A sparsely populated country
Paraguay has a population of 7 million inhabitants in an area of 406,752 km². Its density is low, barely 18 inhabitants/km². The geographical distribution is very uneven, between an eastern part representing 39% of the territory, where 97% of the population lives, and a western part, 61% of the territory and 3% of the population. 62.5 per cent of Paraguayans live in urban areas. Asunción is the most populated city in the country, with (only) 522,000 inhabitants, but the metropolitan area (Gran Asunción) has more than 2 million people. Paraguay is traditionally a country of emigration: about 1 million Paraguayans live outside the country's borders, mainly in Argentina, Brazil and Spain. Emigration is mainly economic and no longer political as it was under the dictatorship. As a new phenomenon, more and more emigrants are returning to Paraguay because of the economic problems of their host countries.
A mixed population
95% of Paraguayans are of mixed race, a fairly homogenous European-American-Indian mix that has long been the glue that holds this nation together. The crossbreeding began as early as the 16th century, with the unions between the Spanish conquistadors and the Guaraní women. Their children would form the basis of Paraguayan identity. Raised by their mothers, the children are steeped in indigenous traditions, transmitted in Guarani. This language will be the vehicle of a Guaraní culture that is omnipresent today in a country where, paradoxically, very few Guaraní Indians remain.
Native American groups
When we speak of the Amerindian populations of Paraguay, we tend to refer only to the Guaraní. However, the country has 19 ethnic groups, divided into 5 language groups. The indigenous population is estimated to be about 117,000, or 1.6% of the population. The Mbya Guarani represent the largest indigenous population, followed by the Ava Guarani and the Nivaclé.
A multicultural country
Beyond the Hispano-Guaraní and indigenous peoples, other populations will enrich the human and linguistic landscape of the country. The Museo de los Inmigrantes du Cabildo d'Asunción explains in great detail the history of the different migrations in Paraguay. The communities live together well but do not mix much. Paraguayan society today is built more on interculturality.
The French. They were the first to emigrate to the country to form an agricultural colony. It was in1855, under the regime of Carlos Antonio López, with the creation of Nueva Burdeos (New Bordeaux), in the Bajo Chaco, a locality now known as Villa Hayes. A French colony in Paraguay: New Bordeaux (2005) by Guido Rodriguez Alcala and Luc Capdevila.
Argentines, Brazilians, Europeans and Australians. In the 1870s, after the war of the Triple Alliance, many Brazilians and Argentinians settled in this country with its decimated population. From the 1880s onwards, thousands of foreigners landed in successive waves. They were Italians, Spaniards, Germans or Australians.
The Germans. In 1886, 14 German families founded Neues Deutschland (Nueva Germania). Behind this agricultural colony is the crazy political project of Dr Bernard Förster, married to Elisabeth Nietzsche, the sister of the famous philosopher. The couple wants to found a city based on "purity of race". The Aryan dream fails and Förster commits suicide. The locality, which still exists, is marked by great poverty and serious inbreeding problems. Read Nathalie Prince's Nietzsche au Paraguay, a novel from 2019. With no ideological connection to Nueva Germania, many Germans settled in Paraguay until the 1930s. These families should not be confused with the 300 Nazis who found refuge in Paraguay under the dictatorship of Stroessner (himself of German descent), such as the sinister Josef Mengele. The overwhelming majority of Paraguayans of German descent have nothing to do with these war criminals.
Russians and Japanese. In the 1920s, Russians fleeing the Bolshevik revolution settled in the department of Itapúa. Some joined the Paraguayans in the Chaco War. Japanese immigration began in La Colmena between 1936 and 1941 and continued between 1952 and 1970 in other colonies, such as La Paz, Pirapó or Yguazú.
Ukrainians, Poles, Germans, Taiwanese, Lebanese. After the Second World War, Ukrainians, Poles and Germans came to work in the Encarnación region. From 1965 onwards, thousands of Koreans. They now run most of the small shops, and the term " coreano " often refers to the local grocery store, in everyday language. From the 1970s onwards, Taiwanese and Lebanese set up shop in Ciudad del Este.
The "Brasiguayos". This contraction of Brasileños and Paraguayos refers to Brazilians living in eastern Paraguay, along the Brazilian border. There are estimated to be 500,000 of them, making them the country's largest minority. The Brazilian pioneers arrived in the 1960s, attracted by the fertile land sold off by Stroessner. Today, they are said to own more than 80% of the soybean fields in Paraguay. In some villages, Portuguese and Real are the language and currency of use.
Mennonites. Another Paraguayan curiosity! There are about 30,000 Mennonites in Paraguay, and their cooperatives are a major economic force, accounting for more than 80 percent of milk production, for example. They are not an ethnic group, but an evangelical congregation born in the mid-16th century, at the time of the church's Reformation. Gathered around Menno Simons (1496-1561), Mennonites established strict principles from the Bible. Pacifism, voluntary baptism, denial of the oath, and separation of church and state are some of the rules for which they were persecuted for centuries. To continue to practice their faith, Mennonites have had to migrate around the world. In 1920, Paraguayan president Manuel Gondra met a businessman seeking land for a Canadian Mennonite group. The Mennonites refused to be forced to be taught in English instead of Plattdeutsch (Lower German, the Mennonite vernacular). The vast Chaco with its blurred borders with Bolivia was just waiting to be populated. A 1921 law exempted Mennonites from military service, allowed the use of Plattdeutsch in schools, and offered a ten-year tax holiday in the future colony. It was not until 1927 that the first colony was founded in the middle of the Chaco in Loma Plata. Then Mennonites of other origins arrived. The Fernheim colony in Filadelfia was founded in 1930 by Russians. Then Friesland in 1937, Neuland and Volendam in 1947. In 1948, Canadians founded the colonies of Sommerfield and Bergthal, in the department of Caaguazú. Between 1967 and 1983, Americans and Mexicans founded Luz y Esperanza, Agua Azul, Florida, La Montaña, Rio Verde, Santa Clara, Manitoba and Nueva Durango. Today there are a total of 17 Mennonite colonies in Paraguay. An estimated 1,000 Mennonites also live in Asunción. With the exception of groups from the United States, all Mennonites speak German and Plattdeutsch. There are more than 100 churches with varying degrees of orthodox and traditionalist religious practice. Some live in the age of the Internet and air-conditioned 4WD, while others still travel in horse-drawn carriages (refusing the use of the motor) and wear clothes from another era. For more information, don't miss a visit to the Museo Colonia Menno in Loma Plata.
Kambá Kuá
In his exile in Paraguay in 1821, the Uruguayan hero of Independence, José Artigas, was accompanied by 400 soldiers, most of them black. They were given land in Loma del Campamento, now Kambá Kuá, which had become a neighbourhood of Fernando de la Mora (Gran Asunción). Their descendants are mostly mestizos, but have kept traditions of African origin. On January 6, for Saint Balthazar's Day, a festival of traditional dances is held, where the Black Saint and the Sun are celebrated to the rhythm of the drums.
A bilingual country
Paraguay has two official languages: Spanish and Guaraní. Guarani is the first Amerindian language to be recognized as an official language in the Americas. The 1992 Constitution (art. 140) states: "Paraguay is a multicultural and bilingual country. The official languages are Castilian and Guaraní. The indigenous languages, as well as those of other minorities, are part of the cultural heritage of the nation. "The vast majority of the population is bilingual, but Guarani is the first language spoken, ahead of Spanish. It is the language of everyday life, a language with images, richness and poetry, the true vehicle of Paraguayan culture. Spanish is often considered, in the countryside, as an almost foreign language, used only for administrative purposes. Guarani is primarily an oral language, although the current trend is for official documents to be written in both languages.
Approximately 90 per cent of Paraguayans speak Guaraní to varying degrees, and 60 per cent speak Spanish. 40 per cent speak only Guaraní, 7 per cent speak only Spanish. The predominance of Guarani is absolute in the countryside, less so in the cities, especially in Asunción. It is especially among the higher social classes that people communicate in Spanish. In the capital, you will be addressed in Spanish, but it is very common to hear people speaking Guarani, or rather jopará (or Guarañol), a mixture of the two languages: Spanish is full of Guarani words, or conversely, some words of modern life come out in Spanish during a conversation in Guarani. The Spanish spoken in Paraguay is slightly different from Castilian Spanish, with a very particular accent and use of your own, as in Argentina or Uruguay. As for the Guarani Indians (Aché, Mbyá...), they speak the original Guarani, not necessarily understandable by speakers of common Guarani. Some institutes in Asunción, such as CELPE and IDIPAR, offer Guarani and Spanish courses to foreigners.
Paraguay's indigenous languages by linguistic families and ethnic groups
Tupí-guarani: Aché, Mbyá, Avá guarani (chiripá), Pãi-Tavyterã, Guarayo-Chiriguano, Ñandeva (Tapiete).
Lengua-maskoy: Northern Entlhet, Lengua-Enxet, Sanapaná, Toba-Maskoy, Angaité, Guaná.
Zamuco: Ayoreo, Ybytoso, Tomárahõ.
Mataco-mataguayo: Nivaclé (chulupí), Maká, Manjui (chorote).
Guaicurú: Toba-Qom.
Other languages. Apart from the descendants of European or Asian migrants who often continue to communicate in the language of origin of their ancestors, the main languages spoken by Paraguayans are German and Portuguese, or rather "portuñol" a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese. English is not widely spoken, as is French, although the Alliance Française and the Marcel Pagnol High School in Asunción have a growing number of students.
