[3] The city's strategic position is enhanced by being next to the Pan-American Highway, being connected to both Tacna in Peru and La Paz in Bolivia by railroad and being served by an international airport.

Its mild weather has made Arica known as the "city of the eternal spring" in Chile[4] while its beaches are frequented by Bolivian society.

These people are the first known culture to mummify their dead, predating the Egyptians by 2,000 years, and their mummies have been discovered as recently as 2004 and buried as shallow as <1 meter beneath the city's surface.

These enviable riches made Arica the target for pirates, buccaneers, and privateers, among whom Francis Drake,[6] Thomas Cavendish, Richard Hawkins, Joris van Spilbergen, John Watling, Baltazar de Cordes, Bartholomew Sharp, William Dampier, and John Clipperton all took part in looting the city.

The 1929 Tacna-Arica compromise in the Treaty of Lima subsequently restored Tacna to Peru but Arica remained part of Chile.

[8] Many car manufacturers opened plants in Arica, such as Citroën, Peugeot, Volvo, Ford and General Motors, which produced the Chevrolet LUV pickup until 2008.

To earn additional income, Promel planned to extract various substances from the waste at its processing plant at Sitio F in the outskirts of Arica.

The first shipment arrived in Arica in August 1984 and the processing of 500 kg test batches in October 1984 gave positive results with oversight from an official from the Chilean Health Authority in Santiago.

In the late 1980s, Promel ceased all activities at Sitio F for unknown reasons and abandoned the remaining 10,000 tons of the highly toxic smelting sludge out in the open exposed to the elements.

The area surrounding the plant was later used by the local authorities to build state-sponsored social housing aimed at low-income families.

Promel moved the sludge to a walled area on the other side of a nearby hill and covered the material with a plastic mat.

Other health effects include non-cancerous heart and lung diseases and fertility problems such as low birth weights and spontaneous miscarriages.

[9][10][11] According to the 2017 census by the National Statistics Institute, Arica spans an area of 4,799.4 km2 (1,853 sq mi) and has 222,619 inhabitants (110,115 men and 112,504 women).

Some Ariqueños, primarily the indigenous Amerindians, but also the afro-descendants, share cultural affinities to counterpart populations in neighbouring border areas of Peru, and more distantly, Bolivia.

Arica was made famous in 1970 by the spiritual master Oscar Ichazo when he held a 10-month training there for 50 North Americans from the Esalen Institute in California.

The Morro de Arica is a tall, nearly-vertical rock formation and hill located in the city, situated approximately 139 meters above sea level.

It was attacked and captured on 7 June 1880 by Chilean troops, as the final effort of their Campaña del Desierto (Desert Campaign) during the War of the Pacific.

The semi-tropical latitude, combined with the low humidity and the city's beaches, have made Arica a popular tourist destination.

[15] Unlike many other cities with arid climates, Arica seldom sees extreme temperatures throughout the course of the year and it is also relatively overcast.

[16] As a commune, Arica is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council, headed by an alcalde who is directly elected every four years.

Arica was one of the four host cities of the 1962 FIFA World Cup, and it was the venue for a Rip Curl Pro Search surfing event that took place from June 20 to July 1, 2007.

Arica plays host to a leg of the International Bodyboarding Association's world tour event every year at the notorious "el flops" surf break.