Cobija (Chile)

- 22:55 - 70.266666666667Koordinaten: 22 ° 33 ' S, 70 ° 16' W

Cobija ( formerly Lamar ) is a ghost town on the Pacific coast in the Atacama Desert in the South American Andean country Chile. Cobija is located about 130 km north of Antofagasta in the Región de Antofagasta.

History

Cobija was after its inception on December 28, 1825, first a Bolivian port city on the Pacific. The Bolivian government recognized the importance of the port and invested according to a decree of July 17, 1839 some 30 000 pesos in the ailing port facilities. 1842 Chile began with the export of guano in the area of ​​Mejillones. It always came back to border disputes with Bolivia. On August 10, 1866 Chile and Bolivia govern their disputes in a border treaty.

Cobija was badly damaged in 1868 by an earthquake. 1869 was looking for a yellow fever epidemic home town. After another severe destruction caused by a tsunami after the earthquake in Iquique in 1877, trade and administration laid in the meantime created port city of Antofagasta.

Before Salpeter (1879-1883) about 15 000 people lived around Cobija, of which over 90 percent of Chileans. However, a further contract in 1874 for the border issue and Taxes could not prevent a military conflict. To finance the reconstruction after the earthquake of 1877, the Bolivian government under President Hilarion Daza in 1878 decided to a special tax of 10 centavos on each hundredweight mined saltpeter. Chile saw this as a breach of the agreement of 1874. Chileans refused to pay the tax and were partially arrested and confiscated their property. The dispute was the reason for the saltpeter.

On March 27, 1879 Cobija fell without much resistance in Chilean hands. Bolivia lost its access to the Pacific. After the construction of railway lines from the Bolivian highlands to Arica and Antofagasta early 20th century Cobija sank into insignificance.

In memory of the Pacific port lost in the city of Bahía saltpeter was renamed in Cobija in Bolivia 1908.

  • Location in Chile
  • Ghost town
  • Región de Antofagasta
  • Place in South America
Andes 1877 Iquique earthquake
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