巴拉圭(Paraguay)
正式名称巴拉圭共和国（Republic of Paraguay）
南美洲中南部国家。面积406,752平方公里。人口约5,636,000（2001）。首都︰亚松森。大部分人口是梅斯蒂索（mestizo，西班牙人和瓜拉尼印第安人的混血人），还有许多小群族，包括印第安人、黑人、高加索人和亚洲人。语言︰西班牙语和瓜拉尼语（均为官方语）。宗教︰天主教（占总人口的88%）。货币︰瓜拉尼（）。巴拉圭是个内陆国，地形由平原和沼泽地构成。巴拉圭河从北到南流贯全国，把巴拉圭划分为东、西两个地理区︰东区，是巴西高原的延伸部分；西区构成大厦谷平原的北部。该国属开发中的市场经济，以农业、贸易和轻工业为主。政府形式为多党制共和国，两院制。国家元首暨政府首脑是总统。
在16～17世纪西班牙人来此殖民前，一些讲瓜拉尼语的半游牧民族已在这里定居很长一段时间。後来成为拉布拉他总督辖区的一部分，一直到1811年才独立。19世纪建立了独裁政权，1865年与巴西、阿根廷和乌拉圭开战。因领土纷争而与玻利维亚引爆厦谷战争，1938年签署和约，条件对巴拉圭较有利。20世纪中叶由军政府主政（包括史托斯纳尔），直到1993年瓦斯莫西（J. C. Wasmosy）当选为文人总统。1990年代遭逢财经危机，民主政府陷入泥淖。
English version：
Paraguay
Nation, southern central South America. Area: 157,043 sq mi (406,741 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 5,089,000. Capital: Asunción. Most of the people are mestizo (mixed Spanish and Guaraní Indian); there are much smaller groups of Indians, blacks, Caucasians, and Asians. Languages: Spanish and Guaraní (both official). Religion: Roman Catholicism (88% of the population). Currency: Guaraní. Paraguay is a landlocked country of plains and swampland. The Paraguay River, flowing from north to south, divides the country into two geographic regions: the Eastern Region, which is an extension of the Brazilian Plateau; and the Western Region, which forms the northern part of the Gran Chaco plains. It has a developing market economy that is based largely on agriculture, trade, and light industries. It is a republic with two legislative houses; its chief of state and government is the president. Seminomadic tribes speaking Guaraní were in the area long before it was settled by Spain in the 16th-17th century. Paraguay was part of the viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata until it became independent in 1811. It suffered from dictatorial governments in the 19th century and from the 1865 war with Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. The Chaco War with Bolivia over disputed territory was settled primarily in Paraguay's favor by the peace treaty of 1938. Military governments, including that of Alfredo Stroessner, predominated in the mid-20th century until the election of a civilian president, Juan Carlos Wasmosy, in 1993. It suffered from a financial crisis in the late 1990s, and democratic government was in jeopardy.