Tarapacá was a Department of Peru, which existed between 1878 and 1884, when it was unconditionally ceded to Chile after the War of the Pacific under the Treaty of Ancón.

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

The curaca (tribal chief) of the coastal region in Tarapacá of the Kingdom of Chucuito was Felipe Lucaya, until the Spanish conquest.

In 1612 Pope Paolo V authorizes the establishment of the Diocese of Arequipa in which were seven jurisdictions including the district of San Marcos Arica comprising the regions of Tacna, Tarata, Sama, Ilabaya, Locumba, Putina and Tarapacá.

In 1837, the Peru–Bolivian Confederation established the Litoral Department [es] within South Peru, separating the provinces of Tacna and Tarapacá from the "Departamento de la Ley" (i.e.