Geography and Resources of Paraguay, 1873

The late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries marked a period of intense foreign interest in Latin American affairs, particularly with regards to economics and investment. As historian John Charles Chasteen notes, “foreign influence was so pervasive and powerful that Latin American historians call the years 1880-1930 their neocolonial period” (Chasteen, 182). The neocolonial period brought the interest of foreigners seeking to exploit Latin America, especially the regions, such as inland Paraguay, that were not already under the grip of foreign exploitation.

It was in this period of time that the interest of one particular foreigner, the British academic Leone Levi, represented a microcosm of broader Latin American experiences with foreign involvement. Levi, in his journal article from 1873 entitled “Geography and Resources of Paraguay,” speaks in such exploitative terms that were typical of foreign interest in Latin America.

In Levi’s article, the potential of Paraguay is paramount in his examination of its geography. He speaks of the potential of its rivers and waterways, of the potential of its mineral wealth, and of the potential posed by the opening of a railway line that would make Paraguay “the highway for all the mineral and agricultural resources of Bolivia and other northern states” (Leone, 119). It is these sentiments that point to exactly the sort of foreign desire for the exploitation of Latin America that Chasteen details.

Levi’s article is from the point of view of a British academic, one who is experiencing the exploitation of Latin American geography and markets from the perspective of a foreign exploiter. In his detailing of Paraguay’s geography and the potential it held for the foreign investor, his account is essential in providing insight into the perspective of those who saw Latin America purely as a region of economic potential.

Works Cited

Chasteen, John Charles. Born in Blood and Fire. 4^th edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 2016.

Primary Source:

Levi, Leone. “On the Geography and Resources of Paraguay.” Proceedings of the Royal Geographic Society of London 18, no. 2 (1873). 117-29. Accessed February 10, 2021. doi:10.2307/1799967.

By Owen Arace