Paraguay Río de la Plata to the Paraná River, and finally up the Paraguay River. In 1537, they established the city of Asunción, which was the first capital of the Governorate of Paraguay and Río de la Plata. Paraguay was the epicenter of the Jesuit Missions, where the Guaraní people were educated and introduced to Christianity and European culture under the direction of the Society of Jesus in Jesuit reductions, mainly during the 17th century. However, after the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spanish territories in 1767, Paraguay increasingly became a peripheral colony, with few urban centers and settlers. Following independence
History of Paraguay (to 1811) those of the Jesuits. Tensions between the natives and the Europeans grew steadily during the last years of the 18th century. Almost no archaeological research has been done in Paraguay, and the pre-Columbian history of the country is amazingly documented. What is certain is that the eastern part of the country was occupied by Guaraní Indians for at least 2 years before the Spanish conquest. Evidence indicates that those indigenous inhabitants developed a fairly sophisticated level of political autonomy, with quasi-sedentary, multivillage chiefdoms. The recorded history of Paraguay began indirectly in 1516 with the failed expedition of Juan Díaz de