| Native Name: | Departamento del Litoral |
| Conventional Long Name: | Department of the Litoral |
| Subdivision: | Department |
| Nation: | South Peru and Peru |
| Title Leader: | Prefect |
| Leader1: | Manuel Mendiburu |
| Year Leader1: | 1837–? |
| Capital: | Tacna |
| Year Start: | 1837 |
| Year End: | 1857 |
| Date Start: | 25 April |
| Date End: | 2 January |
| Event1: | Confederation ended |
| Date Event1: | 25 August 1839 |
| Era: | Confederation |
| Image Map Caption: | Litoral within South Peru (1837–1839) |
| P1: | Department of Arequipa (Peru–Bolivian Confederation)Arequipa Department |
| Flag P1: | Flag of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation.svg |
| S1: | Department of MoqueguaMoquegua Department |
| Flag S1: | Flag of Peru (1825–1884).svg |
| Divisions: | Provinces |
| Divisionsnames: | Tacna & Tarapacá |
| Membership Title1: | Constituent country |
| Membership1: | South Peru |
The Department of the Litoral (Spanish; Castilian: Departamento del Litoral), also known as the Department of Tacna (Spanish; Castilian: Departamento de Tacna),[1] was a department originally part of South Peru, a constituent country of the Peru–Bolivian Confederation, which existed from 1836 to 1839. Created alongside the confederate state, its capital was Tacna, the capital city of the confederation.[2] After the state's dissolution, it continued to exist as part of Peru until the creation of the Department of Moquegua in 1857.
The department was established when it was part of South Peru, a constituent country of the Peru–Bolivian Confederation, through a law issued on April 25, 1837 by Supreme Protector Andrés de Santa Cruz that separated it from the Department of the Law (i.e. Arequipa) while remaining under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Arequipa.[3] It was formed by the provinces of Tacna and Tarapacá.[3]
In 1839, the Confederate Army was defeated at the Battle of Yungay, and the new Peruvian provisional government of Agustín Gamarra, with the protection of the Chilean Army,[4] declared the dissolution of the Confederation on August 25, 1839, initiating the national restoration period of Peru and creating the New Constituent General Congress of Peru. He substituted the confederate organization with a unitary organization, withdrew Bolivian public workers, and rebuilt Peru's international relations.
In 1857, the law of January 2 created the Department of Moquegua as a separate entity from Arequipa. The new department included the provinces of Moquegua, Tacna, Arica and Tarapacá.[5] [6]