Paraguay

Paraguay^[c] (Guarani: Paraguái), officially the Republic of Paraguay,^[d] is a landlocked country located in the central region of South America. It is a unitary state with a territory composed of a capital district and seventeen departments. Its capital and largest city is Asunción. Paraguay is a presidential republic. It is a founding member of Mercosur, along with Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

Spanish conquistadores arrived in 1524, and in 1537 established the city of Asunción, the first capital of the Governorate of the Río de la Plata.^[9] During the 17th century, Paraguay was the center of Jesuit missions, where the native Guaraní people were converted to Christianity and introduced to European culture.^[10] After the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spanish territories in 1767, Paraguay increasingly became a peripheral colony. Following independence from Spain in the early 19th century, Paraguay was ruled by a series of authoritarian governments. This period ended with the disastrous Paraguayan War (1864–1870), during which the country lost half its prewar population and around 25–33% of its territory. In the 20th century, Paraguay faced another major international conflict—the Chaco War (1932–1935) against Bolivia—in which Paraguay prevailed. The country came under a succession of military dictators, culminating in the 35-year regime of Alfredo Stroessner, which lasted until his overthrow in 1989 by an internal military coup. This marked the beginning of Paraguay's current democratic era.

Paraguay is a developing country, ranking 105th in the Human Development Index.^[11] It is a founding member of Mercosur, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Lima Group. Additionally, the city of Luque, in metropolitan Asunción, is the seat of the South American Football Confederation.

While it is the only landlocked country in South America besides Bolivia, Paraguayan ports are able to access the Atlantic Ocean via the Paraná–Paraguay Waterway.^[12] The majority of Paraguay's 6 million people are mestizo, and Guarani culture remains widely influential; more than 90% of the population speak various dialects of the Guarani language alongside Spanish. Paraguay's GDP per capita PPP is the seventh-highest in South America. In a 2014 Positive Experience Index based on global polling data, Paraguay ranked as the "world's happiest place".^[13]

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