John Thomas North | |
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| Born | 30 January 1842 |
| Died | 5 May 1896 (aged 54) |
| Other names | The Nitrate King |
| Occupation(s) | Businessman and investor |
| Known for | Nitrates, banking, Chilean Civil War |
John Thomas North (30 January 1842 – 5 May 1896) was an English investor and businessman. North was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, the son of a coal merchant and a churchwarden. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to millwrights and engineers before working for several years as a mechanic. He moved to Chile where his first occupation was as a boiler riveter in Huasco. He later moved to the Chilean town of Iquique where he worked as a waterworks operator, importer and ship owner. The War of the Pacific (1879–1883) provided North with an opportunity to purchase large numbers of bonds in the Peruvian nitrate industry. When Chile annexed Iquique and the surrounding province of Tarapacá the Chilean government transferred ownership of the nitrate fields to the bondholders. North was thus able to take a monopoly share of the lucrative Chilean nitrate industry for a very small initial investment, becoming known as "The Nitrate King".
North built upon his nitrates business by expanding into further monopolies in waterworks and freight railways, but also owned several iron and coal fields. North maintained his monopolies by employing lawyers to block competing entrepreneurs both in court and the Chilean National Congress. This was allowed by Chilean president Domingo Santa María, but Santa María's successor, José Manuel Balmaceda, became concerned that Tarapacá was starting to resemble a "state within a state" and resolved to break North's monopoly. Balmaceda had to force competition reforms through against opposition in congress, amongst a series of disputes which would eventually escalate into the 1891 Chilean Civil War between the president and the congress.
North also had investments in the Anglo-Belgian India Rubber Company which operated a concession in the Congo Free State. This company was involved in the extraction and export of rubber from the state, another highly profitable business, but later became involved in abuses of human rights against those under its power. However North's finances were eventually depleted and when he died his business empire had collapsed.