This article addresses -in the context of the republican formation of Peru during the XIX century- the complex relation between the state apparatus and the local society of Tarapaca from the rentier efforts of the governments of that time and the emergency, for this cause, of a critical regionalist feeling of the political and economic decisions sanctioned by them. Being Tarapaca the southernmost province, this aspect had significant traces about the position held by different local figures for the purpose of claiming citizenship and thus, contributing to the Peruvian nation-building.