Foz do Iguaçu (Iguaçu Falls): History

Pre-20th-Century History

Prior to European colonization of the Americas, the area around Foz do Iguaçu was home to the Guaraní people. Possessed of a language and tradition distinct from neighboring groups (such as the Tupi), the Guaraní moved into the lands between the Uruguay and lower Paraguay rivers some time in the first millennium AD. They had the misfortune to be one of the first South American peoples to meet the invaders, and while more than 80,000 Guaraní still live in Paraguay and Brazil, their subsequent history has not been happy. Mostly, it has been a story of slavery, disease, forcible conversion and casual destruction. Today, while their language and culture (including animistic spirituality) endures, they are largely dispossessed, and suicide rates are alarmingly high.

In 1511 Juan Díaz de Solís became the first European to enter 'Paraguay' (as the entire river basin area was first known), while Gonzalo de Mendoza first recorded contact with the Guaraní in 1537. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish explorer whose unlikely surname means 'Cow's Head', is the first European known to have sighted the falls (in 1541). Initially named after the Virgin Mary, the falls later took the name 'Iguazu' (meaning 'great water') from the Guaraní. Missions set up by Jesuits attracted up to 100,000 native Americans, drawn not so much by apostasy as by the promise of protection from ruthless bands of slavers. Unfortunately, this promise proved illusory: in 1629 a Paulista army staged a series of attacks on the 12 missions that resulted in their destruction, accompanied by appalling bloodshed and the capture of more than 60,000 slaves.

The prospect of gold and slaves brought the first significant expeditions of bandeirantes (roaming adventurers) to Paraná in the 18th century, and the state was made independent from São Paulo in 1853. European immigration was encouraged by government subsidies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, leading to the establishment of substantial German, Polish, Italian and Ukrainian populations.

Modern History

Prior to the 20th century, this once-remote region was largely unsettled. Following Paraguay's 1870 defeat in the fantastically bloody War of the Triple Alliance, the north side of the falls became Brazilian, while the Argentines pinched the southern side. Argentina took the lion's share, but many believe the view from the Brazilian side, affording a greater sense of the scale of this natural wonder, is superior.

The frontier military outpost of the late 19th century was accorded the status of vila (or 'town') in 1910. Four years later, Foz do Iguassu (as it was then spelled - the current spelling was ratified by the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1945) achieved the lofty status of 'city', despite its small population. By 1960, it could still only count 9,753 inhabitants.

This obscurity persisted until the advent of two major engineering projects. The first of these was the Friendship Bridge - a 290m arched structure, opened in 1965, along which the majority of Paraguay's trade (licit and illicit) passes. The second (and arguably more important) was the nearby Itaipu Dam, commenced in 1975. Prior to the completion of the Three Gorges Dam in China, Itaipu was the largest structure of its kind in the world, capable of supplying 20% of Brazil's and 95% of Paraguay's electricity. Its construction, which took nearly 20 years, has been the single biggest stimulus to the growth of Foz.

Recent History

Following a dip in the wake of 9/11, tourist numbers to Brazil have increased steadily. Buoyed by construction and a substantial share of the tourist trade, Paraná is now Brazil's fifth largest economy. Of course, such growth comes at a cost; Unesco, responding to the cutting of an illegal road through the Parque Nacional do Iguaçu, included it on its List of World Heritage in Danger in 1999. The closure of the road, and other remedial measures, have since proved sufficient for Unesco to remove the park from the list.

The natural strategic importance of the Tríplice Fronteira region (now home to over 800,000) will only increase with the formation of the Union of South American Nations (abbreviated as Unasur in Spanish and Unasul in Portuguese). This intergovernmental and economic entity, based loosely on the European Union, is set to become fully functional by the end of 2007.

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