Due to its oil reserves,[2] and ability to produce aviation fuel, Talara hosted a United States air base during World War II.

The Ajax, Achilles and Exeter, three British destroyers, were refuelled there on their way around the Horn to catch the Graf Spee in Rio de la Plata.

Talara is the westernmost city in all of mainland South America.

(A small outlying town, Seccion Dieciocho, is situated slightly further west, and just beyond there, the land itself reaches its westernmost extent at Punta Pariñas.)

Talara and some neighbouring cities (Piura and Amotape) served as the backdrop for the short novel Who Killed Palomino Molero?