It was populated by pre-Hispanic peoples for a long period of time before Spanish colonization in the early 16th century saw the transformation of a small town into a thriving port.

It was limited to the north by the Tacna Province, in the south by the Tarapacá Department, on the east by Bolivia, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.

In 1875, the province itself was divided into six districts: Arica, Belén, Codpa, Livilcar, Lluta, and Socoroma.

In the 1883 Treaty of Ancón Arica and Tacna provinces were transferred to Chilean control for ten years, and they were to have been subject to a plebiscite, one that was never held.

[4][5] De facto, that was the end of the Peruvian province of Arica, although the dispute was not settled until the 1929 Treaty of Lima.