The use of Nitratine or Chilean Saltpeter once an important source of nitrates for fertilizer and other chemical uses including gunpowder and fireworks. The commencement of the export of nitrates to the Europe and the US in the 1830s marked the most important milestone in the history of the nitrate industry and brought consequences for the economies of the three countries sharing the Atacama Desert: Chile, Perú and Bolivia. Since World War I the industry has been supplanted by fixing nitrogen from the air as the main source of nitrogen.