ABSTRACT
Bordering on Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina, Paraguay is a small South American country covering 406,800 square kilometres (157,000 square miles), with a population of 4.5 million (1992) of mostly mixed native Indian and Spanish ancestry, and two official languages (the native Guarani and Spanish). Over 50 per cent of the population lives in and around the capital, Asuncion, the first Spanish settlement in the area and a city that was the capital of all the Rio de la Plata provinces until 1580 when the government was transferred to Buenos Aires.
