Misiones () is a department in Paraguay. The capital is the city of San Juan Bautista. Its ISO 3166-2 code is PY-08.
Its present name was given to the province because it was a region where there were several Jesuit missions.
History
The town of Yabebyry was established in 1790, and later, the towns of San Miguel and San Juan Bautista were founded. In 1906, the Misiones department was created in 1906 as the San Ignacio department with 8 districts: San Ignacio, Santa Rosa, Santa María, Santiago, San Juan Bautista, San Miguel, Ayolas and Florida. When the department was renamed as Misiones in 1945, its capital was moved from San Ignacio to San Juan Bautista.
Geography
The Misiones department is in the south of the Oriental region. It has an area of , of the area of Paraguay. Its estimated population in 2013 is 119,719 for a population density of inhabitants/km2.
Misiones department is relatively flat and several rivers and streams flow through its territory. The northern and southern borders of the department are formed by, respectively, the Tebicuary and the Paraná rivers.
Limits
To the north: Paraguarí and Caazapá departments. To the east: Itapúa department. To the south: Argentina. To the west: Ñeembucú department.
Climate
, the total amount of precipitation for the year 2012 in the city of San Juan Bautista was . The month with the most precipitation was April with of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation was June with .
The average temperature for the year 2012 in San Juan Bautista was . The warmest month, on average, was February with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is July, with an average temperature of .
Districts
The department is divided in 22 districts:
Economy
The basic economical activity of this department is cattle raising. As for agriculture, the fields are mainly in the north and center of the department.
Tourism
Its main attractions are the beaches formed by the rivers Paraná and Tebicuary. Villa Florida is a city which offers landscapes to its visitors.