nd, the Quebrada de Aroma south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west . It had an area of 10,000 km � and a population, by 1895, of 21,000 inhabitants. It was divided into five sub-delegations: Pisagua 1st, 2nd Santa Catalina, Aroma 3rd, 4th and 5th Cami�a Shrimp. The Municipality of Pisagua understood throughout the Department.
The Department had a single town, the port of Pisagua, highland villages inhabited by various indigenous Aymara and about one hundred saltpeter, located in the vast nitrate region of northern Pampa aquifers. The latter region was divided into cantons , 21 that gathered the saltpeter or nitrate and iodine deposits. San Francisco , Zapiga , Sal del Obispo , Negreiros , Black Pampa , Pampa Blanca and Santa Catalina were major.
Note that the nitrate region had the northern boundary Pisagua Department, and its southern boundary Taltal Department. 22
The port itself, according to Espinoza, 23 by 1895, it had a population of 3,635 inhabitants. However, the estimated Risopatr�n around 9,000 inhabitants. He notes that the water consumed pisag�inos was transported by boat from Arica and to a lesser extent, which was driven by mule from wells located in Quiu�a in Retamilla creek, northeast of the port. In this regard, Francisco Risopatr�n clarified: " The water surf spot and simultaneously internal and Arica Pisagua Old Broken ".
Pawns of a chore nitrate, around 1900
For its part, the Caleta Jun�n, located south of the port, had a relative importance during the nitrate boom. He was soon appointed within the Department and, as Pisagua, had a railway line that ended in a lifeline 24 of 1250 meters in length-a spectacular feat of engineering for its time, because the 650 meters separating the coastal cliff with-port, through which the nitrate and iodine Pampa aquifers was transported to the dock and from there to the outside. The population had, by 1895, 981 inhabitants. 25
Other locations of the Department,
