Cordillera Department - History

History

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries this area of the country was going through a serious crisis due to population bellicosity of the Indians from Chaco. The villagers from Tobatí located north of the river Pirapo then called, had to migrate south for the continue attacks by Mbaye-guaicurúes. The residents of Altos and Atyrá created their current settlements in the territory of this department.

There were also some settler farmers who were scattered in existing territories Arroyos y Esteros, 1 de Marzo, Caraguatay and Piribebuy.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century these small towns were expanding, consolidating the villages located north of the department as Arroyos y Esteros Eusebio Ayala (then called town of San Roque).

Once the Paraguayan War, began a process of founding of major towns and settlements driven by German immigrants during the government of Bernardino Caballero. Thus, in 1881 saw the founding of San Bernardino, a major tourist resort of Paraguay today

Already in the early twentieth century, in 1906, was organized legally the country dividing the territory into departments. Thus was created the department of Caraguatay, initial name of the department of Cordillera.

In the year 1945, by a decree Law No. 9484, the department received its present name: Cordillera. Finally in 1973, by Law No. 426 took place in a new territorial reorganization and country, at which consolidates the structure of the department with its current boundaries and districts.