. There is evidence of the presence of a very early culture that goes back almost 10,000 years. The
archaeological investigations in the region have proven that a civilization dwelt in this zone in the
Stone Age. The
Toquepala Caves (7630 BC) and
Abrigo de Caru (6240 BC) belong to this age. There are other sites such as Girata Complex, Mullini, and Queñavichinca, where investigations have not been concluded.
Spanish period The first groups of
Spanish conquerors arrived in the region in 1535. These groups were formed by members of the Almagro expedition, organised to conquer Chile. During this time, the city of Tacna was called Villa San Pedro de Tacna. In 1615 and 1784 Tacna experienced violent earthquakes, and many towns were reduced to ruins. However, they were rebuilt in the same locations as before.
Republican period Tacna has a seat of honour in the emancipation process. In 1811,
Francisco Antonio de Zela made the first declarations in favour of a libertarian administration from Tacna. Once the Peruvian independence struggle was well under way, the heroism of this city was honoured by the revolutionary government's proclamation to promote it to the rank of villa in 1823. On 26 May 1828, President
José de La Mar promulgated a law passed by Congress by which the city of Tacna was given the title of
Ciudad Heroica (Heroic City). On June 25, 1875, the
department of Tacna was created by law. It included the provinces of
Tacna,
Arica and
Tarata. This was the last administrative change prior to the
War of the Pacific, which began in 1879. The first Peruvian territory to be occupied by the
Chilean Army during the war was the port of
Pisagua, whose occupation took place on November 2 of that year. The
Chilean campaign was successful, and led to the
military occupation of the provinces of
Iquique and Tarapacá following the Peruvian retreat despite a military success at the
battle of Tarapacá. The first Peruvian troops that left
Tarapacá arrived to the city of Arica on December 17. The following year, the
Chilean Navy carried out an amphibious landing at the
port city of Ilo on February 26, and the bombardment of Arica began the following day. The army continued to the south until it reached the city of
Tacna on May 26, after which
a battle was fought at
Intiorko Hill, located on the outskirts of the city. The Chilean Army subsequently occupied the city and Bolivia withdrew from the conflict. On June 7, the Chilean advance
reached and conquered Arica. Following
another campaign that reached the capital, the government of
Miguel Iglesias signed the
Treaty of Ancón on October 20, 1883. Under the terms of the agreement, Peru ceded its department of Tarapacá, while the provinces of Tacna and Arica would be subject to Chilean control, after which a plebiscite would be held. This never came to pass. Prior to the war, the department had a total area of around .
Chilean period From 1880 to 1929, the provinces of Arica and Tacna were central to the
46-year dispute between both Peru and Chile. Tacna was divided into an area administered by Chile, and another one administered by Peru. Both territories were divided by the
quebrada Honda, a ravine of the
Sama River. On April 1, 1884,
Miguel Iglesias created the department of Moquegua, incorporating the districts of Locumba and Ilabaya. On October 31 of the same year, the Chilean government established its own
province of Tacna, subjecting the territory to a process of
forced acculturation. Meanwhile, three years after Moquegua's creation,
Andrés Avelino Cáceres declared its law null and void, with the districts returning to their original jurisdiction. The Supreme Resolution of April 18, 1887, designated the towns of
Ilabaya and
Candarave as provincial seats of the sub-prefects of Tacna and Tarata. On January 10, 1890, a Supreme Resultion designated the town of
Locumba as the capital of the province and department of
Free Tacna (), a name that would apply to the non-occupied area for the remainder of the dispute. At the time, the town had a population of 300 inhabitants. • Arica: , with a population of 15,104 inhabitants. • Tacna: , with a population of 20,887 inhabitants. • Tarata: , with a population of 14,458 inhabitants. In 1929, the dispute came to an end with the signing of the
Treaty of Lima. Peru agreed to keep the province of Tacna, while that of Arica would be incorporated into Chile. Peru also received a $6 million indemnity and other concessions. During this period, notable people who resided in the area were later politician
Salvador Allende and his
family, and Peruvian historian
Jorge Basadre.
Contemporary period in Tacna. On 26 January 2007, Peru's government issued a protest against
Chile's demarcation of the coastal frontier that the two countries share. Peruvian President
Alan García recalled his ambassador to Chile, Hugo Otero, to Lima to consult about the controversy over the
maritime boundary the two countries share. According to the Peruvian Foreign Ministry, the Chilean legislatures endorsed a plan regarding the
Arica and Parinacota region which did not comply with the established demarcation of the
border. They alleged that the proposed Chilean law included an assertion of
sovereignty over 19,000 square metres of land in Peru's Department of
Tacna. According to the Peruvian Foreign Ministry, Chile had defined a new region "without respecting the Concordia demarcation." The Peruvian government maintained that the dispute over the Chilean plan is part of an ongoing maritime dispute whereby Chile had tried to use the demarcation process to extend its maritime frontier. Over the past 50 years, Peru has maintained claims over roughly 40,000 square kilometers of ocean territory. The
Chilean government asserted that the region in dispute is not a coastal site named Concordia, but instead refers to boundary stone No. 1, which is located to the northeast and 200 meters inland. Given that the proposed Chilean law did not recognize the borderline established by both nations in the 1929 agreement, Peru lodged diplomatic protests with Chile. In the complex territorial dispute, Chile was asserting the border near the Pacific Ocean to fit in the geographical parallel, which Lima asserted would cut off at least 19,000 square metres of the Peruvian territory. A possible border dispute was averted when the Chilean Constitutional Court ruled on the issue on 26 January 2007, striking down the legislation. Whilst agreeing with the court's ruling, the Chilean government reiterated its stance that the maritime borders between the two nations were not in question and had been formally approved by the international community. On 28 January 2007, Peru's leading newspaper
El Comercio reported that the President of the Cabinet of Ministers (Consejo de Ministros del Perú), Jorge del Castillo, expressed his grave concern over the pending maritime dispute with Chile. On 27 January 2014, in the final ruling of the
International Court of Justice located in
The Hague, Peru gained some maritime territory. The maritime boundary extends only to off of the coast. From that point, the new border runs in a southwesterly direction to a point that is equidistant from the coast of the two countries. Under the ruling, Chile lost control over part of its formerly claimed maritime territory and gave additional maritime territory to Peru. From the 27 January 2014 court press release: ==Geography==