Tacna province

Tacna (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtaɣna]; Aymara and Quechua: Taqna) is a province of the department of Tacna, Peru. It is located in the country's south, on the border with Chile and Bolivia and it's is the largest of the department's four provinces. From 1883 to 1929, the province's territory south of the Sama River was administered by Chile following the War of the Pacific.

The term Tacna is derived from two Quechua words: Taka, meaning 'to hit', and na, which means 'place'. Thus, the full name means "I hit this place" or "I rule this place".^[1]

The area that today constitutes the province was once dependent on the port city of San Marcos de Arica, which functioned as a corregimiento from 1565 to 1787, as a partido of the intendancy of Arequipa until 1823 and, finally, as a province of Peru. On June 25, 1855, the province of Arica, then suppressed, was reestablished as part of the department of Moquegua, and its northern part was separated to form the province of Tacna.^[2][3] Each province was divided into the following districts:^[2]

Each had their eponymous cities as political capitals. The sub-prefect resided in Arica, while the prefect continued to reside in Tacna.^[2] 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.^[4][5]

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 Sama River.^[6]

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 (Spanish: Tacna Libre), a name that would apply to the non-occupied area for the remainder of the dispute.^[7][8][9] At the time, the town had a population of 300 inhabitants.^[6] The same document established the parliamentary representation of one senator and two deputies representing Tacna and Tarata.

Following this change, the de jure administration of the department was as follows:^[7][10]

On June 3, 1929, the Treaty of Lima was signed between Emiliano Figueroa (then President of Chile) and Pedro José Rada y Gamio (then Prime Minister of Peru). A handover ceremony took place on August 28 of the same year. While Tacna was reincorporated into Peru, Arica was permanently ceded to Chile.

Following the agreement, a boundary commission worked to formally determine a final border. Its work concluded on July 21, 1930.

On August 29, 1975, a successful military coup began in the city with the aim of overthrowing Juan Velasco Alvarado, then president of the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces of Peru.

On November 13, 1999, an act to execute the treaty's pending clauses was signed by Juan Gabriel Valdés (Foreign Minister of Chile), Alberto Fujimori (president of Peru) and Fernando de Trazegnies (Foreign Minister of Peru).

The province of Tacna is administered by a municipal government that also administers Tacna District. The Regional Government of Tacna is based in the province's capital, Tacna. The Catholic Church in Peru administers the province as part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tacna and Moquegua since 1944.^[b]

Since 2023, the incumbent mayor is Pascual Milton Güisa Bravo.

The province's first mayor was Armando Vargas Blondell, who took office following the return of the province to Peru in 1929.^[11] Prior to that, Adolfo Silva Vergara took office in 1884, when the Chilean administrative division was established.^[12]

Since 2006, the incumbent bishop is Marco Antonio Cortez Lara. The Cathedral of Tacna serves as the seat of the city's bishop.^[b] The list of bishops prior to the establishment of the diocese is as follows:

The province is divided into 11 districts (Spanish: distritos, singular: distrito), each of which is headed by a mayor (alcalde):

• Alto de la Alianza (La Esperanza)
• Calana (Calana)
• Ciudad Nueva (Ciudad Nueva)
• Coronel Gregorio Albarracín Lanchipa (Alfonso Ugarte)
• Inclán (Sama Grande)
• Pachía (Pachía)
• Palca (Palca)
• Pocollay (Pocollay)
• Sama (Las Yaras)
• La Yarada-Los Palos (Los Palos)
• Tacna (Tacna)

The Barroso mountain range traverses the province. Some of the highest mountains of the province are listed below:^[13]

The province is limited to the northwest by Jorge Basadre Province, to the north by Tarata Province, to the east by Chile and Bolivia, to the south by Chile and to the southwest by the Pacific Ocean.

The province is inhabited by indigenous citizens of Aymara and Quechua descent. Spanish, however, is the language which the majority of the population (80.88%) learnt to speak in childhood, 16.34% of the residents started speaking using the Aymara language and 2.55% using Quechua (2007 Peru Census).^[14]

• Tacna Province (Chile)
• Arica Province (Peru)

18°00′53″S 70°14′56″W / 18.01466°S 70.24887°W / -18.01466; -70.24887