Guairá Department () is one of the seventeen departments of Paraguay. Its capital and most populous city is Villarrica. It is located to the southern half of the country and to the center of the Eastern Region. Guairá Department is the second smallest department of Paraguay after Central and the fourth most densely populated after Central, Alto Paraná and Cordillera. It was created in 1906.
Name origin
The name Guairá comes from the guarani words: guay + ra. The suffix ra means place but there is a dispute on the actual meaning of the term guay.
The first theory claims it is a contraction of the expression guara´ira that means `a person who will become a warrior`
History
Before the arrival of the first Spanish explorers, what is now Guairá was populated by an indigenous tribe named Paranaygua. The Paranaygua were a warlike tribe of keen fishermen within the larger Tupi-Guarani family. The first Europeans to explore the territory of Guairá were the Spanish, but they were unsuccessful in their colonization attempts due to the hostility of the Paranaygua.
left|thumb|Area occupied by the Parana tribe within Paraguay (dark blue)
One of the first Christians to enter the current territory of Guairá under Paranaygua rule was Mestizo franciscan friar Juan Bernardo Colman. Colman was thought to be a spy for the Spaniards and was executed that same year by the natives. In 1607, another franciscan priest named Luis de Bolaños had better results and managed to settle the town of Caazapá as an Indian mission. With this achievement, the area of what is now Guairá became part of the large region of Caazapá that used to comprise most of the south of Paraguay. From 1617 to 1678 there was not much progress in the settlement of new towns in the area until friar Buenaventura de Villasboa, apprentice of Bolaños, makes an expedition towards the east looking for more Indians to Christianize. Villasboa gathered a group of uncontacted guaranis and settled with them the mission of Ytapé in 1682. Later that same year, the pilgrims of the city of Villa Rica also settled nearby. These people called themselves guaireños because their city was originally founded in the extinct Spanish province of Guayrá.
left|thumb|289x289px|Arms of [[Pedro Melo de Portugal, founder of one of the oldest settlements in Guairá (1778)]]
In 1773, Paraguay Spanish Governor Agustin de Pinedo founded a town named Hyaty to the northwest of Villarrica and in 1778, another Spanish Governor Pedro Melo de Portugal founded the town of Yhacanguazu this time to the southwest of Villarrica. By 1785, relatives of governor Juan Ortiz de Zarate owned land in what is now the town of Tebicuary and another Spaniard named Francisco del Monge started the settlement of current Coronel Martinez by donating part of his property to his former employees.
After the independence of Paraguay (1811), pioneers from Villarrica began to explore the surrounding areas looking for wood and more land to grow yerba mate. By this efforts new populated places emerged such as Mbocayaty, Yataity and Potrero Cosme.
After the end of the Paraguayan War in 1870, the region was briefly occupied by the Brazilian Army and in 1889 the first railway passengers arrived to the area in stations built in Villarrica, Borja and a number of unexplored sites that later became towns such as Fassardi and Garay. The railway increased the commerce and helped with the development of small industries. In 1906, the new department of Guairá was created including the municipalities of Villarrica, Mbocayaty, Yataity and Hyaty.
Location
The department is in the center and slightly to the south of the Eastern Region of Paraguay. It borders Caaguazu department to the north, Caazapa department to the south and to the east, and Paraguari department to the west.
Municipalities
The department is divided in the following 18 municipalities.
Weather
The department has mild and good weather, with an average temperature of 21 degrees Celsius. In the summer, the maximum temperature is 38 degrees, and in the winter, the temperature goes down to 1 degree. It rains a lot during October and November. During the year, there is a total of 1,537 millimetres of rain.
Demographics
Out of a total of 209,000 people in 2012, 41.4% lived in the urban area and 58.6% in the rural area. The only city with more than 50,000 people is Villarrica. Independencia and Paso Yobai are the second and third most populated places with over 20,000 people each.
Flag and Arms
thumb|Arms of the Guairá Department
The flag is divided in two horizontal zones of similar dimensions. The upper zone, light blue, is related to the water and the sky; the lower zone, purple, represents the grapes and wine produced in the region but also the color purple represents the Catholic Church.