IQUIQUE, a seaport town of Peru, in the department of Tarapaca, in 20° 12' S. lat. In the twenty-five years from 1850 to 1875 it rose from a mere fishing village to be a place of from 18,000 to 20,000 inhabitants. This rapid growth was solely the result of the trade in the nitrate of soda which is found in exhaustless abundance in the neighbouring country, and of which during the five years 1874 to 1878 there was annually exported from the province, by way of Iquique, Mejillones, Junin, and Pisagua, an average of 276,811 tons.. About 60 or 70 tons of iodine are also manufactured in the nitrate of soda factories, varying in proof from 95 to 98 per cent. There entered and cleared in 1877 253 vessels, of which 142 were English, the total burden being 138,054 tons. As there is no cultivable land in the vicinity, all provisions have to be imported. In 1875 the town was laid waste by a couflag. ration; and it had hardly begun to recover from this disaster when it was visited in 1877 by a series of earthquakes. The wooden houses which fell at the first shock took fire, and while the firemen were endeavouring to extinguish the flames a huge wave rushed in and carried off their çngines. The people suffered severely both from hunger and thirst, as the principal store and the water condensers were both destroyed. The total damage was estimated at £800,000. In 1878 there were only 7030 or 8000 people in the town, which, however, has been rebuilt with greater attention to solidity of architecture and regularity of plan.