La Colmena is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

in the

Paraguarí Department Paraguarí (; Guaraní: Paraguari) is a '' departamento'' in Paraguay. At the 2002 census it had a population of 221,932.Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

. It is the first

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

colony in the country.

History

Japanese settlement in Paraguay intensified after

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

legally limited immigration from the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

in 1934. Seeking alternatives the Japanese turned to Paraguay. In 1936, 100 Japanese families established a colony at La Colmena. The 24,000-acre site was selected after evaluation by

agronomic Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that specif ...

experts, but the team was limited by restrictions set by the Japanese company that managed the settlement.

Geography

La Colmena is located in the west region of the Paraguarí department, 81 miles southeast from Asunción, the capital of the country. It was originally a Japanese colony, but now many native Paraguayans are currently residents. It is at the northern foot of the Cerro Apitagua, a 25-mile east–west ridge formed by volcanic activity. The steep ascent reaches an altitude of 2,000 feet above sea level in some places. La Colmena is located along the relatively gentle slopes that are between 100 and 400 feet above sea level. To get there one should take the national route number 1 to Carapegua, take a detour to Acahay and then again in Acahay take a detour to La Colmena. The town contains the southern Coffin Factory Co. of Southern America with 40,000 coffins being created yearly. The district of La Colmena is located in the West region of the Paraguarí department. The topography of the district is characterized by hills, streams and swamps. Borders are the following: * At North it borders with the

Ybytimí Ybytimí is a village in the Paraguarí department of Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, ...

district. * At South it borders with the

Ybycuí Ybycuí is a Paraguayan rural community of the department of Paraguari, located 120 km away from Asunción, and 40 km from Route 1. Toponimics Its name means "Sandy" in Guaraní. Geography Ybycuí is located 122 km away ...

district. * At East it borders with the

, Tebicuary-mí and Borja districts. * At West it borders with

district.

Climate

Based on data collected between 1938 and 1945, the climate in La Colmena exhibits extreme variability in rainfall, a feature common to Paraguay as a whole, though La Colmena receives more rainfall than the nearby capital

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

Subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...

and semi-

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

forest is supported by the well-drained

interfluve An interfluve is a narrow, elongated and plateau-like or ridge-like landform between two valleys.Leser, Hartmut, ed. (2005). ''Wörterbuch Allgemeine Geographie'', 13th ed., dtv, Munich, p. 766, . More generally, an interfluve is defined as an are ...

s. Rainfall can sometimes prevent the harvest of

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

crops. There were three recorded droughts between 1941 and 1947.

Pedology and edaphology

The

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

is red, friable soil of a

sandy loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

type. This soil is deep and its productivity is on par with other types of well-drained forest soils. Farm yields declined rapidly after the land was cleared, in some cases by half within only a few years. Researchers wondered whether the sandy quality of the soil had impacted its long term productivity.

Flora

Forest growth can be dense with a full

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

reached 50 to 70 feet in height. In 1967 it was reported that only around 50% of the original cover remained, after land was cleared for agricultural production; at that time

holly ''Ilex'' () or holly is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

and

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial plant, perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily (biology), subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in th ...

, common in

Alto Paraná Alto Paraná (; ''Upper Paraná'') is a Department (subnational entity), department in Paraguay. The capital is Ciudad del Este (formerly known as Puerto Presidente Stroessner, originally Puerto Flor de Lis). The Alto Paraná department has exper ...

, were not known in this area. Wild

bitter orange The bitter orange, sour orange, Seville orange, bigarade orange, or marmalade orange is the hybrid citrus tree species ''Citrus'' × ''aurantium'', and its fruit. It is native to Southeast Asia and has been spread by humans to many parts of th ...

and other types of species that grow on trees may be found.

References

External links

Secretaria Nacional de TurismoWorld Gazeteer: Paraguay
– World-Gazetteer.com Districts of Paraguarí Department {{paraguay-geo-stub