Tarapacá

Tarapacá, northernmost region of Chile (1990 population 358,088), located almost completely in a desert environment. Only at isolated points along the coast did the availability of water allow the development of major settlements, such as Arica (1990 population 177,330) and Iquique (1984 population 118,735), dedicated to trade, the shipping of minerals, and fisheries. In some river oases, such as Norte Grande, the production of vegetables, olives, and citrus fruits has flourished. In the past, Iquique was the leading city of Tarapacá for its role as the primary port of export for the nitrate mined in the interior. With the demise of nitrate mining, Arica—only 13 miles from the border with Peru and connected with La Paz, Bolivia, by a narrow-gauge rail—eclipsed Iquique and became even more important in the 1950s and 1960s as a free-trade and duty-free industrial zone. Industry collapsed in the 1970s, but Arica maintained its regional leadership as a trading center with Peru and Bolivia and the site of fish-meal factories.

See alsoArica .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Federico Marull Bermúdez, Historia de la antigua provincia de Tarapacá (Santiago, 1969).

Sergio Villalobos, La economía de un desierto: Tarapacá durante la colonia (Santiago, 1979).

Additional Bibliography

González M., Sergio. Chilenizando a Tunupa: La escuela pública en el Tarapacá andino, 1880–1990. Santiago, Chile: Ediciones de la Dirección de Bibliotecas, Archivos y Museos: Centro de Investigaciones Diego Barros Arana, 2002.

González M., Sergio. El dios cautivo: Las ligas Patrióticas en la chilenización compulsiva de Tarapacá (1910–1922.) Santiago: LOM Ediciones, 20004.

Podestá Arzubiaga, Juan. La invención de Tarapacá: Estado y desarrollo regional en Chile. Iquique, Chile: Universidad Arturo Prat, Ediciones Campus, 2004.

                                        CÉsar N. Caviedes