Colonia Independencia

Independencia
View from the top of the hill Cerro Cora
Independencia
Coordinates: 25°43′12″S 56°15′0″W
Country	Paraguay
Department	Guairá
Government
Population  (2022)
• Total	25 000

Independencia (formerly known as Colonia Independencia) is a town and district in Guairá department of Paraguay.

The first known inhabitants of the area were indigenous peoples of tribes Mbya and Guayaki. The area was originally known as Muvevo, which is the name the natives gave to a plant they used to smoke using pipes. Upon the arrival of paraguayan nationals and other setllers it got the name of Kuruzupe (in jopara flat cross), due to a coffin shaped like a cross brought by a German family. Later it was called Campo Melgarejo (in Spanish Fields of Melgarejo) after Conrado Melgarejo, an entrepreneur from Villarrica. It was established on January 17, 1920 as a hamlet belonging to the town of Mbocayaty with the name of Colonia Independencia Nacional (Spanish for National Independence Colony)

The establishment was organized by public servant Genaro Romero from the city of Concepcion. Romero was also a journalist and an advocate for the rights of Paraguayan agricultural workers. On June 23, 1955 the colony was upgraded to an self-governing municipality and its original area included that of the neighboring town of Paso Yobai.

The town is a tourist attraction because of its German heritage, specially in the month of October for its big Oktoberfest celebration and the natural sites surrounding the hills of Ybytyruzu.

Colonia Independencia received immigrants during the beginning of the XXth century especially after World War I from the German states of Baden-Wurttenberg and Bavaria but also to a lesser extent other German-speakers from Austria, Switzerland, and Hungary.

Roads

The town is connected by PY10 to the national routes system.

Sources

• World Gazeteer: Paraguay – World-Gazetteer.com