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Paraguay
A bilingual, landlocked heartland
Paraguay is a landlocked country at the heart of South America, divided by the Paraguay River into a populous, fertile east and the sparsely settled scrub plains of the Gran Chaco to the west. It is one of the most genuinely bilingual nations in the Americas: Guarani, an Indigenous language, is spoken by most of the population alongside Spanish and holds equal official status. Asuncion, the riverside capital, anchors a country whose economy runs on agriculture, cattle, and the enormous hydroelectric output of the Itaipu Dam on the Parana River.
Eastern Paraguay is a region of subtropical forest, rolling hills, and rich farmland watered by the Parana and Paraguay rivers, where most people live and the country's soy and beef are produced. West of the Paraguay River lies the Chaco, a hot, flat wilderness of thorn forest and seasonal floodplains that covers more than half the national territory but holds only a small fraction of its people. The country has no significant mountains — its highest point, Cerro Pero, reaches just 842 meters. The climate is subtropical, hot and humid in the east and harsher in the Chaco.
The Guarani people and Jesuit missions shaped early colonial Paraguay before independence from Spain in 1811. The country was devastated by the War of the Triple Alliance against Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay in the 1860s, which killed a vast share of its population, and later endured the long dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner. Modern Paraguay is a major exporter of soybeans and beef and a hydropower giant, sharing the colossal Itaipu Dam with Brazil while preserving its distinctive Guarani-infused culture.