fill with what was called �La Chimba�. On 19 March 1868, the �Melbourne Clark Company� was established, after the integration of Chilean and British capital.
After the earthquake in Iquique and Cobija of 13 August 1868, it was necessary to give legal recognition to the Chimba as a mining town. On 27 August 1868, Bolivia's PresidentMariano Melgarejo instructed the Prefect of the Department of Litoral, the official founding of La Chimba, in the area bounded by the commissioners and Jose Santos Hilario Ruiz Prada.[citation needed] On 22 October 1868, the population was officially established and the port under the name La Chimba, as stated in the foundation charter. Later the city was renamed Antofagasta. The first official map of the population and the port of Antofagasta was designed by Jose Santos Prada in 14 September 1869. In this document, set out the grounds of the Melbourne Clark Company, plus 17 blocks and a the Main Square
On 8 May 1871, Antofagasta was appointed by the Bolivian Government as Puerto Mayor, open trade worldwide. Next year, on 25 January 1872, following a session led by the prefect of the Provincial Department of Mejillones, Manuel Buitrago, founded the Municipality of Antofagasta under Bolivian law of Municipalities, which formed the body of �Municipal Agents�, composed of two Germans, one English and six Chileans.
On 27 November 1873, the "Compa��a de Salitres y Ferrocarril de Antofagasta" signed a contract with the government of Bolivia, in which taxes were removed from mineral exploitation for 15 years. This contract was not ratified by the Congress of Bolivia, which was then analyzed negotiations with Chile.
War of the Pacific
Battalion No. 3 Line of the Chilean Army, formed in columns in the Plaza Col�n of Antofagasta in 1879
In 1873 Bolivia signed a secret treaty of defensive alliance with Peru. This would be used as an argument 5 years later in Chile, when it unleashed the War of the
