Tarapaca

Tarapacá is a desert region of northern Chile, where valleys descend from the Andean highlands toward the Pacific. Its ancient communities cultivated the watered ravines and maintained connections between the highlands and coast. The area became part of the Inca realm in the fifteenth century. Under Spanish rule silver mining, especially at Huantajaya, drew labor and resources from the surrounding settlements; the processing of ore and movement of supplies linked distant parts of the province.