Mining in Chile's Norte Chico

the long version

Charles Lambert (1793-1876) was a Franco-British entrepreneur who made a fortune in copper and silver mining - and smelting - in nineteenth-century Chile. Lambert's personal journal from 1825 to 1830 came to light in Chile in 1975. It is an extraordinary day-to-day record of the first stage of a successful businessman's career, starting with an account of his arduous journey from England to Chile in 1825. It covers the disagreements with his British employers, his final dismissal by the directors, and the great variety of deals that accompanied his move into independent entrepreneurship. The journal gives us a fascinating from-the-ground-up picture of how business was done in the Norte Chico of Chile in the 1820s and chronicles Lambert's relationships with miners, traders, landowners, and politicians, his connections with the British trading community, and his occasional political roles.