Its foundation is uncertain, as there is no consensus on the date of its establishment, nor are there historical documents that clearly attest to it. Its development was precarious until 1545, when the Indigenous man Diego Huallpa discovered in
Potosí, the largest and richest silver mines of the
New World. Arica became the natural port of Potosí for the export of silver, a fact reflected in its coat of arms. Owing to the silver shipments, the settlement was granted the title of city and came to be known at that time as
La muy ilustre y Real Ciudad San Marcos de Arica (“The Very Illustrious and Royal City of San Marcos de Arica.”) From that point on, the city became the seat of one of the 77 corregimientos of the
Viceroyalty of Peru, and its population reached 30,000 inhabitants. With the creation of the system of intendancies, Arica came to depend directly on the
Intendancy of Arequipa. In 1823, the
Province of Arica was created as part of the
Department of Arequipa, within the Republic of Peru. In 1828, the capital of the province of Arica was moved from Arica to
Tacna. In 1837, the province, together with the Province of Tarapacá, became part of the newly created
Littoral Department, with its capital in Tacna. In 1855,
Ramón Castilla, a native of Tarapacá, divided the
Province of Tacna, within the Littoral Department into two provinces:
Tacna and
Arica. In 1857, the
Department of Moquegua was created, comprising the provinces of Arica, Tacna, Moquegua, and Tarapacá, with Tacna as its capital. In 1868, the Littoral Province of Tarapacá was created, separating it from the Department of Moquegua. In 1875, the Littoral Province of Moquegua was created, with its capital in the city of
Moquegua, and the Department of Moquegua was renamed the
Department of Tacna. The Littoral Province of Tarapacá became the
Department of Tarapacá in 1878, consisting of the provinces of Tarapacá and Iquique. With the
Treaty of Ancón, following the
War of the Pacific, the Peruvian Department of Tarapacá was incorporated into Chile in 1883. Subsequently, the
Province of Tarapacá was created, comprising the
Department of Tarapacá and the
Department of Pisagua. Meanwhile, Chile began administering Tacna, Arica, and later
Tarata through the
Province of Tacna and the
Departments of Tacna and Arica. In 1925, Tarata was returned to Peru. In 1929, following the signing of the
Treaty of Lima, the
Department of Arica, formerly part of the Province of Tacna, became definitively Chilean. Subsequently, Chile decided to incorporate the
Department of Arica into the
Province of Tarapacá. The regionalization process carried out in 1976 by CONARA divided the country into thirteen regions, creating the
First Region of Tarapacá based on the former province of the same name, composed of the departments of Arica, Pisagua, and Iquique. Iquique was designated as the capital of this new region, despite the fact that Arica was a more commercially active and more populous city. This decision sparked, from that time onward, a political struggle for reform of the existing regionalization. During the 1990s, this pressure intensified, and during the presidential campaign of
Ricardo Lagos, he promised the creation of the new Region of Arica and Parinacota and the
Region of Los Ríos. It was not until 2004 that Article of the
1980 Constitution, which established a fixed number of regions, was amended—this being the first step toward the creation of Arica and Parinacota. Finally, on 16 may 2015, the executive branch announced the submission of a bill to create both regions. The bill was signed by President Lagos on 21 October and submitted to the
National Congress on 13 December of the same year.
Creation of the new region The bill presented at that time consisted of three main reforms: • The creation of the new Region of Arica and Parinacota, comprising the provinces of
Arica and
Parinacota, formerly part of the
Region of Tarapacá. • The creation of a new senatorial constituency covering the new region. The existing
District 1 would remain unchanged, and Senatorial Constituency No. 20 would be created for this purpose. • The Region of Tarapacá would thereafter be composed solely of the territory of the current
Province of Iquique. This province would be divided into two provinces: Iquique, consisting of the commune of the same name and
Alto Hospicio, and the new
Province of Tamarugal, comprising the remaining communes, with
Pozo Almonte as its provincial capital. After the bill entered the National Congress, it was debated in the
Chamber of Deputies, where it was approved both in general and in detail during the first constitutional procedure on 19 April 2006, with 90 votes in favor and 11 abstentions. However, the creation of a new electoral constituency was rejected, under the assumption that a comprehensive reform of the electoral system would be carried out in the future. The bill was then sent to the
Senate for its second constitutional procedure. It was approved with amendments on 6 December 2006, requiring its return to the Chamber of Deputies, which approved the amendments during the third constitutional procedure on 19 December 2006. Following approval by both chambers, the bill was sent on 23 January 2007 to the
Constitutional Court, which approved the amendment three days later. However, Ruling No. 719 of the court declared the second paragraph of Article 1 of the bill unconstitutional, stating that "
its content does not have a direct relationship with the core or fundamental ideas of the original executive bill on the matter, thereby violating Article 69, paragraph one, of the Constitution," and therefore ordered its removal from the text. This paragraph referred to the projected boundaries of the new region and originated from an amendment introduced by President
Michelle Bachelet during the second constitutional procedure in December 2006. It had prompted an observation by Peru, within the context of the
maritime boundary dispute between the two countries, by considering "
the parallel of Boundary Marker No. 1 in the Chilean Sea" as the starting point of the northern border. Upon removal of the paragraph, the region's boundaries were defined according to those established for the provinces of Arica and Parinacota in Decree with Force of Law No. 2-18.175 of the
Ministry of the Interior (1989). This decree defines the northern boundary of those provinces as "the border with Peru, from the Chilean Sea to the astronomical parallel of the Huaylas triangulation point" and "the border with Peru, from Cerro Quiñuta to the border with Bolivia," respectively, and the western boundary of the Province of Arica as "the Chilean Sea, from Punta Camarones to the border with Peru." After completion of all legislative procedures, President Michelle Bachelet signed the promulgating decree of Law No. 20,175, which created the Region of Arica and Parinacota, and it entered into force on 8 October 2007. ==Administration==