Antofagasta Region of Chile
| |
| Other Chilean Regions | |
| Capital | Antofagasta |
| Intendant | Jorge Molina |
| Provinces (Capital)
Antofagasta (Antofagasta) | Governor Cristián Pizarro |
| Area - Total | Ranked xxx |
| Population | Ranked xxx 493,984 |
| Latitude | xxx |
| Longitude | xxx |
| ISO 3166-2 | xxx |
Region II of Antofagasta is the second region of Chile, from north to south.
History
Antofagasta's history is divided, as the territory, in two sections, the coastal region and the highlands plateau or altiplano around the Andes. In precolumbian times, the coastline was populated by fishers-gathered nomadic clans of changos indians, of whom very little is know, since the had very few contact with spanish conquistadors.
The inland, in the other hand, was populated by the atacaman culture around the great Atacama Salar ( dry salt lake), the Loa river basin and valleys and oasis across the altiplano, the most important the modern village of San Pedro de Atacama.
The atacaman culture was deeply influenced by Tiwanaku culture and later fell under Inca rule. Atacaman harvested mainly corn and beans and developed trade as far as Amazon basin and Pacific shores, the arrivals of the Spaniards in 16th century did not destroy the culture but transformed deeply throw the process of mestizaje, in which both cultures enriched. Into the spanish rule, Atacaman territory (the inlands), was put under administration of Charcas Audience and at the time of independence general Bolivar integrated (both inlands and cost side) into the new Republic of Bolivia, under the name of "Litoral". This adjudication was contested by Chilean Goverment and several treaties were signed between the two nations, meantime, chileans explorers as Juan López and José Santos Ossa had discovered rich nitrate and guano deposits which drove to a massive chilean colonization of the costline. The tensions between the new (and almost only) settleres and bolivian authorities grew until 1879 when the War of the Pacific erupted. Antofagasta was permanently annexed to Chile at the end of the war.
Colonization by chileans follows mainly from the "Little North" (the moderns regions of Atacama and Coquimbo, aka III and IV regions), into the new territories of Antofagasta and Tarapacá, nicknamed Great North, also settlers came from Europe (mainly croats, spaniards, britons and greeks) and from arab countries, China, Peru and Bolivia, this inmigration flows joint with the culture of the altiplano region creating modern culture of the north of Chile, which presents both more andean and european features than the central valley (and mainstream chilean culture).
Base of workers movements in early 20th century, the region lived mostly od nitrate industry until in crack down in 1920's being replaced by cooper explotation, (two of the major open sky mines in the world are located in Antofagasta: La Escondida and Chuquicamata).
Climate
Mostly a desert climate, part of the Atacama Desert, with variations in the amount of annual rainfall from the coast to the highland desert.
Economic Activities
This is mostly a mining region, with mining-related activities accounting for 59% of the regional economy, also fishing exploitation and industrial productions.
Main Rivers:
- Río Loa.
es:Región de Antofagasta
fr:Región de Antofagasta