ASUNCIN

city and capital of Paraguay, occupying a wooded promontory descending to the Paraguay River near its confluence with the Pilcomayo. It lies 175 ft (53 m) above sea level. The city was so named when a stockade was completed there on the Feast of the Assumption (August 15) in 1537. When Buenos Aires was evacuated in 1541 after an attack by the Pampa Indians, the inhabitants fled to Asuncin. It was the headquarters of Spanish colonial activities in eastern South America for nearly half a century before Buenos Aires was refounded. In 1588 Jesuits established mission settlements on the Paran River to convert the Guaran Indian population. The Indians accepted the Spaniards, who introduced them to horseback riding and to coffee. Intermarriage of Indians and Spaniards contributed to the largely mestizo character of the present Paraguayans. After official separation from Buenos Aires in 1617, Asuncin declined in importance. Partly because of its remoteness from Spain, nationalist and separatist movements began early in Paraguay: the Jesuits were expelled in 1767, and independence from both Spain and Argentina was declared in Asuncin at midnight on May 14/15, 1811. The city's strategic position at the head of a great river system linking Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, its three enemies in the Paraguayan War (186470), led to Asuncin's capture in 1868, and Brazil occupied and administered it until 1876. Asuncin has many beautiful large parks and flowering trees. Adjacent to the river, the buildings are colonial in styleone story with a patiobut the centre of town consists of modern high-rise buildings. The cathedral, presidential palace, and Pantheon of Heroes (a smaller replica of the Invalides in Paris), all built in the 19th century, and the ultramodern Hotel Guaran, designed by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, are among the notable buildings. As the seat of the national government, and of the archbishop of Paraguay, Asuncin dominates social, cultural, and economic trends in Paraguay. Several institutions of higher education, including the Universidad Nacional de Asuncin (1890) and the Universidad Catlica Nuestra Seora de la Asuncin (1960), are located in Asuncin. Asuncin is the principal distributing and export centre of the most densely populated region of Paraguay. Cotton, sugarcane, corn (maize), tobacco, fruit, and cattle products from the rich agricultural and pastoral hinterland are processed in the capital. Industrial plants produce textiles, vegetable oils, footwear, flour, small river craft, and tobacco products. A piped water system was inaugurated in 1955. River steamers, mostly of foreign ownership, are the principal means of transporting freight. The city is also the terminus of the Ferrocarril (railway) Presidente Carlos Antonio Lpez, which connects with the Argentine rail systems via a train ferry across the Paran River at Encarnacin. Another ferry connection across the Paraguay River provides trunk-road communication with Buenos Aires. Asuncin also has an international airport. Pop. (1982 prelim.) 455,517.