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Spanish American Frontier
South America's population is heavily concentrated along its coastline, so Paraguay is a major historical exception. Fairly dense populations of semisedentary Guaraní people attracted the Spanish to Paraguay, in the heart of South America, as early as the 1530s, decades before the colonizers paid much attention to the sparsely peopled coastal areas of what is now Argentina and Uruguay. Paraguay became the most substantial Spanish frontier outpost in the interior of the continent, a bulwark against Portuguese advances, a platform for extensive Jesuit missions directed at the Guaraníes. Beginning in 1811, Paraguay achieved independence not only from Spain, but also from the control of Buenos Aires, which viewed Paraguay (along with Uruguay and Bolivia) as errant provinces of the Río de la Plata viceroyalty. But Paraguayan independence was maintained at the price of further isolation. Its sole transportation link to the Atlantic world, the Paraná river, ran for hundreds of miles through sometimes-hostile Argentine territory. Sometimes-hostile Brazil, for its part, presented a monolithic barrier to the north and east. Potential contacts to the west were blocked by the desolate Great Chaco region. Conflicts with neighbors, including the two most devastating international wars in the history of South America, reinforced a certain siege mentality on the part of the Paraguayan state. As a result, perhaps, of that siege mentality, Paraguay has endured several of the continent's longest-lasting dictatorships, most recently that of General Alfredo Stroessner, who ruled from 1954 to 1989.
Topics:
Themes:
Questions for Analysis and Further Reflection:
- The Jesuits established an extensive system of missions in the area of colonial Paraguay. How does their relationship with the indigenous people compare to what happened elsewhere?
- Guaraní is the only indigenous American language that has come to be spoken by large numbers of people outside an indigenous community. How did that occur? What role does Guaraní play in Paraguayan life today?
- From the Paraguayan War of the 1860s to the Chaco War of the 1930s, war has taken its toll on Paraguayans. How has the country's demographic makeup changed after these periods of conflict, and how have Paraguayans dealt psychologically and physically with the consequences of these wars?
Country Bibliography: (Titles with ** are good starting places. There is a lack of recent general histories of Paraguay in English.)
Gimlette, John. At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig: Travels Through Paraguay. New York:
Knopf, 2003.
Written by a British lawyer who spent time in Paraguay in the 1980s, this recent book is a modern-day travelogue full of all the nineteenth-century emphasis on supposedly exotic people and customs. It could serve undergraduates as a curious introduction to Paraguay, but not as a general history or a work of historical scholarship. It is more a primary source than anything else.
Kleinpenning, Jan M. G. Paraguay: A Thematic Geography of its Development. 2 vols.
Madrid, Frankfurt: Iberoamericana, Vervuert, 2003.
This is one of the more recent books in English on Paraguay, but it is a scholarly work on historical geography targeted at a specialized audience. The only worthwhile section for undergraduates and those who are not close followers of the historical geography of Paraguay is the brief historical overview of the country from the colony to the end of the war of the Triple Alliance (1870).
Nickson, R. Andrew. Historical Dictionary of Paraguay, 2nd ed., rev. and enlgd. Metuchen, NJ:
Scarecrow Press, 1993.
As the title indicates, this book is not a narrative history of Paraguay, but rather a reference work. It contains maps and a chronology in addition to entries on geography, people, places, politics, traditions, wars, and so on. Students can thumb through the entries to get ideas about topics, or go straight to specifics if they have ideas in mind about what aspects of Paraguayan history they would like to explore. Perhaps most useful is the comprehensive bibliography, organized chronologically and thematically.
** Pendle, George. Paraguay: A Riverside Nation, 3rd ed. London: Oxford University Press,
1967.
Among the limited number of general histories of Paraguay written in English, this dated book provides a succinct historical overview that is easily accessible by undergraduate readers. A handful of maps throughout the text, numerous footnotes, and an annotated bibliography may also be of help to the student who wants to learn more about Paraguay.
** Roett, Riordan, and Richard Scott Sacks. Paraguay: The Personalist Legacy. Westview
Profiles, Nations of Contemporary Latin America. Boulder: Westview Press, 1991.
The series Westview Profiles of Latin American nations consists of survey texts written in large part by political scientists who, naturally enough, focus on political systems, political economy, and political history. Though part of this series, Paraguay: The Personalist Legacy offers a more in-depth historical overview than most. Undergraduates will benefit most from the introduction, the second chapter on colonial and nineteenth-century Paraguayan history (of course with sections on Francia and the War of the Triple Alliance), and the third chapter's look at the twentieth century. The economy, culture and society, and Paraguayan politics are the subjects of other chapters. On the whole, the book is clearly organized and written-a good first stop for those wanting to go further. Tables, maps, a bibliography, notes at the end of each chapter, and an index accompany the narrative.
** Warren, Harris Gaylord. Paraguay: An Informal History. Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press, 1949.
Warren's old but well-written and clearly organized history is one of the earliest studies in English of Paraguayan history. A chronological list of political figures, a bibliographical essay, and an index are also included.
White, Richard Alan. Paraguay's Autonomous Revolution, 1810—1840. Albuquerque:
University of New Mexico Press, 1978.
White's book offers a scholarly (but controversial) view of the rule of José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia. The first part of the book serves as an introduction to colonial Paraguay, with special attention to the Jesuit missions. Parts two and three concentrate on independence in the Río de la Plata region and Francia's long rule, which White believes was beneficial to the country.
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