Antofagasta

Antofagasta (pop. 228,000), major Pacific seaport in northern Chile, capital of Antofagasta province. An important industrial center, it is also the shipping point for the copper, nitrates, and sulfur mined in the surrounding region, as well as being the crossroads for rail and highway connections to southern Chile and across the Andes to Bolivia and Argentina. Antofagasta was ceded to Chile by Bolivia after the War of the Pacific (1879–83).