“Söhne der Wüste – Durch die Atacama”

Nature and Environment (), Stephan Köster 50 min

It is the largest desert on the American continent and the most arid in the world – the Atacama located in Chile, Bolivia and Peru. At the time of the French Revolution, the Austrian nature explorer Thaddäus Haenke set off for South America. On behalf of the Spanish crown, he was to explore the flora and fauna in the unknown landscape at the edge of the Andes. What Haenke found were minerals and stones which would change the world: saltpetre, the white gold. The Austrian TV-team of the series UNIVERSUM crossed the driest region on earth, from the Pacific coast to the Bolivian jungle, and discovered a desert landscape full of surprises.