The province of Misiones has a name reminiscent of the Jesuit villages, but its history is based on the roots of indigenous America.
The Guaraní natives, from the Tupí-Guaraní family, coming from the Amazon, arrived in what is today missionary territory around the year 1000. In their mythical search for the “land without evil” they settled along the banks of rivers and streams.
They displaced small isolated groups that populated this practically uninhabited territory and did the same with larger groups, such as the Guayaquíes and Kaingang.
The Guaraní were warriors, hunters and gatherers. They called themselves “avá”, which means “man”. But they also had great artistic skills and an agricultural tradition. They shared a common language and strengthened their communities through family ties. When the Spanish arrived, the Guaraní occupied a large part of the Cuenca del Plata, an immense territory defined by the Paraná, Paraguay and Uruguay rivers with their tributaries.
The Spanish conquistadors began exploring the Cuenca del Plata after the founding of Buenos Aires (1536) and Asunción (1537). One of them, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, left the Brazilian coast for the city of Asunción, made contact with numerous Guaraní groups and encountered the wonder of the Iguazú Falls (1542).
In the early days, relations between the Spanish and the Guaraní were relatively cordial, but the ambitions of the Spanish led to abuse and domination through what was called the “encomienda.” This system created by the Spanish crown granted land and indigenous people to Spaniards who became masters and lords of the lives of those “encomendados.”
The arrival of the Jesuits would cause various conflicts. The fathers of the Society of Jesus, founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1539, settled in a geographical area of political tension between two colonial empires of the time: Spain and Portugal. The more than 200 years of presence of the Guaraní in the region were marked by pressure and aggression from both sides. The mark of those years would forever leave a strong identity in the region. The missions formed a unique experience in this part of America and left many testimonies that are manifested in the ruins of their towns and remain in values, myths and legends.
Following the expulsion of the Jesuits by King Charles III in 1767 and the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, the governorates and intendencies were formed, and this region became dependent on Asunción.
The May Revolution of 1810 intensified the fighting over the territory of Misiones, which was disputed by Paraguayans, Portuguese and independentists. Andresito, the adopted son of Artigas, who had been appointed governor by his father, prevented, together with his Guaraní forces, the incorporation of Misiones as a Portuguese possession.
Years later, the south of Misiones was occupied by Paraguayans, Corrientes and Brazilians. After the War of the Triple Alliance (1865-70) the boundaries of the province were defined.
In 1881, Misiones was declared a National Territory and its governor established the capital first in Corpus and, finally, in Posadas.
At the end of the 19th century, the different waves of European immigration began. The arrival of immigration began in the South, in the area of Apóstoles, where contingents of Poles and Ukrainians occupied the farms assigned to agricultural colonies. Later, in the Alto Paraná area, colonizing companies bought land and sold it to European settlers, especially Germans and Swiss, to form the towns of Montecarlo, Puerto Rico and Eldorado. But one of the most interesting phenomena was recorded in the Central Zone, in Oberá, where colonization was spontaneous, with the arrival of Scandinavians, Italians, French, Russians, Poles, Swiss and Spanish, who together with Paraguayans and Brazilians gave shape to a multiethnic community. Later, this area and other areas of Misiones would receive Asian immigrants: Arabs, Turks and Japanese.
In 1953, Misiones obtained its provincial status.
*Text taken from the official website*