Asunción (full name: Nuestra Señora Santa María de la Asunción), population 1,212,112 (2002), is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.

The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department.

The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San Antonio, Limpio, Capiatá and Villa Elisa, which are part of the Central Department. The Asunción metropolitan area has more than 1.9 million inhabitants. Asunción is located at (-25.2667, -57.6667). The Municipality of Asuncion is listed on the Asuncion Stock Exchange, as BVPASA: MUA, a unique feature of any city.

It is the home of the national government, principal port, and the chief industrial and cultural centre of the country. Local manufacturing production includes footwear, textiles, and tobacco products.

The Spanish word asunción means assumption in English. It refers to the Assumption of Mary; the full name means Our Lady, Holy Mary of the Assumption.

History

Asunción is one of the oldest cities in South America and the longest continually inhabited area in the River Plate Basin; for this reason that it is known as "Mother of Cities". It was from here that the colonial expeditions departed to found other cities, including the second foundation of Buenos Aires and of other important cities such as Villarrica, Corrientes, Santa Fe and Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

The site of the city may have been first visited by Spanish conquistador Juan de Ayolas, on his way north, up the Paraguay River, looking for a passage to the mines of Alto Perú (present-day Bolivia). Later, Juan de Salazar y Espinosa and Gonzalo de Mendoza, relative of Pedro de Mendoza, were sent in search of Ayolas, but were unable to find him. On his way up and then down the river, de Salazar stopped briefly at a bay in the left bank to resupply his ships. He found the natives friendly, and decided to found a fort there, in August, 1537. As customary, he named it according to the religious feast of that day: for August 15, Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (Our Lady of the Assumption), honoring the feast day of the Assumption. . This fort became a city with the establishment of the Cabildo (civilian administration) on 16 September 1541.

In 1541, natives destroyed Buenos Aires, and the Spaniards fled to Asunción. Thus, the city became the center of a large Spanish colonial province comprising part of Brazil, present-day Paraguay and northeastern Argentina: the Giant Province of the Indies. In 1603 Asunción was the seat of the First Synod of Asunción, which set guidelines for the evangelization of the natives in their lingua franca, Guaraní.