English people in Paraguay

{{refimprove|date=January 2010}}

{{Infobox ethnic group

|group = English people in Paraguay
Anglo-paraguayos

|image =

|population = N/A

|popplace = Asunción, Itapúa, Paraguarí, Boquerón Department, Alto Paraguay.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

|langs = Paraguayan Spanish. Minority speaks English and Paraguayan Guaraní as first language.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

|rels = Roman Catholicism, Protestantism (Episcopalianism, Methodism, Presbyterianism et al.){{cn|date=June 2024}}

|related = English, Anglo-Argentine, English Chilean, English diaspora, English Americans

}}

{{British Latin Americans}}

{{English people}}

The English people in Paraguay mostly arrived during the colonial period as investors and industrialists.{{cite book |last1=Pla |first1=Josefina |last2=MacDermot |first2=Brian Charles |title=The British in Paraguay 1850-1870 |date=1976 |publisher=Richmond Pub. Co.|isbn=0855461969}} They were noted throughout the Southern cone region of Paraguay as being skilled farmers, investors, and bankers and as having created many of the regions railways and settled vast tracts of land. Especially in the region of Sapucái, Paraguarí Department, where it was the first place in Paraguay to have electricity and railways.{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.com.py/tv/abc-noticias/2021/08/04/villa-de-los-ingleses-un-pedazo-de-la-historia-que-se-resiste-a-morir/|title="Villa de los ingleses", un pedazo de la historia que se resiste a morir - ABC Noticias - ABC Color}}{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6282/|title = Railway Complex and English Village of Sapucai}}

In the modern day however it is assumed most have become a part of the wider Paraguayan ethnicity, although there are still some in Paraguay who identify as "English".

The English indirectly and probably inadvertently played a major part in Paraguay's continual existence, because the British Empire had invested heavily throughout South America, including Paraguay.{{cn|date=March 2023}}

The English had investments in the country through the British Empire, which they did not want to see affected by the disastrous Paraguayan War. Following the war, many politicians in Argentina proposed splitting the country between two of the victors, Brazil and Argentina. This would have seen Paraguay cease to exist as an independent state.{{cn|date=March 2023}}

The English investors and the British Empire did not want to see their investments lost, and Brazil wanted to keep Paraguay as a sort of buffer state between it and Argentina, both of which had serious rivalries in the region. For those reasons, Paraguay was left in existence.{{cn|date=March 2023}}

Today the English influence in Paraguay is not so far-reaching as it once was,{{Cite web|url=https://www.internations.org/paraguay-expats/british|title = The Expat Community for Brits in Paraguay - Find Jobs & Events}} and the English population in the country is a small minority, with many of the former English people of Paraguay becoming absorbed into the local population.{{cite news|title= Brits Abroad|work= BBC|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/in_depth/brits_abroad/html/s_america.stm|access-date=2011-12-03}} Paraguay ranks relatively well at the EF English Proficiency Index (Top 50).{{cn|date=June 2024}}