ABSTRACT
The governor communicated his wishes to the Jesuit provincial in early July 1704, and by the beginning of September 4,000 Indian soldiers were on their way. Furthermore, mestizos were found at all levels of provincial society, so that it would be misleading to describe Paraguayan society at the beginning of the eighteenth century solely in terms of ethnic categories. Black slaves were first brought to Paraguay in the mid-sixteenth century, but it was in the course of the seventeenth century, as the Indian population in the province declined, that the demand for black slaves among the Paraguayans became important. Asuncion, the largest town in Paraguay and the center of political, economic and ecclesiastical power in the province, had grown both in size and population in the course of the seventeenth century. By the beginning of the eighteenth century he had made Asunción the Río de la Plata official residence.
