Tacna

Capital: San Pedro de Tacna
Population: 2745,000
Tourist Attractions: Toquepala Caves & Paintings
Peru Guide – Importance Rating: Low

Tacna is Peru’s southern-most region, bordering Chile in the south and Bolivia to the east. The landscape of Tacna is made up principally of volcanoes, desert and rugged mountains, which are rich in minerals and offer great potential for mining. Sitting on the converging Nazca and South American tectonic plates, the region of Tacna has suffered many earthquakes; the most recent in 2001 measuring a magnitude of 8.4 on the Richter scale. Today, Tacna is a mostly commercial city with many immigrants from the Puno Region living there. Its economy is based on mercantile activities with the north of Chile (Arica and Iquique). Since it is part of a duty free zone, Tacna has come to rival Arequipa as southern Peru’s main business area. The region offers little interest for tourism, with the exception of the Toquepala Caves located 95 miles (154 km’s) from Tacna City. The caves offer an insight into some of the earliest dwellings known to man, where archaeologists have carbon dated cave paintings depicting hunters, humans and animals back to 7630 BC.

Tacna Region – Photos