The city owes its name to Hernando Arias de Saavedra, known by the contraction 'Hernandarias', one of the most significant figures of the colonial history of the Río de la Plata and Paraguay. Born in Asunción in the mid-sixteenth century, he had the distinction of being the first criollo governor —that is, American-born— of these provinces, at a time when almost all positions of power were reserved for peninsular Spaniards.
Hernandarias governed in different periods between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and left an important mark for his governing action: he promoted the organization of the territory, defended the indigenous peoples against certain abuses, fostered education and evangelization, and promoted the exploration of southern regions. He is remembered, among other things, for having favored the entry of the Jesuits for the founding of the reductions, which would so shape the history of Paraguay.
That a modern city of eastern Paraguay bears his name honors this founding figure of the Río de la Plata criollo identity. The place name connects the thriving twentieth- and twenty-first-century Hernandarias with the country's colonial roots, recalling the man who was the first American to govern these lands.
The region where Hernandarias stands today, in eastern Paraguay, was part of the great Alto Paraná Atlantic Forest (the 'Paranaense Jungle'), one of the richest and most biodiverse ecosystems in South America, which extended across eastern Paraguay, southern Brazil and the Argentine province of Misiones. Through these lands ran —and runs— the great Paraná River, one of the most important river arteries on the continent, which marks here the border with Brazil.
For centuries, this area was inhabited by Guaraní peoples and covered by dense jungle. The modern settlement of Alto Paraná was, in general, relatively late compared with the country's central region: eastern Paraguay long remained a frontier zone, of jungle and low population density, until in the twentieth century waves of settlers, farmers and immigrants began to arrive.
That process of agricultural colonization, together with the opening of roads and integration with Brazil, gradually transformed the landscape: much of the original Atlantic Forest was replaced by crops and cities. Hernandarias and the other towns of Alto Paraná were born and grew in that context of advance over the jungle and settlement of the eastern frontier, before the great leap that the Itaipú Dam would bring.
The event that changed the history of Hernandarias forever was the decision of Paraguay and Brazil to build together, on the Paraná River, a hydroelectric dam of colossal proportions: Itaipú. The project was sealed with the Itaipú Treaty, signed in 1973 between the two countries, which created the binational entity in charge of building and operating the plant, splitting the generated energy in equal parts.
The works began in the 1970s and advanced through the decade, in one of the largest engineering undertakings in the world of the time. The construction required diverting the Paraná River, building a monumental dam wall, installing gigantic turbines and forming an enormous reservoir upstream. The plant came into operation in the early 1980s, and for many years Itaipú was the largest hydroelectric plant in the world in energy generation, a title that made it a symbol of the integration and development of both countries.
Much of the dam and its infrastructure ended up located within Hernandarias' jurisdiction, which placed it at the very center of the great work. The city thus went from being a frontier town in eastern Paraguay to being a protagonist of one of the most important energy projects in South America.
The formation of the Itaipú reservoir, needed to feed the turbines, meant flooding a vast area of land along the Paraná River, with a strong environmental and social impact. Under the waters were left extensive areas of Atlantic Forest, islands, shores and farmland, and one of the region's great natural attractions disappeared: the famous Guairá Falls (Sete Quedas), a set of waterfalls that were submerged by the reservoir.
Moreover, populations living in the areas to be flooded had to be relocated, and the project faced the tensions inherent to every great dam between energy development and environmental conservation. The loss of Atlantic Forest —an already highly threatened ecosystem— was one of the most significant ecological costs of the work.
As a response and mitigation measure, the Itaipú entity promoted environmental programs that included the creation of biological refuges and nature reserves around the reservoir, aimed at conserving the wildlife and flora of Alto Paraná, as well as reforestation initiatives, nurseries, species breeding and environmental education. These protected areas, several of them near Hernandarias, are today part of Itaipú's environmental legacy and a natural attraction of the region.
Today's Hernandarias is a city deeply marked by Itaipú and by its membership in the great urban agglomeration of Alto Paraná, along with Ciudad del Este, Presidente Franco and Minga Guazú. The dam transformed its economy and its population, attracting workers, infrastructure and services, and consolidated eastern Paraguay as the country's great energy hub.
Beyond electricity generation, Itaipú also spurred tourism: today the dam receives large numbers of visitors who come to see the magnitude of the work, tour the plant, marvel at the nighttime illumination and visit the biological refuges. Hernandarias benefits from that tourist flow and from its proximity to other great attractions of the region, like the Monday Falls, the Triple Frontier and the Iguazú Falls.
Thus, the city today combines its character as an energy center with a growing tourist and recreational vocation, supported by the reservoir, its resorts and the nature conserved around the dam. Hernandarias presents itself as the gateway to Itaipú, a destination where the visitor can measure, in a single day, the enormous scale of one of the great human works of the twentieth century and the value of the nature of Alto Paraná.