Misiones, Las

Department in southern Paraguay, bordering the River Paraná; area 7,835 sq km/3,025 sq mi; population (1996) 79,278. San Juan Bautista is the departmental capital. The low-lying countryside of Las Misiones is ideally suited to cattle raising, though maize, sugar cane, and rice are also grown. Some yerba maté (‘Paraguay tea’) is also produced.

As its name indicates, the area was settled by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th and 18th centuries. Some of their mission settlements (reducciónes) have been restored.