This striking book presents a detailed history of the August 13, 1868 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the city of Arica, then part of Peru but subsequently – after the 1879–1883 War of the Pacific – Chile. Professor Fernández Canque has used his notable research skills to uncover a vast array of sources and to tell a fascinating story. The book, however, is much more than a monograph on the catastrophe. It is an encyclopaedic compilation on nineteenth-century Arica that presents dozens of first-hand testimonies, a variety of archival sources, and a rich selection of illustrations. While readers who seek the history of the 1868 event will focus on the first half of the book, others will turn to the sections on ‘casos’ and ‘testimonios’ for a wealth of information on this important Pacific port. At times the amount of information threatens to overwhelm the broader arguments but Fernández Canque ultimately succeeds in crafting both a monograph and a source book that constitutes a valuable homage to the city and region he cherishes.

At a little after 5 p.m., an earthquake calculated at 8.6 on the Richter scale struck Arica, demolishing buildings and sending people scurrying for protection. The ground continued to shake intermittently for days but the greatest danger came from the sea. A tsunami walloped the port half an hour after the earthquake, killing hundreds and destroying much of the city. The large waves sank many of the ships in the port – some of which had taken refuge from Lima where yellow fever was killing thousands – and rammed others onto shore. Many savvy locals saved themselves by heading inland or to higher areas immediately after the earthquake. Others did not recognise the danger or could not mobilise.

For days, shocked survivors stumbled around the city confronted by terrible scenes of the dead and wounded, the eerie sounds of screams, sobs and tumbling buildings, and the increasingly wretched smell of decomposing corpses. In the midst of this gloom, people rejoiced when they found that loved ones had survived and learned of miraculous tales of survival. Locals and members of the sizeable foreign population (primarily from Bolivia, Chile, Great Britain and the United States) told distressing tales of the event and the chaos that followed. The earthquake and tsunami affected other areas in southern Peru, western Bolivia, and northern Chile, although to a much lesser extent than Arica. The nearby city of Tacna, three times as large as Arica, suffered only minor damage.

Fernández Canque demonstrates that local people's knowledge about earthquakes kept the death count relatively low, at about 280. He shows that the use of quincha or wattle and daub made buildings more flexible. The search for higher ground after the earthquake also saved hundreds of lives. Arica 1868 captures nicely the feel of this active port city that exported goods not only from southern Peru but also from Chile and Bolivia. The earthquake snapped the telegraph link with Tacna and the news thus spread via the many ships that moved up and down the Pacific. His use of travel accounts, illustrations (almost 100 of them are reproduced), and economic information about the nitrate economy makes Arica 1868 a rich source for scholars on the nineteenth-century South American Pacific. The author includes export and import data; dozens of pages of testimony (particularly by British sailors, many with a keen technical eye); and comprehensive information about the ships that were harbored there. Six Peruvian, two British, two French and three United States steamships were among the larger vessels struck by the tsunami. One hundred and thirty one members of the crew on the Peruvian corvette América perished. Many smaller boats also served this relatively shallow harbor yet the sources rarely mention them. Tax records did not register their activities and the more humble sailors did not write travel accounts as several of the British and American captains did. Fernández Canque assumes that hundreds of these sailors were lost at sea.

One issue that the author does not develop is the fact that Arica was part of Peru at this time but 15 years later passed into Chilean control. While his material shows that Arica was poorly served by distant Lima and that it housed a vibrant international community – factors that might have played a role in the geopolitics of the war and its aftermath – it would have been interesting to take into consideration the relationship between these two events (what Peruvian nationalists would deem back-to-back catastrophes) for Arica and this border region. Did the tsunami weaken the presence of the Peruvian government and create a power vacuum? The author is diplomatic on this point (although some readers might question his map on page 95 that plots the 1868 damage yet uses the post-War national borders, placing Arica in Chile) and depicts heroics and suffering by Peruvians, Chileans and others.

The book was clearly a labour of love. He acknowledges the significance of the time he spent in the Chilean north as a young boy and the legacy of his mother's Aymara heritage. Perhaps the years he spent in the British Library poring over obscure sources about this catastrophe can be understood in light of the sudden change and hardships he faced as an exile after the Pinochet coup in 1973. Did his examination of the unexpected events that so radically transformed Arica and the lives of its inhabitants echo the wistful ruminations of Chilean and other refugees about how events could turn so badly so quickly? This could be an incorrect and even unfortunate over determination of his motivations but there is no doubt that Manuel Fernández Canque has produced a splendid book that takes full advantage of his acumen and persistence for research and his deep affection for Arica. Readers will benefit greatly.