Mejillones is a Chilean port city and commune in Antofagasta Province in the Antofagasta Region. Its name is the plural form of the Spanish meaning "mussel", referring to a particularly abundant species and preferred staple food of its indigenous inhabitants. It is situated in the northern side of the Mejillones Peninsula, 60 km north of the city of Antofagasta. To the west, in the northern part of peninsula, is , the site of the naval combat of the same name, fought during the War of the Pacific (1879-1883). Mejillones is surrounded by the waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and by the most arid desert in the world to the east, the Atacama. It also marks the country's widest point (362 km) along a parallel. History The settlement of Mejillones dates back to the first communities of Chango people who inhabited the coastal area from 1825. Mejillones was included in maps of the Captaincy General of Chile in the 18th century, depending from the city of Copiapó. Between 1838 and 1839, French businessmen known as ("Brothers Latrille"), contracted mining services of the Copiapino Juan López (miner known as Chango Lopez, considered the founder of Antofagasta), to mine guano deposits located south of Mejillones. In this manner, Luan López began mining around the vicinity of San Luciano hill in 1841. The concession for the mining of this raw material was obtained by Domingo Latrille at the hands of the Bolivian government, which would last until 1842. Between 1841 and 1842, they made the largest shipments of this product to Europe. In 1845, President of Bolivia Manuel Isidoro Belzu had a small fort built on the south side of Mejillones, to become a minor port of Bolivia. Through project development, the Bolivian government proposed to establish a major port city in the large jurisdiction of Mejillones. The territory was disputed between Chile and Bolivia until the signing of the Boundary Treaty of 1866. Bolivia and Chile mutually agreed to finance the construction of the ("Offices of Administration and Security of Customs") in order to protect the interests of Chilean workers and to implement an export tax on minerals, primarily salt and guano. Subsequently, one of these buildings was transferred to the city of Antofagasta during the War of the Pacific; currently, this building is still in force and designated as the "Regional Museum". On October 8, 1879, the Battle of