Atacamite is named after the Atacama Desert in Chile, where it was first described in 1802 by Dmitri de Gallitzin. It can also be found in Boleo, Mexico, South Australia, China, Russia, Czech Republic, and Arizona.

Atacamite can also occur as a chloride corrosion product on copper and bronze objects, indicating bronze disease. It has also been found as a green pigment on sculpture, manuscripts, maps, and frescoes.

Atacamite has been discovered in the patina of the Statue of Liberty, and as alteration of ancient bronze and copper artifacts.

Atacamite has no significant industrial uses, but it is valued for mineral collecting (especially aesthetic sprays), research in copper ore weathering, and pigment history (occasionally used in ancient green pigments).

Atacamite was a component of ancient Egyptian green pigments, it was found in funerary objects and used in wall paints. It provided a stable, rich green color—unusual at the time—making it valuable for art and decoration.

In the 1600s–1800s, vivid green atacamite crystals from Chile were occasionally misidentified as low-grade emerald, or “copper emerald”, or or “chilean emerald”. This confusion persisted until crystallography advanced and the mineral was formally described in the early 1800s.

The trio of atacamite–botallackite–paratacamite can be visually similar, but Atacamite = prismatic to fibrous, orthorhombic - Paratacamite = more blocky or pseudo-cubic -Botallackite = forms in very thin tabular crystals.