of the Civil War battles were affected by the South's shortage of gunpowder.

Later, I found that France had a severe problem obtaining sufficient gunpower for their navy in the 1870s, which was why the French were at the forefront of the search for an alternative to black powder. They were so short of useable nitrates they were even extracting them from sewage.

Once everyone ramped up production of nitroglycerine or nitrocellulose propellants the shortages went away, or rather limits on copper and lead became the new shortages.
 
Before discovery of haber-Bosch process in 1912 the majority of world's nitrates ( essential for production of ammunition ) was coming from Chile.
Can someone tell me is there any other large source of nitrates except Chile?

Nauru and Christmas Island.
 
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