Paraguay

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The indigenous Guaraní had been living in eastern Paraguay for at least a millennium before the arrival of Spanish conquistadores in 1524. The city of Asunción was founded in 1537 as the first capital of the Governorate of the Río de la Plata within the Spanish Empire. During the 17th century, Paraguay was the center of Jesuit missions, where the natives were converted to Christianity and introduced to European culture. After the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spanish territories in 1767, Paraguay increasingly became a peripheral colony.

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Etymology

The origin of the word "Paraguay" is uncertain. One version postulates that the name is from the Guaraní language paraguá ("feather crown") and y ("water"): thus, paraguaí ("feather crown of waters"). Other versions state that the name derives from the Guaraní name for the Paraguay River, Payaguá-y ("river of the Payaguá people"). Yet another version states that the names comes from the Guaraní words para ("sea") + gua ("originates") + y ("river"): thus, "sea which originates from the river".

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History

The indigenous Guaraní had been living in eastern Paraguay for at least a millennium before the arrival of the Spanish. Western Paraguay, the Gran Chaco, was inhabited by nomads of whom the Guaycuru peoples were the most prominent. The Paraguay River was roughly the dividing line between the agricultural Guarani people to the east and the nomadic and seminomadic people to the west in the Gran Chaco. The Mbayá nomads were known for their warrior traditions and were not fully pacified until the late 19th century.

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Geography

Paraguay is divided by the Río Paraguay into two well differentiated geographic regions. The eastern region (Región Oriental); and the western region, officially called Western Paraguay (Región Occidental) and also known as the Chaco, which is part of the Gran Chaco. The country lies between latitudes 19° and 28°S, and longitudes 54° and 63°W.

The terrain consists mostly of grassy plains and wooded hills in the eastern region. To the west are mostly low, marshy plains.

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Government and politics

Paraguay is a representative democratic republic, with a multi-party system and separation of powers across three branches. Executive power is exercised solely by the President, who is head of state and head of government. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the National Congress. The judiciary is vested on tribunals and Courts of Civil Law and a nine-member Supreme Court of Justice, all of them independent of the executive and the legislature.

Since the end of the 1947 civil war, the country's politics have generally been dominated by the conservative Colorado Party.

Paraguay consists of seventeen departments and one capital district (distrito capital).

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Economy

For many years, the country's image was associated with the illicit trade in electronic products, weapons and drugs. However, this scenario began to change in the 2000s, with the rise of legalized businesses such as the production of soy, maize, beef, among others. Data from the Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP) showed that, in 2006, exports related to the triangulation trade (China-Paraguay-Brazil), treated by Brazil – in most cases – as smuggling and embezzlement, represented 22% of the country's GDP. In 2016, this percentage dropped to 12%.

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Demographics

Paraguay's population is distributed unevenly through the country, with the vast majority of people living in the eastern region near the capital and largest city, Asunción, which accounts for 10% of the country's population. The Gran Chaco region, which includes the Alto Paraguay, Boquerón and Presidente Hayes Department, and accounts for about 60% of the territory, is home to less than 4% of the population. About 63% of Paraguayans live in urban areas, making Paraguay one of the least urbanized nations in South America.

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Culture

Paraguay's cultural heritage can be traced to the extensive intermarriage between the original male Spaniard settlers and indigenous Guaraní women. Modern historians, however, characterise this process as one shaped largely by sexual and economic coercion rather than voluntary union, rooted in the colonial practices of the cuñadazgo and the rancheadas. Their culture is highly influenced by various European countries, including Spain. Therefore, the Paraguayan culture is a fusion of two cultures and traditions: one European, the other, Southern Guaraní.

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