There are a variety of hypothesis with respect to the origin of the name "Calama," but the two main accounts maintain that its origin comes from the language Kunza, spoken in the past by the Lickan-antay, an ethnic group that to this day resides in the El Loa Province.
Hector Pumarino Soto suggests that "Calama" stems from the Kunza word "Ckara-ama," which means "town in the middle of the water". This affirmation is supported by the fact that, until the middle of the 20th century, the urban site of Calama and the surrounding oasis were flanked by the River Loa (in its south and east borders) and the fertile plain and swamps of the western sector, creating a true island in the middle of the desert surrounded completely by water.
Emilio Va�sse, meanwhile, says that Calama comes from the Kunza word "Ckolama," which means "place where partridgesabound". This is supposed testimony to the abundance of such a bird, living over everything in the middle of the western swamp sector.
History
Prehispanic Era
The exact evidence related to the history of Calama does exist, including petroglyphs and the caves of Yalquincha (NE of the city), the chullpas of Top�ter (pre-Columbian cemeteries to the east of the city), the Copper Mummy, and other remains inChuquicamata.
At the intersection of the Camino del Inca (the longitudinal one) and the routes that crossed the coast of the Altiplano, Calama became the main shelter of the Despoblado of Atacama. Their extensive lands for growing corn and alfalfa give testimony of the high capacity to supply food to the troops of Chasquis and to give tribute to the Inca. In fact, when Diego de Almagro, returning from Cusco, passed by the Calama shelter, the natives gave him copper horseshoes, which were made using a mysterious Incan technique used by towns conquered by the Incas. The science of such a technique still has yet to be explained, but the presence of such horseshoes further suggests
