Editing History of Paraguay (section)

===Early explorers and conquistadors===
{{main|Spanish colonization of the Americas}}
Much of the earliest written history of Paraguay comes from records of the Spanish colonization, beginning in 1516 with the [[Juan Díaz de Solís]]' failed expedition to the [[Río de la Plata]]. On the home voyage, after Solís' death, one of the vessels was wrecked off [[Santa Catarina Island]] near the Brazilian coast. Among the survivors was [[Aleixo Garcia]], a [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] adventurer who acquired a working knowledge of the [[Guaraní language]]. Garcia was intrigued by reports of "the White King" who supposedly lived far to the west and governed cities of wealth and splendor, a reference to the [[Inca Empire]].<ref name=eec>Sacks, Richard S. "Early explorers and conquistadors".</ref>

In 1524, Garcia joined a Guaraní invasion of the Inca Empire. Garcia's group discovered [[Iguazú Falls]], crossed the [[Río Paraná]] and arrived at the site of [[Asunción]], the future capital of the country, thirteen years before it was founded. At Asunción, the Guaraní gathered an army of 2,000 men and penetrated the outer defenses of the Inca Empire on the eastern slopes of the [[Andes]]. After Garcia's murder by his Indian allies, news of the raid reached the Spanish explorers on the coast. The explorer [[Sebastian Cabot (explorer)|Sebastian Cabot]] was attracted to the [[Río Paraguay]] two years later.<ref name=eec/> Cabot was sailing to the [[Orient]] in 1526 when he heard of Garcia's exploits. He decided that the Río de la Plata might provide passage to the Pacific, and, eager to win the riches of the Incas, became the first European to explore that estuary.<ref name=eec/>{{sfn|Gott|1993|pages=ix, 16}}
[[File:Sébastien Cabot.jpg|thumbnail|right|Sebastian Cabot]]
Leaving a small force on the northern shore of the broad estuary, Cabot proceeded up the [[Río Paraná]] for about {{convert|160|km}}, where he founded a settlement he named ''Sancti Spiritu''. He continued upstream for another {{convert|800|km}}, past the junction with the [[Río Paraguay]]. When navigation became difficult, Cabot turned back, after having obtained some silver objects that the Indians said came from a land far to the west. Cabot retraced his route on the Río Paraná and entered the Río Paraguay, trading freely with the Guaraní tribes until a strong force of Agaces (Payaguá) Indians attacked them. About {{convert|40|km}} below the site of Asunción, Cabot encountered a tribe of Guaraní in possession of silver objects, perhaps some of the spoils of Garcia's treasure. Imagining that he had found the route to the riches of Peru, Cabot renamed the river [[Río de la Plata]].<ref name=eec/>

Cabot returned to Spain in 1530 and told [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Charles V]] about his discoveries. Charles gave permission to Don [[Pedro de Mendoza]] to mount an expedition to the Plata basin. The emperor also named Mendoza governor of the [[Governorate of New Andalusia]] and granted him the right to name his successor. Mendoza proved to be utterly unsuitable as a leader, and his cruelty nearly undermined the expedition. Choosing what was possibly the worst site for the first Spanish settlement in South America, in February 1536 Mendoza built a fort at a place of poor anchorage on the southern side of the Plata estuary on an inhospitable dead-level plain. Dusty in the dry season, a bog in the rains, the place was inhabited by the fierce [[Querandí]] tribe, who resisted the Spaniards. Ignoring these conditions, the Spanish named the outpost [[Buenos Aires]] (''Nuestra Señora del Buen Ayre'').<ref name=eec/>

Meanwhile, [[Juan de Ayolas]], who was Mendoza's second-in-command and who had been sent upstream to reconnoiter, returned with corn and news that Cabot's fort at Sancti Spiritu had been abandoned. Mendoza dispatched Ayolas to explore a possible route to [[Peru]]. Accompanied by [[Domingo Martínez de Irala]], Ayolas again sailed upstream until he reached a small bay on the Río Paraguay, which he named Candelaria, the present-day [[Fuerte Olimpo]]. Appointing Irala his lieutenant, Ayolas ventured into the Chaco and was never seen again.<ref name=eec/>

[[File:Estatua a juan de salazar.JPG|thumbnail|right|Monument of Juan de Salazar de Espinosa in Asuncion]]
After Mendoza unexpectedly returned to Spain, two other members of the expedition—[[Juan de Salazar de Espinosa]] and [[Gonzalo de Mendoza]]—explored the [[Río Paraguay]] and met up with Irala. Leaving him after a short time, Salazar and Gonzalo de Mendoza descended the river, stopping at a fine anchorage. They commenced building a fort on 15 August 1537, the date of the [[Feast of the Assumption]], and called it [[Asunción]] (''Nuestra Señora Santa María de la Asunción'', in full, Our Lady Saint Mary of the Assumption).

[[File:Domingo Martínez de Irala.jpg|thumbnail|right|Domingo Martinez de Irala]]
Within 20 years, the new town had a population of about 1,500. Transcontinental shipments of silver passed through Asunción en route from Peru to Europe. Asunción became the center of a Spanish province that encompassed a large portion of central South America—''La Provincia Gigante de Indias''. Asunción also was the base for colonization of this part of South America. Spaniards moved northwestward across the Chaco to found [[Santa Cruz de la Sierra|Santa Cruz]] in present-day Bolivia; eastward to occupy the rest of present-day Paraguay; and southward along the river to re-found Buenos Aires, which its inhabitants had abandoned in 1541 to move to Asunción.<ref name=eec/>