Pisagua Point

Pisagua lies on the Pacific coast of Tarapacá, where the desert mountains descend steeply to the sea. Fishing communities occupied this coast long before the arrival of Europeans, making use of its rich marine resources and maintaining connections with inland valleys. In 1831 Pisagua was authorized as an export port. Its sheltered anchorage gave the otherwise harsh desert shoreline a place from which goods could be carried by sea.