History

Canadian Mennonites (1743 people) immigrated in 1926/27 to the Paraguayan Chaco, the “Green Hell”, to find a new settlement that they called Menno Colony. The name is derived from Menno Simons, the leader of the Mennonites in their origin. This first Mennonite settlement in the southern hemisphere of the Earth consisted of 14 villages, land that had been purchased from Carlos Casado. To direct this emigration from Canada and the settlement in the Chaco, a “Welfare Committee” was founded in November 1922, a name that originated in Russia for settlement in the Ukrainian steppes after 1788. Discrepancies and internal conflicts motivated the emergence of a parallel administration from 1933, which was legally recognized by the Paraguayan government as “Colonizing Civil Society Chortitzer Committee”. Agriculture was the basis of the economy of Colonia Menno. At the beginning, wheat was planted, just like the ancestors in Russia and Canada, but the different climate and the composition of the soil required a reorientation, and tropical crops such as cotton, sorghum, watermelons, peanuts, cassava and beans began to be planted, which in the Chaco yielded quite well. The almost complete isolation in the Chaco avoided an accelerated and continuous economic development, having to fight in the first decades against the harsh climate (especially prolonged droughts), the ants and lobsters, as the lack of roads and means of communication and suitable transport. The Chaco War also significantly affected the development of colonization. This civil administration was responsible for all the affairs of the Menno Colony, as p. eg: – The sale and transport of products – Trade (purchase and sale of agricultural products and everyday goods) – The registration of trademarks, cattle and factories – Perform acts inherent in legal personality.