A small obelisk on the east side of town marks the site of the Battle of Topáter, fought on 23 March 1879. A Chilean force of around 550 soldiers crossed the Loa River and overwhelmed a Bolivian garrison of about 130, capturing Calama and opening the War of the Pacific. The Bolivian commander, Eduardo Abaroa, refused to surrender and was killed at the battle — he is now a national hero in Bolivia.
The monument itself is modest — a stone column and bronze plaques on a small fenced plot — but for anyone interested in the geopolitics of the Atacama, this is where the modern map of South America's western coast was rewritten. A 15-minute stop on a longer drive; not worth a trip out from the centre on its own.