Fort Borbon

Infobox City
official_name = Fuerte Olimpo
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image_shield =Coat_of_arms_of_Paraguay.svg


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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = Paraguay
subdivision_type1 = Department
subdivision_name1 = Alto Paraguay
leader_title = Intendente municipal
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established_title = Founded
established_date = September 25, 1792
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population_total = 4498
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timezone = -4 Gmt
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latd= 21 |latm=2 |lats=0 |latNS=S
longd=57 |longm=54 |longs=0 |longEW=W
coordinates_display = inline,title
coordinates_type = type:city_region:PY
elevation_m = 64
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postal_code_type = Postal code
postal_code = 9000
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Fort Borbón is a fort located in the Paraguayan Chaco; it was established as protection from the natives and Portuguese. Nowadays it’s named Fort Olimpo, which was changed after the expelling of the Portuguese to Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia.

History

Initially, it was established as a place of guard, by order of the King Carlos IV of Spain with the purpose of serving to contain the attacks of the natives and the Portuguese to the lands in Spanish jurisdiction. On October 17, 1791, Viceroy of Río de la Plata disposed the creation of the Fort Borbón.

The governor of the province of Paraguay, Joaquín Alós y Brú ordered the stablishment of two forts in the north: Borbón and San Carlos del Apa for the contention of the advance of the lusitanos. To this effect he ordered the commander of Villa de Concepción to prepare groceries and other elements for the troops that would march from Asunción to that those places.

The Fort Borbón was founded on September 25, 1792 by the King’s Chief of the Regiment of Dragons, José Antonio Zavala y Delgadillo, being his first Commander José de Isasi.

The natives Mbayás and Guanás inhabited the lands near the fort and with them there was always a relation of distrust. The natives were encouraged by the Portuguese to steal and murder the people in the Spanish states. The stolen cattle were sold to the Portuguese in exchanged of weaponry and liquor.

The Spanish tried to gain the friendship of the Caciques (chiefs of the tribe) mbayás but these attacked the Villa Real de Concepción in 1796, and because of it the military forces in the village massacred the families of the natives established near the place; they killed about 75 of them.

With the passing time, the interactions between the natives and the soldiers of Fort Borbón and Villa de Concepción became friendlier, and the authorities of Asunción accomplished to sign fickle peace treaties with the Cacique Lorenzo.

In spite the fickle friendly arrangements, the owners of state in Concepción continued to suffer the siege of several mbayá tribes that maintain the village in a state of constant danger.

Borbón was fortified. Once public the news of the was in 1801 between Spain and Portugal, the governor Lázaro de Rivera proposed pointlessly to take the Portuguese fort of Coimbra, settle more to the north, in the lands of the Spanish Crown.

The maintenance of the troops in Borbón, about a hundred men, became more difficult with time, due to the long distance and the lack of communication.

The history of the fort registers episodes of hunger, misery and abandon. The provision of food from Concepción was not regular and insufficient.

There are records of troops from the fort that participated in 1810 in the fight against the invasion of general Belgrano. In that occasion, when the fort was abandoned the natives Mbayás took possession of it, and later also the Brazilian forces of Coimbra. The Junta Superior Gubernativa (Superior Government Council), instituted by the revolutionaries in 1811, after the independence of the country, called Fernando de la Mora to recuperate by force the fort, which was not necessary because the Portuguese retreated and it was given back to the paraguayans.

During the dictatorial government of Rodríguez de Francia, around 1817, the fort was reinforced with a stone wall of three kilometers long and new constructions for the occupants.

Current times

Since 1823, was renamed as Fort Olimpo in demonstration of the breaking bonds with the Spanish Crown.

Nowadays, the remains of the impressive defensive wall can still be found, and from the top of it, it’s possible to have a strategic view of great of the Paraguay River.

With the new political distribution in 1992, the population of Fort Olimpo became the capital of the Alto Paraguay department and so place of the town council. It comprehends the districts of Puerto La Victoria (previously named Puerto Casado) and Mayor Pablo Lagerenza.

References

* Archivo Nacional de Asunción. Diversos
* “El fuerte de Borbón, luego Olimpo”. Carlos Pussineri Scala

External links

[http://www.senatur.gov.py/index.php?language=2 SENATUR]