The province of Antofagasta is part of Antofagasta Region of Chile and has an area of 65.987 square km lying within the Atacama Desert. It borders Loa Province and Tocopilla Province in the north, Bolivia in the west and Atacama Region in the south. The capital is Antofagasta. It is rich in saline and other mineral deposits, the important Caracoles silver mines being about 90 miles 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. Before 1866, this region was disputed and claimed by Chile and Bolivia. Between 1866 to 1879 the province contractually belonged to Bolivia, and was known as the department of Atacama, or the Litoral. It fell into the possession of Chile in the Pacific war of 1879-84, and was definitely ceded to that republic in 1904.

Antofagasta City
Antofagasta is a long and thin city located just south of the Península de Mejillones and north of the Cerro Coloso, 768 miles north of Valparaiso in 23°38'39S latitude and 70°24'39W longitude. The city is surrounded by steep hills that are part of Chile's Cordillera de la Costa ("mountain range of the coast") on its eastern edge, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. Antofagasta lies in the Atacama Desert, among the Earth's driest regions. Annual rainfall in the city averages less than 4 mm, and there was a period of 40 years when no rain fell at all.[citation needed]Mejillones is a small port 65 km to the north, on the northern part of Península de Mejillones. About 25 km north of Antofagasta is Hornitos Antofagasta, a beach that attracts both tourists and locals. Tocopilla is a coastal city located 188 km north of Antofagasta. Calama, the second-largest city in the Antofagasta Region, is located 213 km northeast of the regional capital. La Negra is a medium-sized industrial complex some 10 km to the east of Antofagasta, on the Pan-American Highway.

History
The first native inhabitants were the Changos, whose fished, gathered shellfish, and hunted sea lions.[citation needed] The region was also part of the Incan Empire. Founded between 1866 and 1874 as a seaport for the recently-discovered silver mines nearby, Antofagasta's original name was Peñas Blancas (Spanish for "White Boulders"). It was originally part of Bolivia but passed into Chilean hands on February 14, 1879 when it was occupied by Chilean troops. This marked the beginning of the War of the Pacific.[citation needed] It had been colonized by Chileans for many years before that. A chilean man named Juan López is traditionally considered to be the city's first inhabitant. Since about 1994, Antofagasta has experienced a construction boom of high-rise apartment buildings that continues as of 2004.