Tocopilla
This article is about the Chilean city. For other meanings, see Tocopilla (disambiguation).
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-22.0963888889-70.2Coordinates: 22° 6′ S, 70° 12′ W
Tocopilla is a nitrate port in northern Chile, located in the Región de Antofagasta.
The city in the province of Tocopilla has about 24,000 inhabitants (as of 2005). The name of the city comes from the Aymara language and means something like Great Canyon.
Coat of arms of Tocopilla
Tocopilla
Chile
Geography
The port city is located directly on the Pacific Ocean. To the east of the city lie the mountains of the coastal cordillera, which are up to 2300 m high. On 14 November 2007, a devastating earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 on the Richter scale occurred near the small town.
History
The town was founded on 29 September 1843 by Domingo Latrille. The Sociedad Mineralógica de Tocopilla explored smaller copper deposits at that time. In 1871, the shipment of saltpetre began.
The city belonged to Bolivia until 1879. During the Saltpetre War (1879-1883), the city was captured by Chilean troops on March 22, 1879. Afterwards, the Peruvian ironclad Huáscar searched for Chilean merchant ships off the coast of Tocopilla and brought up several. Tocopilla was a very important port for landing Chilean troops until the Battle of Tarapacá. After that, the importance of the city in the course of the war declined.
Since 1890 the railway line Maria Elena-Tocopilla connects the city with the hinterland. The Ferrocarril de Tocopilla al Toco was later partially electrified - and it was here for the first time in South America the technology of power recovery (recuperation) was used when braking the downhill trains. The railway was in operation until August 2015 and was thus the last nitrate railway in Chile.
In 2007, an earthquake killed two women. High damages were caused. In August 2015, the nitrate railway was so badly damaged by storms that it did not appear possible to rebuild it in the medium term. Sociedad Química y Minera therefore wrote off the railway worth USD 33 million in its September 2016 annual report.
Nitrate track SQM
Questions and Answers
Q: Where is Tocopilla located?
A: Tocopilla is located in the north of Chile in the Antofagasta region.
Q: What is Tocopilla known for?
A: Tocopilla is the capital of the province of Tocopilla.
Q: Is Tocopilla a city or a town?
A: Tocopilla is a city.
Q: What region is Tocopilla in?
A: Tocopilla is in the Antofagasta region.
Q: What is the capital of the province of Tocopilla?
A: The city of Tocopilla is the capital of the province of Tocopilla.
Q: What is the significance of Tocopilla for the Antofagasta region?
A: Tocopilla is an important city in the Antofagasta region, being its capital.
Q: How is Tocopilla governed?
A: Tocopilla is a commune, which suggests that it is governed under the Chilean system of government that divides the country into municipalities or communes.
