From Potosí's silver port to Chilean territory

At the beginning of the 16th century, with the arrival of the Spanish, Arica became the port of embarkation for silver extracted from Potosí, in Bolivia. The city then developed thanks to the saltpeter mining activity of the 19th century, when it was still part of Peruvian territory: after the War of the Pacific, the city passed to Chile.

The Chinchorro mummies and the memory of the War of the Pacific

The climate in Arica is warm and sunny all year round, and its beaches are known for fantastic waves, ideal for surfing. You can visit the Colón Site Museum, where 32 mummies of the Chinchorro culture dating back to 5050 B.C. are exhibited, considered among the oldest in the world, and the Historical and Weapons Museum, on the Morro de Arica, which recounts the crucial battle that took place in 1880 during the War of the Pacific.