Paraguayan Argentines are Argentine citizens of full or partial Paraguayan descent or Paraguay-born people who reside in Argentina. Paraguayan people comprise an important ethnic group in the country due to the sustained immigration that gained importance in the 1970s. The number of people born in Paraguay living in Argentina has been estimated in around 325,000. Therefore, it is the largest foreign community in the country outnumbering individuals from Italy and Spain. It is also one of the fastest growing foreign nationalities. Despite all this, its numbers have been undercounted so it is believed that the real amount is even much higher.
History
The North-Eastern provinces of Argentina were originally inhabited by Guarani tribes conforming with what is now Paraguay and several regions of Brazil the area of influence of Guarani culture. This influence can be seen nowadays in many common cultural features. However, the earliest presence of Paraguayans as an ethnic group can be traced back much later, to the second foundation of the city ofBuenos Aires by Juan de Garay who sailed down Parana River from Asuncion accompanied by local Mestizo and Guarani families. In addition, there have always been certain connections between the two countries during later periods of the Spanish rule, especially when the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata was created in 1776 which included several Intendencias, among them the Intendencia of Paraguay and Intendencia of Buenos Aires. There has been Paraguayan presence in Argentine soil during and after the Paraguayan War and after the Revolution of 1947 in Paraguay but it did not acquired importance before 1970. For many economical reasons and political reasons, Paraguayans started to settle in larger amounts throughout the wealthier neighbouring territory. Another fact was the porosity of Argentine borders and that the population density has always been disproportionally higher in the Eastern region rather than the Western region or Chaco. Very different from other immigrant communities in Argentina, Paraguayan entrance has been large and constant even to these days which makes up to 40 years of sustained immigration that does not seem to stop or decline in the future.
Distribution
The distribution is not even, being Buenos Aires city and the homonymous province the top destinations for Paraguayans. 60% of the Paraguayan-born community is settled in these areas. In the North-Eastern Argentine provinces of Misiones, Corrientes, Formosa and Chaco, due to geographical links, lives more than one quarter of the community. The 10% left is spread throughout the rest of the provinces.
