• History of Paraguay Clear and useful overview from HistoryWorld.net
• Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC) Very Extensive bilingual links and information from the University of Texas at Austin. Broken down by topic and area.
• Paraguay From US Library of Congress Country Studies. Well detailed and comprehensive
• Paraguay A chronology of key events from BBC. Good background lnks to Paraguay in general
• Chronology Basic outline from world history.com
• Background Notes: Paraguay US State Department. Basic details and history (but only to 1988 - it has not been updated since then.
• Una Historia del Paraguay Extensive and fully illustrated from Paraguay itself, but can be slow to load and navigation is not always easy. Use the menu... In Spanish but easily googled.
• Paraguay election results Election results 1814-present. Courtesy of Wayback Machine §

Documentary materials

• Paraguay History of Paraguay from 1911 Catholic Encyclopedia Interesting from the native perspective. Includes details on early church state and native integration policies
• The Republic of Paraguay; Since the Death of the Dictator Francia pp. 245-260 The American Whig review. 1847. Cornell University library facsimile
• Testimonios Arqueológicos Outline of historic remains in Paraguay from SENATUR - Secretaría de Turismo de Paraguay. Useful maps

For current developments to the national history themes:

• Topix Paraguay news useful resource for current news items (in English) on Paraguay
• Lanic Newsroom: Texas Univ site for links to the recent news themes on Latin America in general
• Paraguay Amnesty international report on Paraguay (2008). Link to all Amnesty news on Paraguay.
• Survival report on the indigenous peoples of Paraguay. See also:
  • Ayoreo 
  • Enxet

 

 

casahistoria: Latin America visit the casahistoria general Latin American page for many more background sites.

 

casahistoria home                           now visit caféhistoria for updates and current topic news

 

 

2. Indigenous history                                                                                    

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• Etnographic Museum "Andres Barbero". The English section The natives  provides a (well) illustrated history of the indigenous people of Paraguay. In English & Spanish.
• History of the Guarani A Guaraní site with a useful (translated) English language section. Slow to load but worth the wait. Includes subsections on: 
  • Brief history of the Guarani language
  • The pre-Columbian era
  • The European arrive
  • The writing begins
  • The Guarani and independence    
  • Chronology 

• The Guaraní Indians From the 1911 Catholic Encyclopaedia.
• Guaraní society Examination of Guarani society from University of Kent at Canterbury
• Guaraní Ñanduti Rogue Huge site with many links to academic studies and articles on Guarani culture produced by the Unjversity of Mainz. In German, Guarani, Spanish and Portuguese, but unfortunately not much in English - yet?
• Enxet & Guaran brief but very useful outlines of tribe history & modern problems from Survival.
• The Indigenous of the Paraguayan Chaco: Struggle for the Land By Keith Slack. Gives a useful account of government policy towards the indigenous peoples in the 20th century  (1996) Cultural Survival Quarterly
• Genocide in Paraguay Article about the forced resettlement of native paraguayos
• Paraguayan Indians fight for rights BBC March 2001 Describes the struggle of the Maka tribe to defend their land rights

 

 

casahistoria home                     now visit caféhistoria for updates and current topic news

 

 

3. Spanish Conquest & Jesuit Missions        

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• For general political background to this section: US Library of Congress country Study sections on:
  • Introduction
  • Discovery and Settlement
  • Early Explorers and Conquistadores
  • The Young Colony
  • The Sword of the Word

• From the Historia del Paraguay site (all are easily googled into English):
  • El nacimiento del Corazón de América (Birth of the Heart of America) 
  • Joven Colonia  (Young colony) 
  • La República Jesuítica (The Jesuit Republic)
• Forcible or Peaceful Colonising Chapter from the 1907 work, Socialism and Colonial Policy, by the Socialist Karl Kautsky looking at the role of the church in colonising through the Reduciones.
• The Truth About the Catholic Church and Slavery  Article examining & supporting the stance of the Catholic Church (primarily in Jesuit latin America) by Rodney Stark, professor of sociology and comparative religion at the university of Washington

The Missions

• Reductions of Paraguay Very detailed account from the 1911 Catholic Encyclopedia
• Vanished Arcadia, A: being some account of the Jesuits in Paraguay 1607-1767 the 1900 account by R.B. Cunninghame  Graham published as an Etext by the Project Gutenberg.
• Population of the Jesuit Missions of Paraguay  Graphical presentation of the population of the Paraguay Missions. very clear and thorough.  By R H Jackson. Powerpoint presentation but does not require a Reader.
• A Survey of Demographic Patterns in the Jesuit Missions of Paraguay Article by RH Jackson. well documented with researched data.
• The Building of the California and Paraguay Missions: Town Development on the Fringes of Empire  R H Jackson. Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries attempted to create primitive utopian Christian communities in California and Paraguay, and the building complexes of the missions provided the template for the new ordered societies the missionaries attempted to create. this article examines their development.
• Mortality Crises in the Jesuit Missions of Paraguay, 1730-1740 RH Jackson This essay examines a series of mortality crises in the Jesuit missions of Paraguay between 1730 and 1740 that is well documented in contemporary documents. Three epidemics spread through the missions in 1733, 1735-1736, and 1738-1740.
• San Juan Bautista: Jesuit Mission to the Guarani  R H Jackson introduces this powerpoint with: "The Jesuits expanded their mission frontier in the Rio de la Plata region by moving existing missions to sites east of the Uruguay River, and by establishing new missions. In order to facilitate the rapid development of the new missions, the Jesuits relocated thousands of Guarani from existing missions. In 1697, the Jesuits established San Juan Bautista with (Guarani) transferred from San Miguel."  Brief historical outline of the Paraguay mission. Population data, images of mission today.   Powerpoint presentation but does not require a Reader.
• San Cosme y Damian Mission (click to download a fuller version: San Cosme y Damian Pictures, ground plans, brief text. Powerpoint presentation,
• Jesus de Tavarangue: Jesuit Missions in Paraguay Jesuit Mission established 1685 with population from another older mission. Population data, images of mission today.  By R H Jackson. Powerpoint presentation.
• San Miguel Mission to the Guarani RH Jackson. Powerpoint presentations
• Caminho das Missões The Jesuit Missions in Paraguay. In Portuguese. Photos.
• The Jesuit Missions of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil Plans, pictures, population data, brief textual outlines. Very thorough,  set out by modern country. By R H Jackson. Powerpoint pdf file.
• Os Sete Povos: The Trans-Uruguay Missions Excellent illustrated powerpoint type survey of the Jesuit Missions as they were (from contemporary drawings, and how they are today). Good statistical data. By R H Jackson. Powerpoint pdf file.
• Spanish Missions in the Lowlands Regions of South America Thorough visual and graphical presentation of the Jesuit missions of the Uruguay/ Brazil/ Argentina/ Paraguay region. Very clear. By R H Jackson.