The roots of the University of Atacama are historically linked to its two parent institutions: the School of Mines and the Normal School of Copiapó. 1832: the rise of mining in Atacama with the discovery of silver ore in Chañarcillo starts. 1857: President Manuel Montt founded the School of Mines that first mission was to be trained to work in the nascent nineteenth century mining operations personnel. The formation in Copiapo delivered soon spread to students from other provinces and neighboring countries such as Argentina and Bolivia, under the significant influence of scientific Ignacio Domeyko, father of mining in Chile.
University of Atacama (Spanish: Universidad de Atacama) or UDA is a university in Chile. It is part of the Chilean Traditional Universities. UDA is in Copiapó, in the Third Region, Atacama. The university was created in 1981, as a fusion of the old Mines School of Copiapo, founded in 1857 and very prestigious in the minerals industries. This school was integrated in 1947 in early founded Universidad Técnica del Estado, being the new U.T.E. until 1981 the most important Chilean university in applied sciences and the Normal School of Copiapó, founded in 1905.
