Independence Day The Republic of Paraguay

Paraguay, landlocked country in south-central South America. Paraguay’s recent history has been characterized by turbulence and authoritarian rule. It was involved in two of the three major wars on the continent—the War of the Triple Alliance (1864/65–70), against Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, and the Chaco War (1932–35), against Bolivia. Moreover, a civil war in 1947 and the long dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner (1954–89) left a deep legacy of fear and self-censorship among Paraguayans, who began to overcome those impediments only in the early 21st century. Since 1989 the democratization process has been rocky, and Paraguay has experienced bouts of instability in its military, the assassination of a vice president in 1999, and the indictment of former presidents Juan Carlos Wasmosy (1993–98) and Luis González Macchi (1999–2003) on corruption charges. In 2008 Paraguay’s Colorado Party, the longest continuously ruling political party in the world, lost power for the first time since 1947, though it returned to power in 2013. The national capital is Asunción.Paraguay has a more-homogeneous population than most other countries in South America; most Paraguayans are of European and Guaraní ancestry. The Guaraní culture is strongly represented through folk art and festivals, and Guaraní was designated an official language of Paraguay in the country’s 1992 constitution. Paraguayans are intensely nationalistic and are proud to converse in Guaraní, which acts as a strong marker of their identity. That indigenous language is much more widely spoken in Paraguay than is Spanish, which is unique in Latin America.Rivers play an extremely important role in the economic life of Paraguay. Indeed, the name of the country is said to derive from the Guaraní word meaning “river that gives birth to the sea.” Rivers provide access to the Atlantic Ocean and serve as sites for the hydroelectric power plants that have made Paraguay one of the world’s largest exporters of hydropower. The country is also a major world producer of soybeans, and Paraguayans in parts of the fertile eastern border region have achieved relatively high standards of living based on modern diversified agricultural production. The growth of cooperative farms throughout Paraguay has increased the quality of life for many farmers who previously had depended on small-scale farms dedicated to the cultivation of a single crop. Nevertheless, the issue of land reform has remained unresolved since the 1880s and has given rise to extreme levels of inequality since the 1990s.…Land of Paraguay Paraguay is bounded by Bolivia to the northwest and north, Brazil to the northeast and east, and Argentina to the southeast, south, and west. Asunción is located on the east bank of the Paraguay River, opposite the mouth of its primary western tributary, the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River, which runs from north to south, divides Paraguay into two distinct geographic regions—the Región Oriental (Eastern Region) and the Región Occidental (Western Region), also called the Chaco Boreal.Relief The Eastern Region, with an area of about 61,700 square miles (160,000 square km), is an extension of the Brazilian Plateau and varies in elevation from about 165 feet (50 metres) above sea level in the southwest to a few hills that rise to 2,500 feet (760 metres) in the east. The Amambaí (Amambay) Mountains run approximately north to south along part of the border with Brazil and then run eastward as the Mbaracayú Mountains. From the northeast, other ranges extend southward toward Encarnación, diminishing to hills in the south. The highest peak is Mount San Rafael at 2,789 feet (850 metres), in the Cordillera de San Rafael in southeastern Paraguay. To the west lies the broad valley of the Paraguay River. The area from Encarnación northward to the Brazilian border, comprising one-third of eastern Paraguay, is called the Paraná Plateau. The western part of the Eastern Region and the Paraná valley north and east of Encarnación are the areas most favourable to human settlement. The Chaco Boreal, which covers more than 95,000 square miles (246,000 square km), about two-thirds of the country, forms the northeastern part of the Gran Chaco, a flat and largely featureless tropical region that extends into Bolivia and Argentina. Drainage Four-fifths of the country’s perimeter is traced by the Paraguay, Apa, Paraná, and Pilcomayo rivers. To the east of the Cordillera de San Rafael lies the Paraná (Alto [Upper] Paraná) River valley. To the west lies the broad valley of the Paraguay River. The Paraná forms both the eastern and southern borders of the country. Multiple tributaries of the Paraguay and Paraná cross the eastern and central regions. The mountain ranges of Amambay and Mbaracayú form the watershed between the Paraguay and the Paraná rivers. Important eastern tributaries of the Paraguay River include, from north to south, the Apa, Aquidabán, Ypané, Jejuí Guazú, and Tebicuary. Except for the Acaray and Ytambey rivers, the streams that flow into the Paraná have little economic significance. The Paraná joins the Paraguay River at the country’s southwestern corner. The only important tributary flowing from the west is the sluggish Pilcomayo, which joins the Paraguay near Asunción. Rising to the northwest in Bolivia, the Pilcomayo forms the southern border of the Chaco Boreal and is navigable in its lower reaches by small boats. Other Chaco rivers, including the Verde and Monte Lindo, are slow, sluggish, intermittent streams that drain into swamps or disappear during dry periods. Paraguay has only two lakes of consequence. The largest, Lake Ypoá, about 40 miles (65 km) south of Asunción, merges into Lake Verá; it is drained by channels of the Tebicuary and feeds the marshes of the Ñeembucú plain. Lake Ypacaraí, about 30 miles (50 km) east of Asunción, is the site of a favourite summer resort at San Bernardino. Soils A large part of eastern Paraguay is covered by a residual soil mantle so deep that bedrock is rarely exposed. This soil is generally red and sandy and is low in nitrogen and other basic plant foods. About two-fifths of eastern Paraguay, in a belt running from the Brazilian border south to the Tebicuary and including the Asunción area, is covered by soils underlain by sandstone. Soils from basaltic lava, which generally are the most fertile, cover the Paraná Plateau. Transported soils cover a band along the Paraguay River, extending from the Apa River to the southern border and covering the Ñeembucú plain. Soils of the Gran Chaco are largely alluvial mud, clay, and sand that have been transported from the Bolivian highlands. Climate The climate is subtropical in most of the Eastern Region, which mainly lies south of the Tropic of Capricorn, and tropical in most of the Chaco Boreal extending to its north. Masses of humid air blanket the country in the summers, and the winters are subject to cold southern winds. Summer temperatures, between October and March, generally range from 75 to 100 °F (24 to 38 °C). Winter temperatures usually range from 60 to 75 °F (16 to 24 °C), although extremes in the 30s and 100s °F (about −1 and 40 °C) are not uncommon. Frost occurs frequently in the Eastern Region. The annual average rainfall in eastern Paraguay varies from 65 inches (1,650 mm) in the southeast to about 55 inches (1,400 mm) along the Paraguay River. It diminishes gradually westward across the Chaco Boreal, averaging about 30 inches (760 mm). The heaviest rainfall is from October to April. The entire country is subject to periodic floods and droughts, both of which cause severe agricultural losses. More …. Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Paraguay/Land

2026/05/15

Asuncion Paraguay 4k Travel

Explore with us one of the least visited capitals of Latin America Asuncion in Paraguay.

2026/05/14

Welcome to the Marshall Islands

he Office of Commerce, Investment & Tourism (OCIT) is the Republic of the Marshall Island's (RMI's) investment, tourism and trade promotion agency with the mandate to promote and facilitate exports, investment to boost economic growth in order to improve the welfare of the people. Is the first point of contact for investors who are exploring business opportunities in the Marshall Islands and tourists wanting to visit. It is also the agency to go to for export assistance.

2026/05/03

Constitution Day The Republic of Marshall Islands

Marshall Islands, officially Republic of the Marshall Islands, Marshallese Majōl, country in the central Pacific Ocean. It consists of some of the easternmost islands of Micronesia. The Marshalls are composed of more than 1,200 islands and islets in two parallel chains of coral atolls—the Ratak, or Sunrise, to the east and the Ralik, or Sunset, to the west. The chains lie about 125 miles (200 km) apart and extend some 800 miles northwest to southeast. Majuro atoll is the nominal capital of the republic. Government offices are located in the town of Delap-Uliga-Djarrit, named for three islands that were once separated but were later joined by landfill. The Marshalls were administered by the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands from 1947 to 1986, when the Trust Territory was dissolved by the U.S. government. Land None of the 29 low-lying coral atolls and the five coral islands in the Marshall group rises to more than 20 feet (six metres) above high tide. The islands are coral caps set on the rims of submerged volcanoes rising from the ocean floor. The island units of the Marshalls are scattered over about 180,000 square miles of the Pacific. The largest atoll in the group and in the world is Kwajalein, which has a land area of only six square miles but surrounds a 655-square-mile lagoon. The Marshall Islands’ nearest neighbours are Wake Island (north), Kiribati and Nauru (south), and the Federated States of Micronesia (west). The climate is tropical, with a mean annual temperature for the entire group of 82 °F (28 °C). Annual precipitation varies from 20 to 30 inches (500 to 800 mm) in the north to 160 inches in the southern atolls. The wettest months are October and November. Several of the northern atolls are uninhabited owing to insufficient rainfall. Most of the Marshall Islands are true atolls, consisting of an irregular, oval-shaped coral reef surrounding a lagoon; the islets lie along the coral reef. The islands and islets of the Ratak chain tend to be more heavily wooded than those of the Ralik. Coconut and pandanus palms and breadfruit trees are the principal vegetation. Soils are generally sandy and low in fertility. People The native people of the Marshalls, the Marshallese, are Micronesians. The most populous atolls are Majuro and Kwajalein, which offers employment at the U.S. missile testing range; together they have almost three-fourths of the country’s total population. The rest of the population lives in traditional villages on the outer islands away from the two urban centres. American missionaries arrived in the Marshalls in the 1850s, introducing Christianity to the population. Today the Marshallese are predominantly Christian. The Marshallese and English languages are spoken, but only a minority are fluent in the latter. Economy The republic’s main sources of revenue are substantial U.S. subsidies under a Compact of Free Association and the leasing of land for the U.S. missile testing range on Kwajalein. Employment and modern amenities at both Majuro and Kwajalein serve as magnets that draw people to the two urban centres. On the outer islands, subsistence farming, fishing, and the raising of pigs and poultry are the principal economic activities. Coconut, pandanus, breadfruit, and taro are the major food crops. The production of copra is the chief source of income for the outer islands. The principal import is processed foods. Other major imports include machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, and fuels, primarily from the United States, Japan, and Australia. Transportation among the atolls and islands is by boat or air. Government-owned ships make scheduled trips among the islands. Several commercial cargo lines also serve the islands. Majuro has a commercial dock complex, and many of the atolls have good anchorage within their lagoons. Majuro and Kwajalein have international airports, and domestic and regional flights link some of the other atolls and islands. Government and society Under the constitution adopted in 1979, the government consists of a president elected by a unicameral, 33-member parliament known as the Nitijela. The Council of Iroij (Chiefs) has mainly a consultative function, concerned with traditional laws and customs. Hospitals on Majuro and Ebeye (part of Kwajalein Atoll) and dispensaries on other islands provide health care. There are primary schools, both public and church-run, on the inhabited islands and islets. Majuro and Jaluit atolls each have a public secondary school. Majuro is also the site of the College of the Marshall Islands (1993), which grants certificates and associate degrees in a variety of programs. …. History of the Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands were settled initially around the beginning of the Christian era by Micronesians who may have been influenced by early Polynesian (Lapita) culture. Radiocarbon dates from earth-oven charcoal samples that were excavated in Laura village on Majuro yielded dates of about 30 bce and 50 ce. The early Marshall Islanders were skilled navigators and made long canoe voyages among the atolls. Sighted in 1529 by the Spanish navigator Álvaro Saavedra, the Marshalls lacked the wealth to encourage exploitation or mapping. The British captain Samuel Wallis chanced upon Rongerik and Rongelap atolls while sailing from Tahiti to Tinian. The British naval captains John Marshall and Thomas Gilbert partially explored the Marshalls in 1788, but much of the mapping was done by Russian expeditions under Adam Johann Krusenstern (1803) and Otto von Kotzebue (1815 and 1823). U.S. whalers frequented the islands from the 1820s, and U.S. and Hawaiian Protestant missionaries began efforts to convert the islanders in the 1850s. Germany established a coaling station on Jaluit Atoll by treaty with island chiefs and in 1886, by agreement with Great Britain, established a protectorate over the Marshalls. Japan seized the islands in 1914 and later (after 1919) administered them as a League of Nations mandate. Occupied by the United States in World War II, following heavy fighting at Kwajalein and Enewetak, the Marshall Islands were made part of the United Nations Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands under jurisdiction of the United States in 1947. After their populations were removed to other atolls, Bikini and Enewetak served as an official testing ground for U.S. nuclear bombs (1946–58). The tests stopped in 1958 and cleanup efforts began in the late 1960s. During the trial resettlement of the Bikinians, however, their atoll was found to be too contaminated for permanent habitation, and by the late 1970s the people had to be evacuated once again. The Enewetak people were returned to their homeland, and a program to monitor Bikini was put in place. After voting to separate from the other entities of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, in 1978, the Marshall Islands drew up a constitution that voters approved in 1979. It formed the republic and brought internal self-government. In 1982 the government signed the Compact of Free Association with the United States. This agreement, approved by the voters in 1983, requires that the United States remain responsible for defense and external security and that it provide financial assistance for the republic. The compact entitles the United States to use the missile testing range on Kwajalein Atoll, and provides for the republic to become fully independent and to alter its status with the United States at any time, subject to approval of the residents through plebiscites. In 1983 the islanders reopened negotiations on the compact’s provision regarding compensation for the people of the four atolls affected by the U.S. nuclear tests. The United States agreed to set up a separate fund for the people of the four atolls and established an open-ended fund to cover personal injury claims among the islanders; it also agreed to set up a joint U.S.-Marshallese claims tribunal. A further agreement set up a fund to improve living conditions on Ebeye island, where all Micronesians working on the Kwajalein missile range and base resided. The Trust Territory was dissolved in 1990 with the approval of the UN Security Council, and on September 17, 1991, the Marshall Islands became a member of the UN. More … Score: https://www.britannica.com/place/Marshall-Islands/History

2026/05/01

Drone Tour of Majuro, Marshall Islands

A quick tour of various places found in the capitol of the small Pacific nation of the Marshall Islands, Majuro. Included in the video are the bridge, the capitol building, the College of the Marshall Islands, Marshall Islands High School, and some of the islands in the atoll, including Eneko and Enemanit.

2026/04/30

Doing Business in Togo

Togo is firmly committed to promoting economic growth and attracting foreign investment. Among the measures undertaken, there are : The creation of a One Stop ..

2026/04/29

Welcome to the Netherlands.

Welcome to the Netherlands. Holland.com is the official website for the Netherlands as a tourist destination. The website is managed by the Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions. Read ...

2026/04/29

Sierra Leone Sierraously Surprissing

Sierra Leone operates visa on arrival policy. Visitors do not need to apply for a travel visa beforehand, just jet in and you obtain visa. Be ready for the modes of transportations: Air, Land and Sea. Sierra Leone is a beautiful country surrounded with hills, valleys, bars, and lagoons, harmonious and enriched cultural fusion which brings you closer to everyday life, with a glimpse of natural hopes, as a variety of birds chirps signal of leisure and the friendly chimpanzees hoot your welcome.

2026/04/29

South African Tourism (GL)

Discover the organisation that helps to promote South Africa as a world-class tourism destination.

2026/04/29