Old photos of Valparaíso

Valparaiso, on the central coast of Chile, served as a port from the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, supplying the capital Santiago inland. It was raided by English privateers including Francis Drake and remained a small settlement under colonial rule. After Chilean independence in the early 19th century the port was opened to international trade and became the most important harbour on the Pacific coast of South America, a regular stop for ships rounding Cape Horn between the Atlantic and the Pacific.

In the 19th century British, German and other European merchants settled here, founding banks, shipping firms and newspapers, and establishing the first stock exchange in Latin America. The city grew up the steep hills around the bay, linked to the flat commercial district by dozens of funicular lifts, the ascensores, the earliest of which date from the 1880s. A severe earthquake in 1906 destroyed much of the lower town. The opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 diverted shipping and began a long decline. The historic quarter of Valparaiso, with its hillside houses and funiculars, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2003.

Old photographs of Valparaiso typically show the bay crowded with sailing ships, the funiculars, the customs house and Plaza Sotomayor, and the corrugated-iron houses stacked on the hills.

What the photos show

The 366 photographs of Valparaíso on PlaceWas span 14 decades, from 1860 to 2025. 72 of them were taken before 1980; the other 294 are recent views of the same streets and landmarks.52 spots were photographed more than once, so you can compare the same street, square or building across the years.366 of the photos carry a written caption explaining what is in the frame. Every picture is pinned to the place it was taken, so the map below shows where the photographers stood.