The Port of Arica (; TPA) is the main

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

of the northernmost coastal

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an city of

Arica Arica ( ; ) is a commune and a port city with a population of 222,619 in the Arica Province of northern Chile's Arica y Parinacota Region. It is Chile's northernmost city, being located only south of the border with Peru. The city is the ca ...

. The northern part of the port, known by its acronym, MASP Arica (), is operated by the

Peruvian State {{unreferenced, date=January 2014 The Peruvian State, which is conceptually the Peruvian nation legally organized, is the entity that holds the government in the Republic of Peru. The state's structure is defined in the Constitution of Peru approve ...

. It is one of the six most active ports in Chile, alongside those of

Iquique Iquique () is a port List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the At ...

, Lirquén, 

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

,  San Vicente and

Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...

History

The city of

was originally part of the

Viceroyalty of Peru The Viceroyalty of Peru (), officially known as the Kingdom of Peru (), was a Monarchy of Spain, Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in ...

. After the country's independence from Spain, it remained as part of the new country.

19th century

When the

Peru–Bolivian Confederation The Peru–Bolivian Confederation () was a short-lived state that existed in South America between 1836 and 1839. The country was a loose confederation made up of three states: North Peru and South Peru—states that arose from the division of th ...

was established in 1836, the port city became the Common port of Arica (), under special administration of the Confederate government as per its constitution. The territory served as a common customs office for the member states of

South Peru The Republic of South Peru () was one of the three constituent Republics of the short-lived Peru–Bolivian Confederation of 1836–39. South Peru was one of two states—the other being North Peru—that arose from the division of the Peruvia ...

and

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

since June 21, 1836, when

Andrés de Santa Cruz Andrés de Santa Cruz y Calahumana (; 30 November 1792 – 25 September 1865) was a Bolivian general and politician who served as interim president of Peru in 1827, the interim president of Peru from 1836 to 1838 and the sixth president of ...

enabled the common port. The measure came to harm the geopolitical importance of the port of

Cobija Cobija is a city in Bolivia, capital of the department of Pando, and is located about 600 km (373 mi.) north of La Paz in the Amazon Basin on the border with Brazil. Cobija lies on the banks of the Rio Acre across from the Brazilian ...

, being one of the main causes of the decline of the only Bolivian port—which had been damaged due to the war between Salaverry and Santa Cruz—but on the other hand, it benefited Bolivian trade, due to the greater facilities it provided to merchants in the urban centres of the Bolivian state, especially from

La Paz La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...

Oruro Oruro (Hispanicized spelling) or Uru Uru is a city in Bolivia with a population of 264,683 (2012 calculation), about halfway between La Paz and Sucre in the Altiplano, approximately above sea level. It is Bolivia's fifth-largest city by populat ...

and

Cochabamba Cochabamba (; ) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital (political), capital of the Cochabamba Department and the list of cities in Bolivia, fourth largest city in Bolivia, with ...

. The port provided a great advantage to Bolivia, since the revenue from its customs office, not inconsiderable, half belonged to Bolivia. Furthermore, the Arica project went much further, since Andrés de Santa Cruz decreed that Arica would be a warehouse port to attract even more trade, with which he planned to end the supremacy of

in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. In Arica, there was awareness of the competition from Cobija, which despite its decline, continued to supply the urban centers of Potosí and Chuquisaca. Atanasio Hernández, Administrator of the Arica Customs on the Bolivian side and former Administrator of the Cobija Customs wrote to Santa Cruz suggesting the suppression of Cobija for the development of Arica, receiving a negative reply from Santa Cruz, who insisted on the port's political importance.

20th century

The city of

, which had been occupied by the

Chilean Army The Chilean Army () is the land arm of the Chilean Armed Forces. This 80,000-person army (9,200 of which are conscripts) is organized into six divisions, an army aviation brigade and a special operations brigade. In recent years, and after sever ...

since the

War of the Pacific The War of the Pacific (), also known by War of the Pacific#Etymology, multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Treaty of Defensive Alliance (Bolivia–Peru), Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought over Atacama Desert ...

, was formally ceded to

through the Treaty of Lima, signed in 1929. As per the treaty, the

Chilean government Chile's government is a representative democratic republic, in which the President of Chile serves as both head of state and head of government, within a formal multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the president and their cabi ...

agreed to the construction of a port to be operated by the

Peruvian government The Republic of Peru is a unitary state with a multi-party semi-presidential system. The current government was established by the 1993 Constitution of Peru. The government is composed of three branches, being executive, judicial, and legisla ...

with a degree of autonomy. The Peruvian port was inaugurated on February 14, 2000. In 2005, the port, alongside other Peruvian-owned buildings in the city, became owned by the Regional Government of

Tacna Tacna, officially known as San Pedro de Tacna, is a city in southern Peru and the regional capital of the Tacna Region. A very commercially active city, it is located only north of the border with Arica y Parinacota Region from Chile, inland f ...

. It is serviced by the Tacna–Arica railway.

References

{{coord, -18.473, -70.324, type:landmark_region:CL_dim:2000, display=title Ports and harbours of Chile Buildings and structures in Arica Chile–Peru relations

History

19th century

20th century

See also

References