Paraguay

Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in the central region of South America, bordering Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina. The indigenous Guarani had lived in eastern Paraguay for at least a millennium before the arrival of Spanish conquistadores in 1524, and the city of Asuncion, its capital, was founded in 1537 as the first capital of the Governorate of the Rio de la Plata within the Spanish Empire; it dates its independence from Spain to 1811. Paraguay lost half its prewar population and around a quarter to a third of its territory in the disastrous Triple Alliance War of 1864 to 1870, later prevailed in the Chaco War with Bolivia of 1932 to 1935, and came under a succession of military dictators culminating in the 35-year regime of Alfredo Stroessner, who was overthrown in 1989. Paraguay is a founding member of Mercosur, the United Nations and the Organization of American States, and is one of the world's leading exporters of hydroelectricity.