Arica [key], city, N Chile, on the Pacific Ocean, just south of the Peruvian border and at the northern limit of the Atacama Desert. Peru ceded Arica to Chile after the War of the Pacific (see Pacific, War of the). With the settlement of the Tacna-Arica Controversy in 1929, Chile retained sovereignty over the city but was required to furnish complete port facilities to Peru. The district of Arica is now a free zone where both Chile and Peru maintain customshouses. The city is a resort and a port through which the mineral exports (chiefly copper, tin, and sulfur) of both countries are shipped. Like much of Chile, Arica is subject to powerful earthquakes; particularly devastating earthquakes and tsunamis occurred in 1868 and 1877.
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