50 Fun Facts About Paraguay

Paraguay is one of only two landlocked countries in South America. Which is the other?

Both lost their coasts in 19th-century wars, and both then fought each other in the 1930s; Paraguay reaches the Atlantic via the Parana-Paraguay waterway.

What is the capital and largest city of Paraguay?

Founded as a fort in 1537, it is nicknamed the 'Mother of Cities' because expeditions from it refounded Buenos Aires and other settlements.

The capital was founded on 15 August 1537 as the first capital of which Spanish governorate?

The date is the feast of the Assumption, hence the name; Buenos Aires had been abandoned and was refounded from Asuncion decades later.

Over 90 percent of Paraguayans speak which indigenous language, the highest rate in Latin America?

It shares official status with Spanish, which is actually spoken by slightly fewer people, about 87 percent.

What is Paraguay's third most spoken language, used by about 10 percent near the eastern border?

The 'Brasiguayos' crossed west from the 1970s for cheap land and now dominate soy farming.

Which religious order ran the 'reductions' that gathered indigenous people into mission towns in Paraguay?

They protected converts from Portuguese slave raiders for about 150 years until Spain expelled the order in 1767.

The ruins of two Jesuit mission towns in Itapua department were listed by UNESCO in which year?

La Santisima Trinidad and Jesus de Tavarangue form Paraguay's only World Heritage Site, near Encarnacion.

Paraguay dates its independence from Spain to 14 May of which year?

Full independence was only formally declared in 1842 under Carlos Antonio Lopez.

Paraguay's first dictator, who sealed the country off from 1814 to 1840, was nicknamed what?

Jose Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia tried to build a Rousseau-style utopia and forbade colonial-era elites from marrying each other.

Francia's marriage laws let white colonists marry only whom, to break the colonial elite?

He also slashed the powers of the Catholic Church and cut off relations with the rest of South America.

The 1864-1870 war in which Paraguay fought Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay is known as what?

It remains the bloodiest international conflict in the history of the Americas.

Which Paraguayan leader died at the Battle of Cerro Cora in 1870, refusing to surrender?

He had succeeded his father as president-dictator in 1862 and led a guerrilla campaign after Asuncion fell.

Per a common estimate, how many adult males survived in Paraguay after the 1864–70 war?

Of a pre-war population of perhaps 450,000 to 900,000, only about 220,000 people were left.

Paraguay fought its northern neighbour in a 1932-1935 war over a region thought to be rich in what?

Standard Oil backed Bolivia and Royal Dutch Shell backed Paraguay; Paraguay won most of the Chaco despite a third of Bolivia's population.

Alfredo Stroessner ruled Paraguay for how many years before his 1989 overthrow?

He took power in a 1954 coup; his father was a Bavarian accountant and his regime harboured Nazi fugitives.

Which infamous Nazi doctor was among the war criminals sheltered in Stroessner's Paraguay?

Hans-Ulrich Rudel and Eduard Roschmann also found refuge; the foreign press called it 'the poor man's Nazi regime'.

Stroessner's Paraguay took part in which 1970s state-terror campaign run by six South American dictatorships?

Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil coordinated the hunt for dissidents with US support.

Fernando Lugo, elected president in 2008 and ending 61 years of one-party rule, had previously been what?

A liberation theologian, he was impeached in 2012 in a process his supporters called a coup; the OAS disagreed.

Which party has dominated Paraguay since 1947 and produced Stroessner, Cartes and Santiago Pena?

Its only defeat in a presidential race since then was Lugo's in 2008; between 1904 and 1954 the country went through 31 presidents.

What is unusual about Paraguay's national flag?

The obverse bears the national seal and the reverse the Treasury seal; the tricolour was inspired by France.

Paraguay's national drink, terere, is yerba mate prepared how?

Medicinal herbs are added and it is sipped through a bombilla from a guampa, often a cattle horn; National Terere Day is the last Saturday of February.

Paraguay's traditional lace, nanduti, takes its name from the indigenous word for what?

Circular motifs are worked on fabric stretched in a frame; the town of Itaugua is its home.

Which instrument is most associated with Paraguayan music, from polkas to the languid guarania?

The guarania, a slow song form, was created by Jose Asuncion Flores around the 1920s.

The Itaipu Dam, shared with Brazil, sits on which river?

Its name means 'sounding stone' in the indigenous language; ten of its twenty turbines generate at 50 Hz for Paraguay and ten at 60 Hz for Brazil.

What share of Paraguay's electricity comes from hydropower?

Domestic use is a fraction of output, so the surplus is sold to Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, making Paraguay the world's largest electricity exporter.

Paraguay's Ciudad del Este ranks as the world's third most important free commercial zone behind which two places?

It sits at the triple frontier with Brazil and Argentina next to the Friendship Bridge and Itaipu.

Paraguay is the world's second-largest producer of which natural sweetener?

The plant is native to the region and was used by the Guarani; the country is also the sixth-largest soybean producer.

The Paraguay River separates the eastern region from which sparsely populated western region?

It holds about 60 percent of the land but few people; the far west gets under 50 cm of rain a year.

Which religious community migrated from Canada in the 1920s to build prosperous farming towns in Paraguay's arid west?

Filadelfia and Loma Plata are their colonies; the Plautdietsch-speaking settlers dominate the country's dairy industry.

Roughly what share of Paraguay's original forest cover has been lost since the 1960s?

Cattle and soy expansion drive one of the world's highest deforestation rates.

Which Paraguayan goalkeeper became the first known to score a professional hat-trick, in 1999?

Playing for Velez Sarsfield, he scored 8 goals for Paraguay in 74 caps and captained the side at two World Cups.

Paraguay's national football team is nicknamed what?

The 'white and red' have played nine World Cups; La Celeste is Uruguay and La Verde is Bolivia.

The headquarters of CONMEBOL, South American football's governing body, is in which Paraguayan city?

It sits in the metropolitan area next to the international airport.

Which Paraguayan novelist, author of 'I, the Supreme', was a Nobel Prize nominee?

He spent decades in exile under Stroessner and won the Cervantes Prize in 1989.

What is Paraguay's currency?

Officially divided into 100 centimos, though inflation retired the centimo coins long ago.

Paraguay is divided into a capital district and how many departments?

Three of them, Boqueron, Alto Paraguay and Presidente Hayes, make up the whole western region.

Slavery was legally abolished in Paraguay in which year?

It came in a new constitution under Carlos Antonio Lopez, decades before Brazil's abolition in 1888.

Which Paraguayan fortress, developed by Carlos Antonio Lopez, anchored the defences on the Paraguay River?

Lopez hired 200 foreign technicians who built telegraphs, railways and the Ybycui foundry that turned out cannons.

In a 2014 global polling index, Paraguay was ranked as what?

Gallup's Positive Experience Index measures daily emotions; Paraguay placed 24th in the 2024 World Happiness Report's progress rankings.

Which Paraguayan indigenous group of the eastern forests suffered massacres under Stroessner?

Seventeen ethnolinguistic groups survive today; the nomadic Mbaya of the west were not pacified until the late 19th century.

Nearly 70 percent of Paraguay's soy and rice producers in 2019 were of what origin?

The first arrived in the 1980s; the country's Argentine community is nonetheless the largest immigrant group overall.

In which year was Paraguay's capital sacked and its national archives carried off to Rio?

Brazil's records of the war remain classified, which makes early Paraguayan history hard to research.

Paraguay's Stroessner-era president Andres Rodriguez came to power in 1989 how?

As Stroessner's own general and in-law he ousted him on 3 February 1989, then surprised many by opening the political system.

Which Genevan theorist's 'Social Contract' inspired Francia's vision of a utopian Paraguay?

Francia ruled with almost no outside contact for 26 years.

Which Spanish explorer founded Asuncion on 15 August 1537?

The settlement grew into the centre of the Spanish colonial province of Paraguay.

What is the name of the widely spoken mixture of Guarani and Spanish?

More than 80 percent of Paraguayans are bilingual, and over 93 percent are mestizo, making it one of Latin America's most homogeneous nations.

Which road, opened from 2022, crosses north Paraguay linking Brazil, Argentina and Chile?

The first 275 km opened in February 2022, running from Carmelo Peralta on the Brazilian border to Loma Plata.

How many FIFA World Cups had Paraguay's men's team played in before the 2026 tournament?

Football and basketball are the country's most popular sports.

Which indigenous people's name, one theory says, gave the country its name via its river?

Rival etymologies read the name as Guarani for 'feather crown of waters' or 'river which gives birth to the sea'.

Winds can reach what speed in Paraguay because no mountains block them?

Warm Amazon winds blow from October to March, while May to August brings cold air off the Andes and occasional frosts.