page_title: Humaitá
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Humaitá / History
caption_attribution_description: Español: Ruinas de Humaitá, símbolo de la resistencia paraguaya Deutsch: Humaitá (Guaraní Humaita), die kleine Hafenstadt am Rio Paraguay, etwa 24 km nördlich vom Zusammenfluss mit dem Río Paraná. Hier steht die Ruine der 1868 von Granattreffern während des fast dreijährigen Tripel-Allianz-Krieges gegen Präsident Francisco Solano López Carrillo (1827-1870) zerstörten Kirche. Die Belagerung der Stadt und ihrer Festung führte zu einigen der blutigsten Schlachten Lateinamerikas und wurde seinerzeit mit der Belagerung von Sewastopol verglichen. Die Reste der zerstörten Kirche wurde unter dem Diktator Alfredo Stroessner, der 1954–1989 das Land beherrschte, zum Denkmal der Defensa de la Patria (Verteidigung der Heimat) von Paraguay.
context_page_description: Humaitá is a town and distrito on the Paraguay River in southern Paraguay. During the Paraguayan War, it served as the main Paraguayan stronghold from 1866 until its fall in August 1868. During that time, it housed as many as 24,000 troops. Up until March 1868, it was the de facto home of the Paraguayan government.
  Portions of the old fortifications, including some large earthworks, are still visible. It also possesses the remains of a Jesuit church dating from the 18th century.
context_section_description: The remains of the old fortress of Humaitá are located on the left side of the Paraguay River, approximately 430 km to the south of Asunción.
  During the Paraguayan War (1864–1870) this fortress was important because it controlled river access to the capital, Asunción.
  The defenses of Humaitá were begun by Carlos Antonio López (1790–1862).  Built both on water and on land, they dominate a bend in the river.  They include two walls with heavily armed bunkers,  barracks for troops and officials, ammunition stores, offices, a church, and cemeteries, protected by kilometers of trenches.  Mines and chains were used to restrict navigation of the river.
caption: The ruined church of San Carlos de Borromeo, Humaitá, destroyed during the siege
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-P93", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "ACD Systems Digital Imaging", "Image DateTime": "2008:03:02 15:09:16", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "255", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2359", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8769", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2005:03:05 10:30:40", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2005:03:05 10:30:40", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "79/10", "EXIF SubSecTime": "937", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "640", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "480", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[0, 0, 0, 0]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2287", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}