# Cobija, Chile

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**Cobija** (previously known as **Puerto La Mar**) was the first significant [Pacific Ocean](/source/Pacific_Ocean) port of independent [Bolivia](/source/Bolivia).[1] In 2002, it had 41 inhabitants and its economy was totally based on fishing.[2]

Cobija was included in maps of the [Captaincy General of Chile](/source/Captaincy_General_of_Chile) in the 18th century, depending from the city of [Copiapó](/source/Copiap%C3%B3).[3]

In 1825, it was the main port of Bolivia due to the [Potosí](/source/Potos%C3%AD) silver mine.[4] The port was during the Bolivian period markedly multiethnic and with much of its economy centered on the smuggling of silver, a task in which indigenous [Atacameños](/source/Atacama_people) and [Changos](/source/Chango_people) likely participated.[5]

The territory was disputed between Chile and Bolivia until the signing of the [Boundary Treaty of 1866](/source/Boundary_Treaty_of_1866_between_Chile_and_Bolivia). The city was destroyed by an earthquake on 13 August 1868, and a tsunami on 9 May 1877,[6] but it was revived with the discovery of ore in [Caracoles](/source/Caracoles).[4] At the end of the [War of the Pacific](/source/War_of_the_Pacific) in 1884, the city and the entire coastal province of Bolivia was annexed by [Chile](/source/Chile). In a treaty signed in 1904 Bolivia recognised the loss of Cobija.

Eventually, Cobija was replaced by the port at [Antofagasta](/source/Antofagasta) and in 1907 it was abandoned and its parish was moved to the town of [Gatico](/source/Gatico_(Chile))[4] which is itself now nearly a ruin.[7]

## See also

- [Caracoles, Antofagasta](/source/Caracoles,_Antofagasta)
- [Huanillos](/source/Huanillos)
- [Tocopilla](/source/Tocopilla)
- [Mejillones](/source/Mejillones)

## References

1. Lofstrom, W. (1974). Cobija, Bolivia's First Outlet to the Sea. *The Americas*, *31*, 185-205

1. Vol. 6. p. 612.

1. [Jaime Eyzaguirre (1967). BREVE HISTORIA DE LAS FRONTERAS DE CHILE.](https://es.scribd.com/document/105213842/Breve-Historia-de-Las-Fronteras-de-Chile-Jaime-Eyzaguirre)

1. ["Cobija, en Tocopilla"](https://web.archive.org/web/20061211114217/http://www.turismochile.com/guide/tocopilla/articles/789). Archived from [the original](http://www.turismochile.com/guide/tocopilla/articles/789) on 2006-12-11. Retrieved 2007-12-20.

1. Chiappe, Carmos María (2022). ["Descaminos de Atacama: Actores y estrategias del contrabando de plata en los comienzos de Bolivia (1825-1839)"](https://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-04622022000200011). *[Atenea](/source/Atenea)*. **526**. [doi:10.29393/at526-1dacc10001](https://doi.org/10.29393/at526-1dacc10001)

1. [*The Geology of Chile*](https://books.google.com/books?id=h4DBQR9jDsoC&dq=Cobija+earthquake&pg=PA337). The Geological Society. 2007. ISBN 9781862392205.

1. Davis, J. S., Barta, B., & Hubbard, C. (2003). Lonely Planet guide to *Chile & Easter Island*

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