Paraguay — map and facts

About Paraguay

Paraguay is a landlocked South American nation bordered by Brazil to the northeast and east, Argentina to the south and southwest, and Bolivia to the northwest. Asunción, the capital and largest city, lies on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River near its confluence with the Pilcomayo River. The country has a population of approximately 7.4 million people and operates as a presidential republic. Paraguay is one of South America's poorest nations by per capita income but has experienced significant economic growth driven by agricultural exports, particularly soybeans and beef, as well as by enormous hydroelectric power generation. The Itaipú Dam, shared with Brazil on the Paraná River, is one of the world's largest operational hydroelectric plants and provides a substantial share of both countries' electricity. The country is notable for the widespread use of Guaraní, an indigenous language that holds co-official status alongside Spanish, and for which the vast majority of the population retains fluency, a remarkable persistence of an indigenous language in a predominantly mestizo society.

Geography and Landscape

Paraguay is divided into two distinct regions by the Paraguay River, which flows roughly north to south through the country. Eastern Paraguay, known as the Región Oriental, is the more densely populated half, featuring rolling hills, fertile plains, and subtropical forests. The Paraná River forms the entire eastern and southern border with Brazil and Argentina. Western Paraguay, known as the Gran Chaco or Región Occidental, comprises a vast, flat, semi-arid lowland that forms part of the broader Gran Chaco ecosystem extending into Argentina and Bolivia. The Chaco receives little rainfall compared to the east and is characterized by thorn forests, scrubland, and seasonal flooding. It is sparsely populated but holds significant cattle ranching and Mennonite farming communities centered around Filadelfia. Paraguay has no significant mountain ranges, and the highest elevations in the east barely exceed 700 meters. The climate is subtropical to tropical, with hot summers and mild winters. The Paraguay and Paraná rivers are critical waterways that connect the landlocked country to the Atlantic via the Río de la Plata.

History

Paraguay was inhabited by the Guaraní people long before European contact. Spanish explorer Juan de Salazar founded Asunción in 1537, making it one of the oldest cities in South America. Jesuit missionaries established remarkable reductions, or mission settlements, among the Guaraní between the early 1600s and 1767, when the Jesuits were expelled from Spanish territories. These missions, some of which survive as UNESCO World Heritage ruins in eastern Paraguay, represented an extraordinary experiment in theocratic communal living. Paraguay declared independence from Spain in 1811. The subsequent reign of Dr. José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, who ruled as dictator until 1840, isolated the country from its neighbors. The catastrophic War of the Triple Alliance from 1864 to 1870, fought against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, devastated Paraguay, killing an estimated 60 to 70 percent of the male population. Recovery was slow, and the twentieth century brought political instability and another devastating conflict, the Chaco War against Bolivia from 1932 to 1935. General Alfredo Stroessner ruled as dictator from 1954 to 1989, one of the longest dictatorships in South American history, before democracy was gradually restored.