Paraguay is bordered to the south by Argentina, to the east and north by Brasil, and to the west by Bolivia. Further to the south and east, on the Atlantic ocean, is Uruguay.
The state of Paraguay derives its name from the river Paraguay (Parrot River), a tributary of the Parana. Almost in the center of South America, it covers 406,752 square km. The capital Asunción has 1.3 million inhabitants. The landscape is rather regular (highest in the Cordilleras of Caaguazu at 850 meters), to a large extent fertile, as well as rich in forests. The climate is subtropical.
According to Ethnologue, Paraguay, with a total population of 4,893,000 (1995), has some 166,000 German speakers including some 19,000 speakers of Plattdeutsch.
There are about 10,000 Mennonites in Paraguay, the oldest German colony is Fernheim.
From the beginnings to the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata
The first European contacts were by Diego Garcia and Sebastiano Caboto in 1525 and in 1536 by Juan de Ayolas. Asunción became the starting point of the further colonisation. The first Jesuits appeared around 1604, rapidly acquiring the confidence of the native Guarani and Guaycuru Indians, but soon came into conflict with the Spanish government. Finally they managed to justify their own theocratic patriarchal realm, which they divided into mission districts (doctrinae) under Spanish sovereignty. At that time Paraguay was substantially larger and included also Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and south Brazil. In the mid-16th century Paraguay came into border disputes with the Portuguese from Sao Paolo (Paulistas). A civil war broke out with Jesuit-hostile Spaniards from 1731-1733. Finally, the Jesuits, after being driven from Spain, were also expelled from in 1768 from Paraguay. Their possessions were divided between Spain and Portugal. In 1776 Paraguay was transferred to the Spanish viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata with capital at Buenos Aires, which also included Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay.
From independence to disaster
In 1811 independence came to to Paraguay which was governed by its dictator Francia, operating under a strict policy of isolation. His nephew Lopez took over the government in 1844, promoting trade and economics; in this time the first railway line was built, also the population grew to over 1 million. In 1862 his son followed in the government, which lost remote areas, however, after the 1865-70 war of aggression against the allied Brazilians, Argentinians and Uruguayans; more than half of the population died. The country remained occupied by Brazilian troops until 1876.
Reconstruction and stabilization
After the war the history of the country was shaped by efforts to rebuild the destroyed economy. In particular agriculture and immigration were promoted.
German Immigration
The first Germans in Paraguay appeared in 1881 in the form of five families from Berlin, which established themselves in San Bernardino. In 1889 Bernhard Förster, the brother-in-law of philosopher Friedrich Nietzchke, arrived and created the settlement Nueva Germania. Disputes prevented that settlement from advancing. With the establishment of Hohenau (45 km above Encarnacion) in 1899, German colonisation at the upper Parana, so important for the further development, began. The influx of Germans from Brazil brought from the German Reich much-needed instructors for subtropical agriculture. During 1900-1914, numerous predominantly German settlements developed on the west bank of the upper Parana: Pueblo San Migel, Curuzu, Cambyreta, mansion Alborada, Obligado, Colonia Bella Vista, Capitan Meza and Colonia San Lorenzo. In addition, beside the older colonies of San Bernardino, Nueva Germania, Nueva Australia, Yegros and Nueva Italia came far into the interior the so-called government colonies Antequerra and Rosario Lomas as well as in 1919 Independencia and General Delgado. Until the middle of the 1920's, Chaco was an unknown, lawless area. Germans first appeared here in 1926. In subsequent years, German Mennonites from Canada, Russia, and Poland established themselves in the area of Puerto Casado and were predominant in it. To the Second World After World War II, many Germans, both from Germany and those displaced from their homes in Eastern Europe, including Germans from Russia and Donaschwaben arrived.
