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103-571: The name Chaco comes from a word in Quechua , an indigenous language from the Andes and highlands of South America. The Quechua word chaqu meaning "hunting land" comes probably from the rich variety of animal life present throughout the entire region. The Gran Chaco is about 647,500 km (250,000 sq mi) in size, though estimates differ. It is located west of the Paraguay River and east of

206-791: A Quechua language. Although Quechua began expanding many centuries before the Incas , that previous expansion also meant that it was the primary language family within the Inca Empire. The Spanish also tolerated its use until the Peruvian struggle for independence in the 1780s. As a result, various Quechua languages are still widely spoken today, being co-official in many regions and the most spoken language lineage in Peru , after Spanish. The Quechua linguistic homeland may have been Central Peru. It has been speculated that it may have been used in

309-489: A breakaway province. While Argentina was ruled by Juan Manuel Rosas (1829–1852), a common enemy of both Brazil and Paraguay, Brazil contributed to the improvement of the fortifications and development of the Paraguayan army, sending officials and technical help to Asunción . As no roads linked the inland province of Mato Grosso to Rio de Janeiro , Brazilian ships needed to travel through Paraguayan territory, going up

412-555: A drawn-out guerrilla resistance, a strategy that resulted in the further destruction of the Paraguayan military and the civilian population. Much of the civilian population died due to battle, hunger, and disease. The guerrilla war lasted for 14 months until president Francisco Solano López was killed in action by Brazilian forces in the Battle of Cerro Corá on 1 March 1870. Argentine and Brazilian troops occupied Paraguay until 1876. Since their independence from Portugal and Spain in

515-1048: A fourth, a northern or Peruvian branch. The latter causes complications in the classification, however, as various dialects (e.g. Cajamarca–Cañaris , Pacaraos , and Yauyos ) have features of both Quechua I and Quechua II, and so are difficult to assign to either. Torero classifies them as the following: Willem Adelaar adheres to the Quechua I / Quechua II (central/peripheral) bifurcation. But, partially following later modifications by Torero, he reassigns part of Quechua II-A to Quechua I: Ancash (Huaylas–Conchucos) Alto Pativilca–Alto Marañón–Alto Huallaga Yaru Wanka (Jauja–Huanca) Yauyos–Chincha (Huangáscar–Topará) Pacaraos Lambayeque (Cañaris) Cajamarca Lincha Laraos Kichwa ("Ecuadorian" or Highlands and Oriente) Chachapoyas (Amazonas) Lamas (San Martín) Ayacucho Cusco Puno (Collao) Northern Bolivian (Apolo) Southern Bolivia Santiago del Estero Landerman (1991) does not believe

618-720: A large portion of Mato Grosso remained under Paraguayan control. The Brazilians withdrew from the area in April 1868, moving their troops to the main theatre of operations, in the south of Paraguay. The invasion of Corrientes and Rio Grande do Sul was the second phase of the Paraguayan offensive. In order to support the Uruguayan Blancos, the Paraguayans had to travel across Argentine territory. In January 1865, Solano López asked Argentina's permission for an army of 20,000 men (led by general Wenceslao Robles ) to travel through

721-606: A less convenient time for ourselves". López then ordered the Paraguayan ship Tacuarí to pursue her and compel her return. On 12 November Tacuarí caught up with Marquês de Olinda in the vicinity of Concepción , fired across her bows, and ordered her to return to Asunción; when she arrived on the 13th, all on board were arrested. On the 12th Paraguay informed the Brazilian minister in Asunción that diplomatic relations had been broken off. The conflict between Brazil and Uruguay

824-701: A local NGO, on average, 1,130 ha (2,800 acres) are cleared per day. The soy plantations not only eliminate the forest, but also other types of agriculture. Indigenous communities are losing their land to agribusinesses. Since 2007, a law is supposed to regulate and control the cutting of timber in the Gran Chaco, but illegal logging continues. Among the aggressive investors in the Paraguayan Gran Chaco are U.S.-based agribusinesses Cargill Inc. , Bunge Ltd. , and Archer Daniels Midland Co. A 2017 assessment found that 176,715 km, or 22%, of

927-674: A notable exception. Between 2000 and 2019, it was estimated that the Dry Chaco forest cover decreased by 20.2%, including territory in Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay, with the latter showing the most dramatic land cover change. Two factors may substantially change the Chaco in the near future: low land valuations and the region's suitability to grow fuel crops . Suitability for the cultivation of Jatropha has been proven. Sweet sorghum as an ethanol plant may prove viable, too, since sorghum

1030-411: A persistent issue that had confused Spain and Portugal in the late 18th century. A few indigenous tribes populated the region between the two rivers, and these tribes would attack Brazilian and Paraguayan settlements that were local to them. There are several theories regarding the origins of the war. The traditional view emphasizes that the policies of Paraguayan president Francisco Solano López used

1133-547: A reference point, the overall degree of diversity across the family is a little less than that of the Romance or Germanic families, and more of the order of Slavic or Arabic . The greatest diversity is within Central Quechua, or Quechua I, which is believed to lie close to the homeland of the ancestral Proto-Quechua language. Alfredo Torero devised the traditional classification, the three divisions above, plus

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1236-475: A seasonally dry higher-growth thorn tree forest, and further east still higher rainfall combined with improperly drained lowland soils result in a somewhat swampy plain called the Bajo Chaco (Lower Chaco), sometimes known as Chaco Húmedo ( Humid Chaco ). It has a more open savanna vegetation consisting of palm trees, quebracho trees , and tropical high-grass areas, with a wealth of insects . The landscape

1339-428: A semiarid to semihumid climate (600–1300 mm annual rainfall) with a six-month dry season and sufficient fresh groundwater restricted to roughly one-third of the region, two-thirds being without groundwater or with groundwater of high salinity. Soils are generally erosion-prone once the forest has been cleared. In the central and northern Paraguay Chaco, occasional dust storms have caused major topsoil loss. The Chaco

1442-591: A significant influence on other native languages of the Americas, such as Mapuche . It is difficult to measure the number of Quechua speakers. The number of speakers given varies widely according to the sources. The total in Ethnologue 16 is 10 million, primarily based on figures published 1987–2002, but with a few dating from the 1960s. The figure for Imbabura Highland Quechua in Ethnologue , for example,

1545-419: A slightly shorter subcanopy made up of several species from the family Fabaceae, as well as several arboreal cacti species that distinguish this area of the Chaco. There is a scrub-like shrub and herbaceous understory. On sandy soils, the thick woodlands turn into savannas where the aforementioned species prevail, as well as species such as Jacaranda mimosifolia . The giant Stetsonia coryne , found throughout

1648-548: A true genetic classification is possible and divides Quechua II so that the family has four geographical–typological branches: Northern, North Peruvian, Central, and Southern. He includes Chachapoyas and Lamas in North Peruvian Quechua so Ecuadorian is synonymous with Northern Quechua. Quechua I (Central Quechua, Waywash ) is spoken in Peru's central highlands, from the Ancash Region to Huancayo . It

1751-459: Is 300,000, an estimate from 1977. The missionary organization FEDEPI, on the other hand, estimated one million Imbabura dialect speakers (published 2006). Census figures are also problematic, due to under-reporting. The 2001 Ecuador census reports only 500,000 Quechua speakers, compared to the estimate in most linguistic sources of more than 2 million. The censuses of Peru (2007) and Bolivia (2001) are thought to be more reliable. Additionally, there

1854-653: Is a secondary division in Quechua II between the grammatically simplified northern varieties of Ecuador, Quechua II-B, known there as Kichwa , and the generally more conservative varieties of the southern highlands, Quechua II-C, which include the old Inca capital of Cusco . The closeness is at least in part because of the influence of Cusco Quechua on the Ecuadorean varieties in the Inca Empire. Because Northern nobles were required to educate their children in Cusco, this

1957-650: Is a traditional local crop for domestic and feedstock use. The feasibility of switchgrass is currently being studied by Argentina's Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria , as is the Karanda’y palm tree in the Paraguayan Chaco. While advancements in agriculture can bring some improvements in infrastructure and employment for the region, loss of habitat and virgin forest is substantial and will likely increase poverty . Paraguay, after having lost more than 90% of its Atlantic rainforest between 1975 and 2005,

2060-483: Is an indigenous language family that originated in central Peru and thereafter spread to other countries of the Andes . Derived from a common ancestral " Proto-Quechua " language, it is today the most widely spoken pre-Columbian language family of the Americas, with the number of speakers estimated at 8–10 million speakers in 2004, and just under 7 million from the most recent census data available up to 2011. Approximately 13.9% (3.7 million) of Peruvians speak

2163-455: Is an unknown number of speakers in emigrant communities. There are significant differences among the varieties of Quechua spoken in the central Peruvian highlands and the peripheral varieties of Ecuador, as well as those of southern Peru and Bolivia. They can be labeled Quechua I (or Quechua B, central) and Quechua II (or Quechua A, peripheral). Within the two groups, there are few sharp boundaries, making them dialect continua . However, there

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2266-564: Is mostly flat and slopes at a 0.004-degree gradient to the east. This area is also one of the distinct physiographic provinces of the Parana-Paraguay Plain division. The areas more hospitable to development are along the Paraguay , Bermejo , and Pilcomayo Rivers . It is a great source of timber and tannin , which is derived from the native quebracho tree. Special tannin factories have been constructed there. The wood of

2369-640: Is now losing its xerophytic forest (dry forests) in the Chaco at an annual rate of 220,000 hectares (540,000 acres) (2008). In mid-2009, a projected law, initiated by the Liberal Party , that would have outlawed deforestation in the Paraguayan Chaco altogether, "Deforestacion Zero en el Chaco" did not get a majority in the parliament. Deforestation in the Argentinian part of the Chaco amounted to an average of 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) per year between 2001 and 2007. According to Fundación Avina ,

2472-527: Is only found in the Argentinian Chaco. All of 60 species of Ctenomys are endemic to South America. The Chacoan peccary ( Catagonus wagneri ), locally known as tauga , is the largest of the three peccary species found in the area. This species was thought to be extinct by scientists until 1975, when it was recorded by Ralph Wetzel. Due to the climate of the Gran Chaco, herpetofauna are restricted to moist refugia in various places throughout

2575-619: Is the most diverse branch of Quechua, to the extent that its divisions are commonly considered different languages. Quechua II (Peripheral Quechua, Wamp'una "Traveler") This is a sampling of words in several Quechuan languages: War of the Triple Alliance Allied victory Paraguay permanently lost its claims to lands amounting to almost 40% of its prewar claimed territories. The Paraguayan War ( Spanish : Guerra del Paraguay , Portuguese : Guerra do Paraguai , Guarani : Paraguái Ñorairõ ), also known as

2678-614: The Andes , and is mostly an alluvial sedimentary plain shared among Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina. It stretches from about 17 to 33°S latitude and between 65 and 60°W longitude, though estimates differ. Historically, the Chaco has been divided in three main parts: the Chaco Austral or Southern Chaco, south of the Bermejo River and inside Argentinian territory, blending into the Pampa region in its southernmost end;

2781-606: The Brazilian ship Marquês de Olinda , on her routine voyage up the River Paraguay to the Brazilian Mato Grosso, and carrying the new governor of that province, docked at Asunción and took on coal. Completing the formalities, she continued on her journey. According to one source, López hesitated whether to break the peace for a whole day, saying "If we don't have a war now with Brazil, we shall have one at

2884-839: The Chaco Central or Central Chaco between the Bermejo and the Pilcomayo River to the north, also now in Argentinian territory; and the Chaco Boreal or Northern Chaco, north of the Pilcomayo up to the Brazilian Pantanal, inside Paraguayan territory and sharing some area with Bolivia. Locals sometimes divide it today by the political borders, giving rise to the terms Argentinian Chaco, Paraguayan Chaco, and Bolivian Chaco. (Inside Paraguay, people sometimes use

2987-768: The Chavín and Wari civilizations. Quechua had already expanded across wide ranges of the central Andes long before the expansion of the Inca Empire . The Inca were one among many peoples in present-day Peru who already spoke a form of Quechua, which in the Cuzco region particularly has been heavily influenced by Aymara , hence some of the characteristics that still distinguish the Cuzco form of Quechua today. Diverse Quechua regional dialects and languages had already developed in different areas, influenced by local languages, before

3090-523: The Paraguay River to arrive at Cuiabá . However, Brazil had difficulty obtaining permission from the government in Asunción to freely use the Paraguay River for its shipping needs. Brazil had carried out three political and military interventions in the politically unstable Uruguay: On 19 April 1863, Uruguayan general Venancio Flores, who was then an officer in the Argentine army as well as

3193-595: The University of San Marcos , completed and defended the first thesis in the language group in 2019; it concerned the works of poet Andrés Alencastre Gutiérrez and it was also the first non-Spanish native language thesis done at that university. Currently, there are different initiatives that promote Quechua in the Andes and across the world: many universities offer Quechua classes, a community-based organization such as Elva Ambía 's Quechua Collective of New York promote

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3296-599: The Uruguayan War as a pretext to gain control of the Platine basin . That caused a response from the regional hegemons, Brazil and Argentina, both of which exercised influence over the much smaller republics of Uruguay and Paraguay. The war has also been attributed to the aftermath of colonialism in South America with border conflicts between the new states, the struggle for power among neighboring nations over

3399-714: The War of the Triple Alliance ( Spanish : Guerra de la Triple Alianza , Portuguese : Guerra da Tríplice Aliança ), was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina , the Empire of Brazil , and Uruguay . It was the deadliest and bloodiest inter-state war in Latin American history. Paraguay sustained large casualties, but even

3502-469: The palo santo from the Central Chaco is the source of oil of guaiac (a fragrance for soap ). Paraguay also cultivates mate in the lower part of the Chaco. Large tracts of the central and northern Chaco have high soil fertility , sandy alluvial soils with elevated levels of phosphorus , and a topography that is favorable for agricultural development. Other aspects are challenging for farming:

3605-633: The 1960s, the Paraguayan authorities constructed the Trans-Chaco Highway and the Argentine National Highway Directorate, National Routes 16 and 81, in an effort to encourage access and development. All three highways extend about 700 km (430 mi) from east to west and are now completely paved, as is a network of nine Brazilian highways in Mato Grosso do Sul state. The Gran Chaco has some of

3708-451: The 409 bird species that are resident or breed in the Gran Chaco; 252 of these Chaco species are endemic to South America. The Chaco is one of South America's last agricultural frontiers. Very sparsely populated and lacking sufficient all-weather roads and basic infrastructure (the Argentinian part is more developed than the Paraguayan or Bolivian part), it has long been too remote for crop planting. The central Chaco's Mennonite colonies are

3811-589: The Americas. As a result of Inca expansion into Central Chile , there were bilingual Quechua- Mapudungu Mapuche in Central Chile at the time of the Spanish arrival . It has been argued that Mapuche, Quechua, and Spanish coexisted in Central Chile , with significant bilingualism, during the 17th century. Alongside Mapudungun, Quechua is the indigenous language that has influenced Chilean Spanish

3914-639: The Blanco Party, rejected the Brazilian demands, presented his own demands, and asked Paraguay for help. To settle the growing crisis, Solano López offered himself as a mediator of the Uruguayan crisis, as he was a political and diplomatic ally of the Uruguayan Blancos , but the offer was turned down by Brazil. Brazilian soldiers on the northern borders of Uruguay started to provide help to Flores' troops and harassed Uruguayan officers, while

4017-524: The Gran Chaco area, either entirely or in part. Many of these peoples speak or used to speak Mataco–Guaicuru languages . 19°09′44″S 61°28′13″W  /  19.1622°S 61.4702°W  / -19.1622; -61.4702 Quechuan languages Quechua ( / ˈ k ɛ tʃ u ə / , Spanish: [ˈketʃwa] ), also called Runa simi ( Quechua: [ˈɾʊna ˈsɪmɪ] , 'people's language') in Southern Quechua ,

4120-601: The Gran Chaco, while Paraguay ignored it. Bolivia sought the Paraguay River for shipping oil out into the sea (it had become a land-locked country after the loss of its Pacific coast in the War of the Pacific ), and Paraguay claimed ownership of the land. This became the backdrop to the Gran Chaco War (1932–1935) between Paraguay and Bolivia over supposed oil in the Chaco Boreal (the aforementioned region north of

4223-549: The Imperial Fleet pressed hard on Montevideo. During the months of June–August 1864 a Cooperation Treaty was signed between Brazil and Argentina at Buenos Aires , for mutual assistance in the Plate Basin Crisis. Brazilian minister Saraiva sent an ultimatum to the Uruguayan government on 4 August 1864: either comply with the Brazilian demands, or the Brazilian army would retaliate. The Paraguayan government

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4326-611: The Inca Empire expanded and further promoted Quechua as the official language of the Empire. After the Spanish conquest of Peru in the 16th century, Quechua continued to be used widely by the indigenous peoples as the "common language." It was officially recognized by the Spanish administration, and many Spaniards learned it in order to communicate with local peoples. The clergy of the Catholic Church adopted Quechua to use as

4429-410: The Latin American nations achieved independence in the 19th century, the prestige of Quechua had decreased sharply. Gradually its use declined so that it was spoken mostly by indigenous people in the more isolated and conservative rural areas. Nevertheless, in the 21st century, Quechua language speakers number roughly 7 million people across South America, more than any other indigenous language family in

4532-479: The Paraguayan navy and prevented the Paraguayans from permanently occupying Argentine territory. For all practical purposes, this battle decided the outcome of the war in favor of the Triple Alliance; from that point onward, it controlled the waters of the Río de la Plata basin up to the entrance to Paraguay. A separate Paraguayan division of 3,200 men that continued towards Uruguay under the command of Pedro Duarte , who

4635-405: The Paraguayans could rely on their militia which consisted of all able-bodied men which, as the war continued, began to include increasingly younger and older men. At the beginning of the war, the military forces of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay were far smaller than Paraguay's. Argentina had approximately 8,500 regular troops and a naval squadron of four steamers and one schooner. Uruguay entered

4738-516: The Paraguayans had left once again. Colonel Carlos de Morais Camisão assumed command of the column in January 1867—now with only 1,680 men—and decided to invade Paraguayan territory, which he penetrated as far as Laguna where Paraguayan cavalry forced the expedition to retreat. Despite the efforts of Camisão's troops and the resistance in the region, which succeeded in liberating Corumbá in June 1867,

4841-462: The Paraguayans. The baron of Porto Alegre set out for Uruguaiana, a small town in the province's west, where the Paraguayan army was besieged by a combined force of Brazilian, Argentine and Uruguayan units. Porto Alegre assumed command of the Brazilian army in Uruguaiana on 21 August 1865. On 18 September, the Paraguayan garrison surrendered without further bloodshed. In subsequent months,

4944-659: The Pilcomayo River and to the west of the Paraguay River). Eventually, Argentine Foreign Minister Carlos Saavedra Lamas mediated a ceasefire and subsequent treaty signed in 1938, which gave Paraguay three-quarters of the Chaco Boreal and gave Bolivia a corridor to the Paraguay River with the ability to use the Puerto Casado and the right to construct their own port. No oil was found in the region until 2012 when Paraguayan President Federico Franco announced

5047-513: The Portuguese and Spanish areas of South America in lines that mostly corresponded to present-day boundaries. Neither Portugal nor Spain was satisfied with the results, and new treaties were signed in the following decades that either established new territorial lines or repealed them. The final accord signed by both powers, the 1801 Treaty of Badajoz , reaffirmed the validity of the previous Treaty of San Ildefonso (1777), which had derived from

5150-432: The act, freeing itself for the future of every responsibility that may arise from the present declaration. The Brazilian government, probably believing that the Paraguayan threat would be only diplomatic, answered on 1 September, stating that "they will never abandon the duty of protecting the lives and interests of Brazilian subjects." But in its answer, two days later, the Paraguayan government insisted that "if Brazil takes

5253-418: The approximate numbers are disputed. Paraguay was forced to cede disputed territory to Argentina and Brazil. The war began in late 1864, as a result of a conflict between Paraguay and Brazil caused by the Uruguayan War . Argentina and Uruguay entered the war against Paraguay in 1865, and it then became known as the "War of the Triple Alliance." After Paraguay was defeated in conventional warfare , it conducted

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5356-665: The area, such as the Rio Paraguay and Rio Parana , allow for seasonally flooded semievergreen gallery forests that hold riparian species such as Tessaria integrifolia and Salix humboldtiana . Other seasonally flooded ecosystems of this area include palm-dominated ( Copernicia alba ) savannas with a bunch grass -dominated herbaceous layer. To the west, in the Semiarid/Arid Chaco, medium-sized forests consists of white quebracho ( Aspidosperma quebracho-blanco ) and red quebracho ( Schinopsis lorentzii ) with

5459-430: The cabinet was blamed. The newly promoted Viscount of Tamandaré and Mena Barreto (now Baron of São Gabriel) had supported the peace accord. Tamandaré changed his mind soon afterward and played along with the allegations. A member of the opposition party, José Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco , was used as a scapegoat by the emperor and the government and was recalled in disgrace to the imperial capital. The accusation that

5562-422: The chaco. Rotting logs, debris piles, old housing settlement, wells, and seasonal farm ponds are examples of such refugia. The black-legged seriema ( Chunga burmeisteri ), blue-crowned parakeet ( Aratinga acuticadauta ), Picui ground dove ( Columbina picui ), guira cuckoo ( Guira guira ), little thornbird ( Phacellodomus sibilatrix ), and many-colored Chaco finch ( Saltaitricula multicolor ) are notable of

5665-586: The city, Robles advanced southwards along the eastern bank. Along with Robles' troops, a force of 12,000 soldiers under colonel Antonio de la Cruz Estigarribia crossed the Argentine border south of Encarnación in May 1865, driving for Rio Grande do Sul. They traveled down the Uruguay River and took the town of São Borja on 12 June. Uruguaiana , to the south, was taken on 6 August with little resistance. By invading Corrientes, Solano López had hoped to gain

5768-435: The convention had failed to meet Brazilian interests proved to be unfounded. Not only had Paranhos managed to settle all Brazilian claims, but by preventing the death of thousands, he gained a willing and grateful Uruguayan ally instead of a dubious and resentful one, which provided Brazil with an important base of operations during the acute clash with Paraguay that shortly ensued. According to some historians, Paraguay began

5871-561: The country. The major obstacle to the usage and teaching of Quechua languages is the lack of written materials, such as books, newspapers, software, and magazines. The Bible has been translated into Quechua and is distributed by certain missionary groups. Quechua, along with Aymara and minor indigenous languages, remains essentially a spoken language . In recent years, Quechua has been introduced in intercultural bilingual education (IBE) in Peru , Bolivia , and Ecuador . Even in these areas,

5974-460: The dialects is the basic criterion that defines Quechua not as a single language, but as a language family. The complex and progressive nature of how speech varies across the dialect continua makes it nearly impossible to differentiate discrete varieties; Ethnologue lists 45 varieties which are then divided into two groups; Central and Peripheral. Due to the non-intelligibility between the two groups, they are all classified as separate languages. As

6077-681: The discovery of oil in the area of the Pirity river. Mennonites immigrated into the Paraguayan part of the region from Canada in the 1920s; more came from the USSR in the 1930s and immediately following World War II. These immigrants created some of the largest and most prosperous municipalities in the deep Gran Chaco. The region is home to over 9 million people, divided about evenly among Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil, and including around 100,000 in Paraguay. The area remains relatively underdeveloped, In

6180-427: The early 19th century, the Empire of Brazil and the Spanish-American countries of South America were troubled by territorial disputes . Each nation in this region had boundary conflicts with multiple neighbors. Most had overlapping claims to the same territories, due to unresolved questions which stemmed from their former metropoles . Signed by Portugal and Spain in 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas proved ineffective in

6283-401: The eastern Humid Chaco, including jaguars, howler monkeys, peccaries, deer, and tapirs. Edentate species, including anteaters and armadillos, are readily seen here, as well. Being home to at least 10 species, the Argentinian Chaco is the location of the peak diversity for the armadillo, including species such as the nine-banded armadillo ( Dasypus novemcinctus ), whose range extends north to

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6386-678: The eastern zone of the Humid Chaco , mature forests transition from the wet forests of southern Brazil. These woodlands are dominated by canopy trees such as Handroanthus impetiginosus and characterized by frequent lianas and epiphytes . This declines to seasonally flooded forests, at lower elevations, that are dominated by Schinopsis spp., a common plains tree genus often harvested for its tannin content and dense wood. The understory comprises bromeliad and cactus species, as well as hardy shrubs such as Schinus fasciculata . These lower areas lack lianas, but have abundant epiphytic species such as Tillandsia . The river systems that flow through

6489-626: The ecoregion is in protected areas. In September 1995, the Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area was established in an area of the Chaco in Bolivia. It is administered and was established solely by the indigenous peoples , including the Izoceño Guaraní , the Ayoreode , and the Chiquitano . Other protected areas include Defensores del Chaco National Park and Tinfunqué National Park in Paraguay, and Copo National Park and El Impenetrable National Park in Argentina. The following Argentine provinces, Bolivian and Paraguayan departments, and Brazilian states lie in

6592-434: The exact boundaries of her own viceroyalties , captaincies general , audiencias and provinces." Once separated the three countries quarreled over lands that were mostly uncharted or unknown. They were either sparsely populated or settled by indigenous tribes that answered to no parties. In the case of Paraguay and Brazil, the problem was to define whether the Apa or Branco rivers should represent their actual boundary,

6695-410: The expression Central Chaco for the area roughly in the middle of the Chaco Boreal, where Mennonite colonies are established.) The Chaco Boreal may be divided in two: closer to the mountains in the west, the Alto Chaco (Upper Chaco), sometimes known as Chaco Seco (or Dry Chaco), is very dry and sparsely vegetated. To the east, less arid conditions combined with favorable soil characteristics permit

6798-425: The following centuries, as both colonial powers expanded their frontiers in South America and elsewhere. The outdated boundary lines did not represent the actual occupation of lands by the Portuguese and Spanish. By the early 1700s, the Treaty of Tordesillas was deemed not useful, and it was clear to both parties that a newer treaty had to be drawn based on feasible boundaries. In 1750, the Treaty of Madrid separated

6901-545: The fort and withdrew up the river towards Corumbá on board the gunship Anhambaí . After occupying the fort, the Paraguayans advanced further north, taking the cities of Albuquerque, Tage and Corumbá in January 1865. Solano López then sent a detachment to attack the military frontier post of Dourados . On 29 December 1864, this detachment, led by Martín Urbieta, encountered tough resistance from Antônio João Ribeiro and his 16 men, who were all eventually killed. The Paraguayans continued to Nioaque and Miranda , defeating

7004-749: The governments are reaching only a part of the Quechua-speaking populations. Some indigenous people in each of the countries are having their children study in Spanish for social advancement. Radio Nacional del Perú broadcasts news and agrarian programs in Quechua for periods in the mornings. Quechua and Spanish are now heavily intermixed in much of the Andean region, with many hundreds of Spanish loanwords in Quechua. Similarly, Quechua phrases and words are commonly used by Spanish speakers. In southern rural Bolivia, for instance, many Quechua words such as wawa (infant), misi (cat), waska (strap or thrashing), are as commonly used as their Spanish counterparts, even in entirely Spanish-speaking areas. Quechua has also had

7107-560: The highest temperatures on the continent. It has high biodiversity , containing around 3,400 plant species, 500 birds, 150 mammals, and 220 reptiles and amphibians. The floral characteristics of the Gran Chaco are varied given the large geographical span of the region. The dominant vegetative structure is xerophytic deciduous forests with multiple layers, including a canopy (trees) , subcanopy, shrub layer , and herbaceous layer . Ecosystems include riverine forests , wetlands , savannas , and cactus stands, as well. At higher elevations of

7210-417: The initiative during the first phase of the war, launching the Mato Grosso Campaign by invading the Brazilian province of Mato Grosso on 14 December 1864, followed by an invasion of the Rio Grande do Sul province in the south in early 1865 and the Argentine Corrientes Province . Two separate Paraguayan forces invaded Mato Grosso simultaneously. An expedition of 3,248 troops, commanded by Vicente Barrios ,

7313-512: The invasion of the Corrientes Province by Paraguay on 13 April 1865, a great uproar stirred in Buenos Aires as the public learned of Paraguay's declaration of war. President Bartolomé Mitre made a famous speech to the crowds on 4 May 1865: ...My fellow countrymen, I promise you: in three days we shall be at the barracks. In three weeks, at the frontiers. And in three months in Asunción! The same day, Argentina declared war on Paraguay; however, on 1 May 1865, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay had signed

7416-648: The language of evangelization . The oldest written records of the language are by missionary Domingo de Santo Tomás , who arrived in Peru in 1538 and learned the language from 1540. He published his Grammatica o arte de la lengua general de los indios de los reynos del Perú (Grammar or Art of the General Language of the Indians of the Kingdoms of Peru) in 1560. Given its use by the Catholic missionaries,

7519-439: The language, and governments are training interpreters in Quechua to serve in healthcare, justice, and bureaucratic facilities. In 1975, Peru became the first country to recognize Quechua as one of its official languages. Ecuador conferred official status on the language in its 2006 constitution, and in 2009, Bolivia adopted a new constitution that recognized Quechua and several other indigenous languages as official languages of

7622-791: The leader of the Colorado Party of Uruguay, invaded his country, starting the Cruzada Libertadora with the open support of Argentina, which supplied the rebels with arms, ammunition and 2,000 men. Flores wanted to overthrow the Blanco Party government of president Bernardo Berro , which was allied with Paraguay. Paraguayan president López sent a note to the Argentine government on 6 September 1863, asking for an explanation, but Buenos Aires denied any involvement in Uruguay. From that moment, mandatory military service

7725-424: The lower end of the Paraguay River. However, recent studies suggest many problems. Although the Paraguayan army had between 70,000 and 100,000 men at the beginning of the conflict, they were badly equipped. Most infantry armaments consisted of inaccurate smooth-bore muskets and carbines , slow to reload and short-ranged. The artillery was similarly poor. Military officers had no training or experience, and there

7828-481: The measures protested against in the note of August 30th, 1864, Paraguay will be under the painful necessity of making its protest effective." On 12 October, despite the Paraguayan notes and ultimatums, Brazilian troops under the command of general João Propício Mena Barreto  [ pt ] invaded Uruguay. This was not the start of the Paraguayan war, however, for Paraguay continued to maintain diplomatic relations with Brazil for another month. On 11 November

7931-556: The most. Quechua-Aymara and mixed Quechua-Aymara- Mapudungu toponymy can be found as far south as Osorno Province in Chile (latitude 41° S). In 2017 the first thesis defense done in Quechua in Europe was done by Peruvian Carmen Escalante Gutiérrez at Pablo de Olavide University ( Sevilla ). The same year Pablo Landeo wrote the first novel in Quechua without a Spanish translation. A Peruvian student, Roxana Quispe Collantes of

8034-492: The older Treaty of Madrid . The territorial disputes became worse when the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata collapsed in the early 1810s, leading to the rise of Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia , and Uruguay. Historian Pelham Horton Box wrote: "Imperial Spain bequeathed to the emancipated Spanish-American nations not only her own frontier disputes with Portuguese Brazil but problems which had not disturbed her, relating to

8137-657: The predominant species. Other notable species include Bougainvillea stipitata , and several species from the Fabaceae. The Paraguayan uplands have other woodland slope ecosystems, notably, those dominated by Anadenanthera colubrina on moist slopes. Both of these upland systems, as well as numerous other Gran Chaco areas, are rich with endemism . Faunal diversity in the Gran Chaco is also high. The Gran Chaco has around 3,400 plant, 500 bird, 150 mammal, and 220 reptile and amphibian species. Animals typically associated with tropical and subtropical forests are often found throughout

8240-501: The province of Corrientes. Argentine president Bartolomé Mitre refused Paraguay's request and a similar one from Brazil. After this refusal, the Paraguayan Congress gathered at an emergency meeting on 5 March 1865. After several days of discussions, on 23 March Congress decided to declare war on Argentina for its policies, hostile to Paraguay and favourable to Brazil, and then they conferred to Francisco Solano López

8343-492: The range of Quechua continued to expand in some areas. In the late 18th century, colonial officials ended the administrative and religious use of Quechua. They banned it from public use in Peru after the Túpac Amaru II rebellion of indigenous peoples. The Crown banned "loyal" pro-Catholic texts in Quechua, such as Garcilaso de la Vega's Comentarios Reales . Despite a brief revival of the language immediately after

8446-518: The rank of Field Marshal of the Republic of Paraguay. The declaration of war was sent on 29 March 1865 to Buenos Aires. On 13 April 1865, a Paraguayan squadron sailed down the Paraná River and attacked two Argentine ships in the port of Corrientes . Immediately general Robles' troops took the city with 3,000 men, and a cavalry force of 800 arrived the same day. Leaving a force of 1,500 men in

8549-422: The rule of Solano Lopez's predecessor and father, Carlos Antonio López . In the time since Brazil and Argentina had become independent, their struggle for hegemony in the Río de la Plata region had profoundly marked the diplomatic and political relations among the countries of the region. Brazil was the first country to recognize the independence of Paraguay, in 1844. At this time Argentina still considered it

8652-490: The secret Treaty of the Triple Alliance in Buenos Aires. They named Bartolomé Mitre, president of Argentina, as supreme commander of the allied forces. The signatories of the treaty were Rufino de Elizalde (Argentina), Otaviano de Almeida (Brazil) and Carlos de Castro (Uruguay). On 11 June 1865, at the naval Battle of Riachuelo , the Brazilian fleet commanded by admiral Francisco Manoel Barroso da Silva destroyed

8755-484: The southern US, and the southern three-banded armadillo ( Tolypeutes matacus ). The pink fairy armadillo ( Chlamyphrous truncatus ), is found nowhere else in the world. The giant armadillo ( Priodontes maximus ), while not found in the eastern Humid Chaco, can be seen in the drier Arid Chaco of the west. Some other notable endemics of the region include the San Luis tuco-tuco ( Ctenomys pontifex ). This small rodent

8858-722: The strategic Río de la Plata region, Brazilian and Argentine meddling in internal Uruguayan politics (which had already caused the Platine War ), Solano López's efforts to help his allies in Uruguay (which had been defeated by the Brazilians), and his presumed expansionist ambitions. A strong military was developed because Paraguay's larger neighbors, Argentina and Brazil, had territorial claims against it and wanted to dominate it politically, much as both had already done in Uruguay. Paraguay had recurring boundary disputes and tariff issues with Argentina and Brazil for many years during

8961-434: The support of the powerful Argentine caudillo Justo José de Urquiza , governor of the provinces of Corrientes and Entre Ríos, who was known to be the chief federalist hostile to Mitre and the central government in Buenos Aires. However, Urquiza gave his full support to an Argentine offensive. The forces advanced approximately 200 kilometres (120 mi) south before ultimately ending the offensive in failure. Following

9064-430: The troops of José Dias da Silva. The city of Coxim was taken in April 1865. The second Paraguayan column, formed from some of the 4,650 men led by Francisco Isidoro Resquín at Concepción, penetrated into Mato Grosso with 1,500 troops. Despite these victories, the Paraguayan forces did not continue to Cuiabá, the capital of the province, where Augusto Leverger had fortified the camp of Melgaço . Their main objective

9167-534: The war with fewer than 2,000 men and no navy. Many of Brazil's 16,000 troops were located in its southern garrisons. The Brazilian advantage, though, was in its navy, comprising 45 ships with 239 cannons and about 4,000 well-trained crew. A great part of the squadron was already in the Rio de la Plata basin, where it had acted under the Marquis of Tamandaré in the intervention against Aguirre's government. Brazil, however,

9270-402: The war with over 60,000 trained men—38,000 of whom were already under arms—400 cannons, a naval squadron of 23 steamboats and five river-navigating ships (among them, the gunboat Tacuarí ). Communication in the Río de la Plata basin was maintained solely by river, as very few roads existed. Whoever controlled the rivers would win the war, so Paraguay had built fortifications on the banks of

9373-464: The western Semiarid/Arid region becomes very conspicuous in these sandy savannas. Various upland systems of plant associations occur throughout the Gran Chaco. The Highlands of the Argentinian Chaco are made up of, on the dry, sunny side (up to 1800m), Schinopsis haenkeana woodlands. The cooler side of the uplands hosts Zanthoxylum coco (locally referred to as Fagara coco ) and Schinus molleoides (locally referred to as Lithrea molleoides ) as

9476-574: Was formed from the National Guard of Rio Grande do Sul. Ultimately, a total of about 146,000 Brazilians fought in the war from 1864 to 1870, consisting of the 10,025 army soldiers stationed in Uruguayan territory in 1864, 2,047 that were in the province of Mato Grosso, 55,985 Fatherland Volunteers , 60,009 National Guardsmen, 8,570 ex-slaves who had been freed to be sent to war, and 9,177 navy personnel. Another 18,000 National Guard troops stayed behind to defend Brazilian territory. Paraguay took

9579-537: Was informed of all this and sent to Brazil a message, which stated in part: The government of the Republic of Paraguay will consider any occupation of the Oriental territory [i.e. Uruguay] as an attempt against the equilibrium of the states of the Platine Region which interests the Republic of Paraguay as a guarantee for its security, peace, and prosperity; and that it protests in the most solemn manner against

9682-484: Was introduced in Paraguay; in February 1864, an additional 64,000 men were drafted into the army. One year after the beginning of the Cruzada Libertadora , in April 1864, Brazilian minister José Antônio Saraiva arrived in Uruguayan waters with the Imperial Fleet, to demand payment for damages caused to Rio Grande do Sul farmers in border conflicts with Uruguayan farmers. Uruguayan president Atanasio Aguirre , from

9785-585: Was maintained as the prestige dialect in the north. Speakers from different points within any of the three regions can generally understand one another reasonably well. There are nonetheless significant local-level differences across each. ( Wanka Quechua , in particular, has several very distinctive characteristics that make the variety more challenging to understand, even for other Central Quechua speakers.) Speakers from different major regions, particularly Central or Southern Quechua, are not able to communicate effectively. The lack of mutual intelligibility among

9888-648: Was no command system, as all decisions were made personally by López. Food, ammunition, and armaments were scarce, with logistics and hospital care deficient or nonexistent. The nation of about 450,000 people could not stand against the Triple Alliance of 11 million people. The Paraguayan army during peacetime prior to the war was made up of eight infantry battalions of 800 men each but had only been able to muster 4,084 Infantrymen with five cavalry regiments, nominally 2,500 (2,522 in reality) and two artillery regiments, with 907 men. By March 1865, six new infantry battalions and eight cavalry regiments had been formed. In addition,

9991-538: Was occupied by nomadic peoples, notably the various groups making up the Guaycuru , who resisted Spanish control of the Chaco, often with success, from the 16th until the early 20th centuries. Prior to national independence of the nations that compose the Chaco, the entire area was a separate colonial region named by the Spaniards as Chiquitos . The Gran Chaco had been a disputed territory since 1810. Officially, it

10094-408: Was settled in February 1865. News of the war's end was brought by Pereira Pinto and met with joy in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian emperor Pedro II found himself waylaid by a crowd of thousands in the streets amid acclamations. However, public opinion quickly changed for the worse when newspapers began running stories painting the convention of 20 February as harmful to Brazilian interests, for which

10197-483: Was supposed to be part of Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay, although a bigger land portion west of the Paraguay River had belonged to Paraguay since its independence. Argentina claimed territories north of the Bermejo River until Paraguay's defeat in the War of the Triple Alliance in 1870 established its current border with Argentina. Over the next few decades, Bolivia began to push the natives out and settle in

10300-680: Was the capture of the gold and diamond mines, disrupting the flow of these materials into Brazil until 1869. Brazil sent an expedition to fight the invaders in Mato Grosso. A column of 2,780 men led by Manuel Pedro Drago left Uberaba in Minas Gerais in April 1865 and arrived at Coxim in December, after a difficult march of more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) through four provinces. However, Paraguay had already abandoned Coxim by December. Drago arrived at Miranda in September 1866, and

10403-588: Was then defeated by Allied troops under Venancio Flores in the bloody Battle of Yatay , on the banks of the Uruguay River, near Paso de los Libres . While Solano López ordered the retreat of the forces that had occupied Corrientes, the Paraguayan troops that invaded São Borja advanced, taking Itaqui and Uruguaiana. The situation in Rio Grande do Sul was chaotic, and the local Brazilian military commanders were incapable of mounting effective resistance to

10506-540: Was transported by a naval squadron under the command of frigate captain Pedro Ignacio Meza up the Paraguay River to the town of Concepción . There they attacked the Nova Coimbra fort on 27 December 1864. The Brazilian garrison of 154 men resisted for three days, under the command of Hermenegildo Portocarrero (later Baron of Fort Coimbra). When their munitions were exhausted, the defenders abandoned

10609-478: Was unprepared to fight a war. Its army was disorganized. The troops it used in Uruguay were mostly armed contingents of gauchos and the National Guard. While some Brazilian accounts of the war described their infantry as volunteers ( Voluntários da Pátria ), other Argentine revisionist and Paraguayan accounts disparaged the Brazilian infantry as mainly recruited from slaves and the landless (largely black) underclass, who were promised free land for enlisting. The cavalry

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