Everything about Iquique totally explained
Iquique is a city in northern
Chile, capital of
Tarapacá Region, on the
Pacific coast, west of the
Atacama Desert and the
Pampa del Tamarugal. It had a population of 216,419 as of the
2002 census.
Iquique has one of the largest duty-free commercial port centers (or
Zona Franca) of
South America and has been traditionally called
Zofri. There are around 2.4 km² of warehouses, banking branches, and restaurants.
Name
The city's name comes from the
Aymara word "Ique-ique", which translates to "laziness", but can also mean "sleep" or "bed."
History
Although the city was founded in the
sixteenth century, there's evidence of habitation in the area by the
Chango people as early as 7000 BC. During colonial times, Iquique was part of the
Viceroyalty of Peru as much of
South America was at the time, and remained part of Peruvian territory until the end of the
19th century. Iquique's early development was due in large part to the discovery of mineral riches, particularly the presence of large deposits of
sodium nitrate (Chilean saltpeter, locally called
salitre) in the
Atacama Desert (then part of
Peruvian territory). Some of the greatest Peruvian heroes were neighbors in Iquique, namely
Alfonso Ugarte (who was elected Mayor in
1876),
Ramon Zavala, a rich saltpeter entrepreneur;
Guillermo Billinghurst, later President of Peru (who after being overthrown in 1914 came to Iquique - then already under Chilean rule - to live out his last years), and
Ramon Castilla, three times president of Peru, who was born in
San Lorenzo de Tarapaca and died in the Desert of Tiviliche,
Tarapaca, who lived in Iquique during his mandate as Governor of Tarapaca in 1825.
Territorial disputes between Bolivia and Chile triggered the
War of the Pacific in
1879. The outcome of the war gave Chile this portion of the Peruvian territory. Over the years there was substantial emigration from other parts of Chile to this area which was called the
Norte Grande. In subsequent years the further exportation of Chilean saltpeter (mainly to
European countries) significantly helped in the development of the city, attracting foreigners and rapidly expanding housing projects.
In December
1907, the city was marred by the
Santa María de Iquique Massacre when the army, under the command of Gen.
Roberto Silva-Renard, opened fire on thousands of saltpeter miners, and their wives and children, who assembled inside the Santa María School. The workers had marched into town to protest their working conditions and wages. Somewhere between 500 and 2,000 people were killed. The folk group
Quilapayún recorded an album in remembrance of the event (
Cantata Santa María de Iquique) in
1970. In December
2007 a series of cultural and ceremonial activities have been planned, culminating in the week between
14 to
21 December, to commemorate the centenary year of the massacre.
Trivia
July 1835,
Charles Darwin, during his voyage on the
Beagle, traveled to Iquique and described it as a town "very much in want of everyday necessities, such as water and firewood." These necessities had to be brought in from a considerable distances. Darwin also visited the
saltpeter works.
In
1868 and again in
1877, the former
Peruvian city was devastated by
earthquakes. On
13 June 2005 there was yet another earthquake, with a magnitude of 8.1 on the
Richter Scale.
The
Battle of Iquique was fought in the harbor of Iquique on
May 21,
1879, now commemorated as
Navy Day, an annual
public holiday in Chile.
The most recent accident involving a spacecraft
RTG was the failure of the Russian Mars 96 probe launch on
16 November 1996. The two RTGs onboard carried in total 200 g of plutonium and are assumed to have survived reentry (as they were designed to do). They are thought to now lie somewhere in a northeast-southwest running oval 320 km long by 80 km wide which is centred 32 km east of Iquique, Chile.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Iquique'.
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