Amambay

The **Amambay department** () is a department of Paraguay. The capital is the city of Pedro Juan Caballero. Its ISO 3166-2 code  is **PY-13**.

The name comes from the name of a part of the Caaguazú Cordillera, the "Amambay Cordillera" (). _Amambay_ (or _amambái_) means "fern" in Guaraní language; ferns are common in the forests of the region.

## History

The town of Pedro Juan Caballero was found in 1893, and Bella Vista, in 1902. The department of Amambay was created in 1945 as the No. 10 department of the country.  After some reorganization it was declared as the No. 13 department.,

Pedro Juan Caballero, the capital of the department, is still known by its old name, _Punta Porá_, because is near the _Punta Porá_ Hill; that name was used by the people that transported yerba mate from Mato Grosso to Concepción. The BrazilIan municipality across the border, Ponta Porã (Mato Grosso do Sul), keeps the name.

## Geography

The Amambay department is in the north part of the _Oriental_ region. It has an area of , with a population of 125,611 for a Population density of .

Amambay is the highest of the Paraguayan departments,  high, and the _Punta Porá_ Hill,  high, is one the highest point in the country.

### Limits

- To the north: Brazil, separated by the Apa river and the Amambay Cordillera.
- To the east: Brazil, separated by the Amambay Cordillera.
- To the south: Canindeyú department.
- To the west: Concepción and San Pedro departments.

### Rivers

The main rivers in the department are the Apa in the north, and the Ypané and the Aquidabán rivers in the central part of the department.

### Climate

, the total amount of precipitation for the year 2012 in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero was . The month with the most precipitation was February with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation was May with .

The average temperature for the year 2012 in Pedro Juan Caballero was . The warmest month, on average, was December with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is July, with an average temperature of .

## Districts

The department is divided in 5 districts:

|Districts|Area <small>(km²)</small>|Population <small>(2015)</small>|Density||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="left"|Bella Vista||||
|align="left"|Capitán Bado||||
|align="left"|Pedro Juan Caballero||||
|align="left"|Zanja Pytá||||
|align="left"|Karapaí||||

## Related pages

- Departments of Paraguay
- ISO 3166-2:PY

## Other websites

- Gobernación de Amambay website
- Statoids - Departments of Paraguay

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Amambay
- **type**: Departments of Paraguay, Department
- **image skyline**: Pedro Juan Caballero IMG 5246 01.JPG
- **image alt**: International boundary on Av. Dr. Francia
- **image caption**: International border on Av. Dr. Francia
- **image flag**: Flag of Amambay.svg
- **image shield**: Escudo de Amambay.jpg
- **shield size**: 75px
- **image map**: Amambay in Paraguay.svg
- **map caption**: Location of Amambay, in red, in Paraguay
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision type1**: Region
- **subdivision name1**: _Oriental_
- **seat type**: Capital city, Capital
- **seat**: Pedro Juan Caballero, Paraguay, Pedro Juan Caballero
- **parts style**: para
- **p1**: Pedro Juan Caballero
- **p2**: Capitán Matías Bado
- **p3**: Bella Vista Norte
- **p4**: Zanja Pyta
- **p5**: Karapa`i
- **leader title**: Governor
- **leader name**: Pedro González Ramírez
- **unit pref**: Metric
- **area footnotes**:
<small>(2012)</small>
- **area total km2**: 12933
- **population total**: 125611
- **population as of**: 2012
- **population density km2**: auto
- **population demonym**: Amambayense
- **timezone1**: Atlantic Standard Time Zone, AST
- **utc offset1**: -04
- **timezone1 dst**: ADT
- **utc offset1 dst**: -03
- **iso code**: ISO 3166-2:PY, PY-13
- **website**: [http://amambay.gov.py/ Official website]