Encarnación

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Encarnación

Encarnación, port city of Paraguay on the Paraná River in the department of Itapúa (estimated 2005 population 69,770). Founded in 1615 by Jesuits from the Itapúa mission and a significant center of christianized Guaraní Indians, it is today the capital of the department of Itapúa. For a long time it was the outpost of Paraguayan resistance against expanding Argentine interests in the area of Misiones, but now it is an active center of trade with the nearby Argentine city of Posadas. Its surroundings are actively farmed by the descendants of German, Slavic, and Japanese settlers, who raise cotton, tobacco, yerba maté, and citrus fruit. A university and radio station maintain a high cultural level for the population.

See alsoGuarani Indians .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Tomás L. Micó, Antecedentes históricos de Encarnación de Itapúa (Asunción, 1975).

Additional Bibliography

Schiavoni, Lidia. Pesadas cargas, frágiles pasos: Transacciones comerciales en un mercado de frontera. Asunción: CPES; Misiones: Editorial Universitaria, Universidad Nacional de Misiones, 1993.

Znacovski de Sánchez, Teresa. Los Jesuitas: Investigación bibliográfica. Encarnación: Facultad de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad Católica, Sede Regional Itapuá, 2001.

                                      CÉsar N. Caviedes