Tarata Department (Chile)
| Tarata | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Department of Chile | |||||||||
| 1911–1921 | |||||||||
Tarata Department within Tacna Province | |||||||||
| Capital | Tarata | ||||||||
| Historical era | War of the Pacific | ||||||||
• Established | 2 December 1911 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 22 September 1921 | ||||||||
• Handover to Peru | 1 September 1925 | ||||||||
| Contained within | |||||||||
| • Province | Tacna | ||||||||
| Subdivisions | |||||||||
| • Type | Sub-delegations | ||||||||
| • Units | See list
| ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Peru | ||||||||
Tarata was a department of Tacna, a province of Chile. Located in the Atacama Desert, it existed between 1911 and 1921. Prior to its formal establishment, its area had been administered as part of Tacna Department. Its capital was Tarata.
The Treaty of Ancón, which put an end to the War of the Pacific, was signed on October 20, 1883. The following year, the province was formally created on October 31, incorporating the former Peruvian provinces of Tacna, Arica and Tarata. Under the treaty, the territory would be administered by Chile for a ten-year period, after which a plebiscite would determine its fate. Originally meant to be held in 1894, was ultimately not carried out. Due to differing interpretations of the course of the Sama River, the province's provisional northern border, the area's administration by Chile proved controversial.
Following the mediation of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge, the department was abolished in 1921, and its territory returned to Peru in 1925. The dispute regarding Tacna and Arica continued into 1929, ending through the signing of the Treaty of Lima, under which Tacna would be returned to Peru, while Arica would be formally incorporated into Chile.