Reseña

WHY PUBLISH A TRANSLATION OF A HISTORICAL EVENT THAT HAS AN EXTENSIVE HISTORIOGRAPHY?

In 1879 the Naval Battle off Iquique was an event of international significance recorded in the press and in illustrated magazines almost the whole world, mainly in Europe, the United States and Latin
America.
The passage of time has turned this Naval feat into a “Petite Histoire” that is hardly mentioned in texts or Encyclopaedias of Universal Naval Histories.
Chile is not the same country in terms of its importance in the end of the 19th Century, when the country was well-known for its exports of nitrates (saltpetre), silver, copper, gold and coal, not to mention
large wheat crops supplied to the Western United States and Australia.
Important works have recently been published in English on the Combat off Iquique, mostly aimed at highlighting Commander Arturo Prat Chacon’s valuable and ethical character, but not the tactical and
strategic characteristics adopted by ESMERALDA’s heroic Captain, while omitting the figure and military actions of Lieutenant Commander Carlos Condell de la Haza, COVADONGA’s Captain.
In spite of the continuing interest shown in the present early 21st century, the Combat off Iquique, it is hard to recognize that Chile is no longer known for those intellectual values, mining, commercial and
agricultural that had so much influence among the great nations of the world, origin of the important immigration of the 19th century. (see works of Baldomero Estrada, Professor of the Catholic University
of Valparaiso). Now they know us and write about us, but for other reasons…
The important thing is to remember and highlight the historical significance of the Naval Combat off Iquique that allowed the Chilean Nation, thanks to the courage and professional capacity of its naval
Officers, Seamen and Marines who sustained the Blockade of Iquique on May 21,1879 that managed to induce a patriotic and ethical change among Chileans, who were dazzled by the bravery, courage and
dexterity demonstrated after more than eight hours of unequal combat, that allowed the Chilean Navy not only to destroy the enemy’s main armoured ship, but also generated a patriotic reaction that
provoked the Government into reorganizing the National Fleet and thereby achieve maritime dominance, with in turn facilitated the Chilean Army’s campaigns against Peru until it obtained final victory without
naval opposition some three years later.
The War of the Pacific was won off Iquique on May 21,1879.