ANTOFAGASTA  , a

town and port of northern Chile and capital of the Chilean province of the same name, situated about 768 m . N. of Valparaiso in 23° 38' 39" S. lat. and 7o° 24' 39" W. long . Pop . (est . 1902) 16,084 . Antofagasta is the seaport for a railway running to Oruro, Bolivia, and is the only available outlet for the trade of the south-western departments of that republic . The smelting works for the neighbouring silver mines are located here, and a thriving trade with the inland mining towns is carried on . The town was founded in 1870 as a shipping port for the recently discovered silver mines of that vicinity, and belonged to Bolivia until 1879, when it was occupied by a Chilean military force . The province of ANTOFAGASTA has an area of 46,611 sq. m. lying within the desert of Atacama and between the provinces of Tarapaca and Atacama . It is rich in saline and other mineral deposits, the important Caracoles silver mines being about 90 M. north-east of the port of Antofagasta . Like the other provinces of this region, Antofagasta produces for export copper, silver, silver ores, lead, nitrate of soda, borax and salt . Iron and manganese ores are also found .

Besides Antofagasta the

principal towns are Taltal, Mejillones, Cobija (the old capital) and Tocopilla . Up to 1879 the province belonged to Bolivia, and was known as the department of Atacama, or the Litoral .