Geology and Mineral Resources of Paraguay A Reconnaissance

10 GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF PARAGUAYAsuncion to Eusebio Ayala, a distance of 73 kilometers(45 miles). In addition to this two-lane, asphaltsurfacedhighway there are nearly 965 kilometers (600miles) of graded and maintained highways, abouttwo-thirds of them gravel surfaced. Except for thelack of bridges in places, most of these roads areexcellent during fine weather; it is both illegal andvirtually impossible to traverse any of them for a periodof 24 hours after each rain.There are also many thousand miles of unimprovedroads and cart tracks throughout the country. Onlya few are shown on plate 1, and fewer yet can be easilytraveled by other than oxen or specially sturdy automotivevehicles, even in dry weather.POPULATIONAccording to the 1950 census, the total population ofParaguay was 1,405,627, or an average of 3.5 personsper square kilometer (0.7 per square mile). This is thelowest population density in South America and amongthe lowest in the world. As indicated by figure 4, thepopulation is very unevenly distributed. In fact,96 percent of the people live east of the Rio Paraguayand more than half occupy only 4 percent of the landin Asuncion and nearby departments.The Paraguayan people are predominantly a homogeneousmixture of Spanish and Guarani Indian.Spanish is the official language but outside Asunci6nand even within it to considerable extent, Guarani isfar more widely used than Spanish.There are a total of about 40,000 indigenous Indiansbelonging to about 30 different family and linguisticgroups. Nearly all of them lead nomadic lives in theGran Chaco; a few work for timber companies or forfarmers.The 1950 census showed that there were 38,000foreign nationals in Paraguay, representing a score ofcountries, but largely from central Europe. Nearlyall are religious, political, or economic refugees who havecome to Paraguay since 1900. Offered asylum, aswell as lands, by Paraguay, they are largely settled inisolated colonies, particularly in the central GranChaco, in the area southeast of Conception, and in theMisiones region along the Rio de Alto Parand nearEncarnacion. To date there has been little tendencytoward social or economic mixing between the immigrantand Paraguayan populations.INDUSTRIESParaguay depends almost entirely on agriculture,livestock, and forest products for its economic existence.Local industries are largely limited to partial processingof these products for export; nearly all manufacturedgoods are imported. One indirect result of the heavy(URUGUAY \ ~"FIGURE 4. Density of population, Paraguay, 1950, compiled from data in the fliesof the Institute of Inter-American Affairs, Asuncion.dependence on food growing is that the people are wellfed, with a calorie intake per capita of 2,813 per dayas compared with 3,098 calories in the United States.On the other hand, the money income per capita isone of the lowest in the world, amounting to less than$40 in United States money per year in 1950.Four percent of the total land is in farms, but lessthan one percent is actually under cultivation. Allbut about 10 percent of the farmers have less than20 hectares (50 acres) per farm. Of the remainingland, 40 percent is devoted to grazing, 54 percent isforested, and 2 percent is classed as wasteland.Exports in 1950, which were approximately balancedby imports, were valued at 167.4 million guaranies, or18.6 million United States dollars at the then averageofficial rate of exchange for exports. Forest products,