The emergence of this phenomenon and trend also confirmed East Africa's expanding influence in South America in recent years, much as many countries and cities had once liked to call themselves "such-and-such Paris," "such-and-such Venice," or "such-and-such Vienna."
A typical example was Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, known as the "Paris of South America." In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Argentina's wealthy classes had worshipped French culture to an extreme degree, constructing vast numbers of Parisian-style buildings, broad tree-lined boulevards, and magnificent palaces. Its cultural atmosphere had also become highly Europeanized.
Of course, Asuncion's uniqueness also had profound historical causes. The Paraguayan War of the previous century had dealt an almost devastating blow to the culture, institutions, and social structure of Asuncion and all of Paraguay.
Paraguay's population had fallen off a cliff, with fewer than thirty thousand men remaining in the entire country. The Paraguayan soldiers who died in battle had included elites from virtually every walk of life, and Paraguay's history, traditional crafts, folk music, dances, and indigenous knowledge had been lost along with them. Its social structure had been destroyed from the roots up.
At that time, East Africa's emergence had helped Paraguay rebuild its nation, bringing East African social culture, dietary habits, economic organizational models, and more into Paraguay. Naturally, Paraguay had thus become highly "East Africanized."
Today, the overwhelming majority of Paraguay's government officials and top social talents had studied in East Africa. It could be said that, aside from its monarchy and language, Paraguay was a scaled-down version of East Africa.
In fact, Paraguay's language had also been heavily influenced by East Africa. German was now Paraguay's most important language after Spanish and Guarani.
Four languages were relatively prevalent in Paraguay today: Spanish, Guarani, German, and Italian.
Spanish needed no explanation. Guarani was