Loma Plata - History

History

In the 1760′s Catherine the Great of Russia invited Mennonites from Prussia to settle north of the Black Sea in exchange for religious freedom and exemption from military service, a precondition founded in their commitment to non-violence. After Russia introduced the general conscription in 1874, many Mennonites migrated to the Americas. The members of the Colonia Menno (of which Loma Plata is the largest town and administrative centre), settled first in Canada until a universal, secular compulsory education was implemented in 1917 that required the use of the English language, which the more conservative Mennonites saw as a threat to the religious basis of their community. 1743 pioneers came from Canada to Paraguay in 1927 and turned the arid Chaco into fertile farmland over the years. It was the first Mennonite colony in the region. Some years later more Mennonites immigrants arrived to the Chaco area from Germany and Russia and founded the Fernheim (1930) and Neuland (1947) colonies.

At the beginning, these pioneers had to overcome many adversities. Not only was their arrival not properly prepared as was previously promised by the Casado company (the settlement complex should have been surveyed and a railway constructed up to the settlement location), the settlement on the promised land was delayed 16 months and the immigrants were forced to stay in a preliminary, overpopulated camp in Puerto Casado before being able to move into the interior of the Chaco wilderness and the land they had bought for their settlement. Many became sick due to the lack of medical care (or resistance to receive medical care), whereof 121 died, 75 of them being children from 0 to 14 years old. Some 60 families returned to Canada.

Instead of riding up the railway to the settlement, the settlers were forced to travel with Oxen vehicles on bumpy roads and under very primitive conditions. The gradual move to the settlement area started in April 1928. Some families then already lived in wilderness camps, still many lived in Puerto Casado. They entered a hostile wilderness with the aim of creating a new life for themselves. Throughout the settlement area, they formed 14 villages. Together they cleaned up the camps, constructed their houses, made roads and istalled the first common buildings such as schools and church. Today the Menno Colony has about 9,000 inhabitants descendents of the first around 1,200 settlers. Together they form a multicultural society with indigenous people, Latin Paraguayans, Brazilians and a number of people from other cultural origins.

In 1937 Loma Plata emerged as the colony center and a colony office was build (currently the Post office). Loma Plata is a Spanish name. Some wanted to keep it, others again rejected it and wanted a German name instead. For this reason this place was renamed "Sommerfeld". After about a dozen years the Mennonites resorted back to the name Loma Plata and that was also the publicly recognized name.

Today Loma Plata is the main town of the colony and home to a thriving agricultural co-operative, La Cooperativa Chortitzer Ltda. with an impressive dairy and meat production. It is a modern town with shops, supermarkets, schools, churches etc.