History Paraguay

 Historical dates

Paraguayan indigenous peoples formed various tribes, known as Guaranis, when, around 1515, Díaz de Solís discovered the region, followed in 1525, by the Portuguese Diego García.
In 1537, Spanish gold hunters established a fort, called Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, on the río Paraguay; this would be the origin of the city of Asuncion. Colonial Paraguay and the territory of present-day Argentina were later co-ruled until 1620, before becoming separate dependencies of the viceroyalty of Peru.
At the end of the XVIc, the Jesuits worked on the establishing of a great number of missions called reducciones (reductions), inhabited by Indians converted by the missionaries and creating small communities, economically and politically independent. Almost entirely free from local civilian and ecclesiastical authorities, the Jesuits became thus the colony's most influent power.
In1750, through the treaty of Madrid, King Ferdinand VI of Spain gave seven Paraguayan reductions to Portugal, in exchange for the colony of Sacramento (present-day Uruguay); the Jesuits decided then to support the Guaranis in their rebellion against this transfer. And in 1767, the missionaries were expelled from the country.
In 1776, Spain created the viceroyalty of La Plata, which included the countries presently known as Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia.
Following the example of Argentina, Paraguay proclaimed its independence on May 14th1811. The country went through a series of different regimes from then on.
In 1865, Lopez led the country into a war against Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay: it was the Paraguayan war or War of the Triple Alliance (1865-1870) which caused the ruin of the country, decimated the male population and had the occupation by the Brazilian army for consequence, until 1876. Moreover, Paraguay had to give up the region of the Misiones and the land situated North from the río Apa in Brazil, as well as a part of Chaco in Argentina.
from 1912, periods of political stability and rebellion succeeded one another. The border with Bolivia, in the Chaco region, gave rise to numerous conflicts, particularly because of the presence of oil in the ground. Thus, in 1928, the Chaco war broke out, following the Bolivian invasion of that region. After the armistice in 1935, Paraguay received roughly three quarters of the disputed region, through the 1938 treaty.
As soon as 1940, the country went through another period of alternation between the liberals (colorados) and the conservatives (azules), with dictatorial regimes and military juntas. Power went successively through the hands of General Higinio Moríñigo, from 1940 to 1948, of Federico Chaves, from 1949 to 1954 and of General Alfredo Stroessner, supported by the Colorado party, from 1954 to 1988.
In the 1970's and at the beginning of the 1980's, Paraguay went through an economical crisis and an increase in unemployment. Stroessner was evicted from power with a coup, in February 1989, lead by General Andrés Rodríguez, supported by the Colorado party. His government influenced his politics towards numerous reforms, as much in the economical field, via privatisation, as in the political field, moving towards democratisation. As for Foreign policy, Paraguay adhered to the treaty of Mercosur in March 1992.
In May 1993, Juan Carlos Wasmosy became president with a majority of votes; he was the first president to be elected.