Itapua

Itapúa was the setting of a Guaraní Jesuit mission founded by Roque González de Santa Cruz on 25 March 1615. Its name, Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación, commemorated the Christian feast on that date. The settlement first stood on the Paraná's left bank, near the site of later Posadas, before moving across the river to the country of present-day Encarnación.

The mission sought to evangelize the Guaraní and shelter them from the coercive demands of the encomienda system. Guaraní builders erected its principal church under Jesuit direction, while the fertile surrounding land supported the community's growth. The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 disrupted this institutional centre and was followed by a substantial population decline. Itapúa's early colonial history therefore followed both banks of the Paraná, combining Guaraní community life with the religious institutions imposed by Spanish colonization.