Ancón, Treaty of (1883)

Treaty of Ancón (1883), an agreement between Chile and Peru ending Peru's participation in the War of the Pacific. The treaty ceded Tarapacá to Chile, allowing Santiago to occupy the provinces of Tacna and Arica for a period of ten years. Santiago annexed Tarapacá subject to outstanding claims of foreign creditors. The agreement also called for a plebiscite to take place in 1893 in the two provinces; the winner could retain the two provinces, and the loser would receive $10 million in silver pesos.

Because it did not specify the procedures under which the plebiscite should occur, the treaty failed to settle the issue of the ownership of Tacna and Arica. Santiago successfully resisted attempts by the Pan-American movement and the United States to settle this boundary issue until, in 1929, it signed an agreement with Lima. In return for retaining control of Arica, Chile constructed some port facilities in Tacna, paid Lima $6 million, and returned Tacna to Peruvian control. Thus, the Ancón agreement, while ending the formal state of war, did not completely resolve the territorial disputes arising from the 1879 war.

See alsoWar of the Pacific .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

William J. Dennis. Tacna and Arica: An Account of the Chile-Peru Boundary Dispute and of the Arbitrations by the United States. Hamden: Archon Books, 1967.

Robert N. Burr. By Reason or Force: Chile and the Balancing of Power in South America, 1830–1905. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965. 160-164.

                                         William F. Sater