The 10,000 residents are Mennonites of Prussian and Dutch background. The ancestors of these Mennonites originated in the Netherlands and Belgium and lived in West Prussia until the end of the 18th century, in the Black Sea region of Ukraine until 1874 and in Manitoba, Canada, until 1926, before settling in Paraguay. Loma Plata with a population of about 3500 is the largest town within the colony and is the administrative centre. The emigration from Canada to Paraguay was a reaction to the introduction of universal, secular compulsory education in 1917 requiring the use of the English language, which the more conservative Mennonites saw as a threat to the religious basis of their community.