The Treaty of Ancón was a
peace treaty
A peace treaty is an treaty, agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually country, countries or governments, which formally ends a declaration of war, state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an ag ...
signed by
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 ...
and
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
on 20 October 1883, in
Ancón, near
Lima
Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...
. It was intended to settle the two nations' remaining territorial differences at the conclusion of their involvement in 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 ...
and to stabilise post-bellum relations between them.
Under the treaty's terms, Chile gained control over
Tarapacá. Chile was also to retain the conquered provinces 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 ...
and
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 ...
for ten years, after which their fate was to be decided by a plebiscite, which was never held.
[Egaña, Rafael (1900) ''The Tacna and Arica question. Historical antecedents.--Diplomatic action. Present state of the affair'' (translated from the Spanish edition by Edwin C. Reed) Barcelona Printing Office, Santiago, Chile, ] The
Tacna–Arica question would only be settled in 1929, through the mediation of the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
under
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
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*'' Præsident ...
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...
. This treaty, known as the
Treaty of Lima, ceded Arica to Chile, while Peru regained Tacna and received
USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...
$6 million indemnity and other concessions.
Background
During 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 ...
and the subsequent
Chilean occupation of Peru, a series of parallel governments were established. The Chilean occupying administration established a
collaborationist government in
La Magdalena headed by
Francisco García Calderón in order to be able to represent the occupied country in peace negotiations, while
Nicolás de Piérola's constitutional government settled in
Ayacucho after leaving Lima.
Both governments disputed each other's legitimacy, with a third government headed by
Lizardo Montero establishing itself in
Arequipa
Arequipa (; Aymara language, Aymara and ), also known by its nicknames of ''Ciudad Blanca'' (Spanish for "White City") and ''León del Sur'' (Spanish for "South's Lion"), is a city in Peru and the capital of the eponymous Arequipa (province), ...
and succeeding García Calderón's government in 1883, after the latter's forced exile to
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 ...
. A
fourth government, headed by
Miguel Iglesias, succeeded the Magdalena government in 1883 after being recognized by Chile, with both countries establishing the negotiations that would eventually lead to a final peace treaty. Iglesias, unlike the other heads of state, demanded peace with Chile at all costs, including the loss of territory. As a result,
Andrés Avelino Cáceres' troops attempted to capture Cajamarca, but did not succeed. Cáceres himself was defeated at the
Battle of Huamachuco on 10 July 1883.
Treaty
The treaty's contents mainly dealt with the restoration of peace between both countries, as well as the laws regarding commerce agreed upon by both countries before the war. Article 2 of the treaty ceded the territory of
Tarapacá to Chile unconditionally, and Article 13 demanded recognition of the validity of the Chilean administrative and judicial acts that occurred during the military occupation of Peru. The time period established to exchange of ratifications of the treaty was ordered to be within 160 days of the signing of the treaty.
Article 3 of the treaty proved to be the most controversial, as it stipulated that the territory of the provinces 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 ...
and
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 ...
were to continue under Chilean administration for 10 years, after which a plebiscite would decide which country the inhabitants wanted to belong to. The country chosen by the plebiscite would then pay $10,000,000 to the other. The plebiscite was never held in the end, with the ''status quo'' remaining until 1929, when the
Treaty of Lima was signed.
[ Chilean historians claim that this article was a covert transfer of both provinces to Chile and intended to be handed over to ]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 ...
when peace was signed there. This claim is disputed by Peruvian historians, such as and Jorge Basadre
Jorge Alfredo Basadre Grohmann (12 February 1903 – 29 June 1980) was a Peruvian historian known for his extensive publications about the independent history of his country. He served during two different administrations as Minister of Educati ...
.
Articles 4 to 10 deal with the economic consequences of the change of ownership of guano and saltpeter deposits. Chile was to allocate 50% of the profits from the sale of guano from already known deposits to the payment of the Peruvian debt. Profits obtained from unknown deposits before the treaty would go entirely to Chile, this was valid for any form of sales contract. Peru and Chile had to agree on sales prices and amounts to prevent harmful competition, creditors had to have their securities qualified by the Chilean authorities and other debt securities would not be recognized. The would remain under Chilean administration and exploitation as long as there were exploitable guano deposits and 50% of the profits were to be delivered to Peru.
Article 12 established arbitral tribunals that determined the compensation to be paid to Chilean citizens expelled from Peru whose assets had been seized at the beginning of the war.
Aftermath
Dissatisfaction with the treaty led to the Peruvian Civil War of 1884–1885, which overthrew Iglesias' government. On 8 January 1890 the Castellón-Elías protocol was signed, which handed Peru practically all the guano exploitation of Tarapacá, under the condition that it had to hand it over to the creditors. In exchange, the creditors recognized that the debt transferred to Chile for the occupation of the mortgaged deposits was limited to that indicated in the Treaty of Ancón.
The Tacna–Arica situation began the Chilean–Peruvian territorial dispute, which would only be solved in 1929 with the Treaty of Lima, with Tacna returning to Peru and Arica being ceded to Chile. One important provision in the treaty said that Chile could not cede sovereignty of former Peruvian territories to other nations without asking Peru first. The Chapter has been invoked once, during the Chilean proposal of 1975 that offered Bolivia sovereignty over some minor ports. The Peruvian government rejected the proposed land swap.
See also
* Bolivia–Chile peace treaty, 1904
* Treaty of Lima, 1929
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ancon, Treaty Of
History of the foreign relations of Chile
Chile–Peru treaties
War of the Pacific
Treaties involving territorial changes
1883 in Chile
1883 in Peru
Boundary treaties
Chile–Peru border
1883 treaties