√ Basic information on Paraguay (South America)
Paraguay
National flag of Paraguay
The Paraguayan landscape consists of grassy plains and wooded hills in the region east of Paraguay River that divides the country in two regions:
The region west of the river, the (Gran) Chaco features mostly low, marshy plains near the river and dry forest and thorny scrub further west.
Paraguay in numbers/basic information on Paraguay
- Inhabitants: ~ 6.350.000
- Area of Paraguay: 406.752 km² (157.048 square miles)
- Spoken languages: Spanisch, Guaraní
- Borders with: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil
- Capital: Asunción
- Seat of the congress/parliament: Asunción
- Seat of the government: Asunción
- Head of State and Government Chief: Fernando Lugo
- Voltage: 220 V / 50 Hz
- Telephone prefix number, Paraguay phone country code: +595
- Time Zone: GMT/UTC -4 hours
- When you opened this page in Paraguay it was 09:20 h +/- possible difference because of summertime/daylight saving (see below).
- Summertime/daylight saving: 1 h
- Summertime/daylight saving from middle of October until middle of March.
- Currency: Guarani
Language and Culture in Paraguay
Paraguay is a bilingual country.
Spanish and Guaraní are both official languages. Guaraní is commonly spoken by most of the population, and it's the main language at rural areas.
Paraguayan culture is a mixture of Spanish and Guaraní elements.
It maintaines many features introduced by the Spanish conquerors, artisans, and Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries in the early 1600's .
Main resources
Paraguay's main natural resources are its forests, fertile soils, mineral deposits, and the most important of its resources are the rivers: They are commonly used as main paths of communication.
For those living by riversides, fishing is important, with a large variety of fishes. Although they don't have a taste like the sea variety, some of them like the Corvina and the brave Dorado (named after its golden scales) destach among the others.
Industry
The principal industry of Paraguay is farming and the production of agricultural products.
The leading agricultural products are cotton, sugarcane, corn, soybeans, potatoes, bananas, oranges, wheat, beans, tobacco, mandioca (yucca), and yerba nate (Ilex Paraguaiensis) or Paraguayan tea, which is very popular among country residents in the form of an infusion with cold water (Tereré) or warm water (Mate).
Live stock breeding is also a major occupation, and most favored areas are located at the Chaco and southern oriental region.. Forestry is also important to the economy. Although there are deposits of petroleum, natural gas, iron, manganese, bauxite, and other minerals, they are not exploited commercially.
More information and interesting Web-Sites regarding Paraguay:
National Sercetary of Tourism Paraguay (Website in Spanish only)
Official site of the Soccer association of Paraguay
Ministry of Environment of Paraguay
