Brasiguayos

Under Brasiguayos Brazilian settlers (and their descendants) understood who have settled in the border region Brazil - Paraguay Paraguayan soil. They live mainly in the regions Canindeyú and in the department of Alto Paraná in the southeast of the country. The Brasiguayos are mostly farmers and mostly speak Portuguese. Their number is estimated at about 350,000. Among them, there are about 150,000 Brasiguayos who are of German descent and many of whom speak to each other still German Brazilian popular dialects.

History of Brasiguayos

In 1943 lived in all of Paraguay no more than 500 Brazilian farmers. Between 1950 and 1970, the proportion of the Brazilian population remained constant at three to four percent. From 1970, the massive immigration from Brazil began. The majority came from the Brazilian state of Paraná. In 1967 the Paraguayan government revoked a law that forbade foreigners to purchase land within a 150 km zone beyond the state border. At the same time resulted in an increasing mechanization of soybean production in the Brazilian state of Paraná to a concentration of agricultural holdings in the region. This led to a migration of the smaller farmers in the neighboring country of Paraguay. Towards the end of the seventies the country was on the Paraguayan side eight times cheaper than in Brazil.