Paraguay
| Paraguay | |
|---|---|
| Republic of Paraguay | |
| República del Paraguay (Spanish)
Tetã Paraguái (Guarani) | |
| Capital | Asunción |
| Government Type | Unitary presidential republic |
| Languages |
|
| Currency | Guaraní (PYG) |
Paraguay officially the Republic of Paraguay (Spanish: República del Paraguay; Guarani: Tetã Paraguái), is a country in South America. It is bordered by Carolina to the south and southwest, the Riograndense Republic to the east, Brasil to the northeast, and Peru to the northwest. Paraguay is notable as the only landlocked nation in South America, although the country has ports on the Paraguay and Paraná rivers that give exit to the Atlantic Ocean through the Paraná-Paraguay waterway that exits in the Rio de la Plata.
Spanish conquistadores arrived in 1524, and in 1537 established the city of Asunción, the first capital of the Governorate of the Río de la Plata. During the 17th century, Paraguay was the center of Jesuit missions, where the native Guaraní people were converted to Christianity and introduced European culture. After the Argentine Purchase in 1756 and the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spanish territories in 1772, Paraguay increasingly became a peripheral colony of the Spanish empire. The failed 1775 Paraguayan Revolution led to increased regional nationalism in Paraguay and the colony eventually broke free in 1840 during the Spring of Nations and the Colombian revolutionary war.
History
Early History
The indigenous Guaraní had been living in eastern Paraguay for at least a millennium before the arrival of the Spanish. The Paraguay River was roughly the dividing line between the agricultural Guarani people to the east and the nomadic and semi-nomadic people to the west in the Gran Chaco. The first Europeans in the area were Spanish explorers in 1516. The Spanish explorer Juan de Salazar de Espinosa founded the settlement of Asunción on 15 August 1537. The city eventually became the center of a Spanish colonial province of Paraguay. An attempt to create an autonomous Christian Indian nation was undertaken by Jesuit missions and settlements in this part of South America in the eighteenth century. They developed Jesuit reductions to bring Guarani populations together at Spanish missions and protect them from virtual slavery by Spanish settlers and Portuguese slave raiders in addition to seeking their conversion to Christianity.
Spanish Paraguay
During the 18th century Paraguay gradually became a peripheral colony of the Spanish empire. In 1756 the Spanish crown sold the colonies of Rio de la Plata and the Banda Oriental to the British, in an event known as the Argentine Purchase. After this Paraguay became disconnected from the Spanish empire, surrounded by the Portuguese and British empires and cut off from Peru by the the mountainous terrain. This led to a period of decreasing Spanish settlement and investment in Paraguay as well as increased self sufficiency in the colony. In 1772 during the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spanish territories, Paraguay became one of the few parts of the Spanish empire to not enforce this edict. From 1772 to 1775 Spanish authorities became increasingly angered the insubordinate Paraguayans colonial government while Paraguayans became increasingly restless with Spanish rule. In 1775 the Spanish crown ordered the disbandment of the Paraguayan colonial government and direct crown control of the region. This led to the failed Paraguayan Revolution which saw the brief establishment of the first Paraguayan Republic (1775-1777). Due to the regions geographic isolation the Spanish empire were forced to ask the British in Carolina for assistance in dealing with the rebels. Following the defeat of the first republic in 1777, the period of renewed Spanish rule led to an increase in Paraguayan nationalism as well as period of greater British influence in Paraguay.
Independence
During the Spring of Nations throughout the 1830's Paraguayan nationalists started to agitate for independence. After the local Spanish army garrison in Asuncion withdrew in 1839 to focus on the Colombian Revolution Paraguayan republicans declared independence from the Spanish and formed the 2nd Paraguayan Republic. In 1842 after the Colombian revolution ended the Spanish asked the British to help retake Paraguay but the British refused due to ongoing colonial wars in Asia as well as local Carolinan support for the Paraguayan republicans. In 1846 (after two unsuccessful expeditions to reclaim Paraguay from Peru) the Spanish empire recognized the independence of Paraguay in the Treaty of Buenos Aires and set the border at the Paraguay river.
