The colony was founded on 1 July 1947, when a 57,000-acre (23,000ha) tract at Mbopicua, on the east side of the Paraguay River about 8 miles (13km) north of Rosario, was bought for the settlers. C. A. Defehr of Winnipeg, the Mennonite Central Committee representative in Paraguay, chose the location and arranged the purchase. The first settlers, 1,135 people in 295 families, were part of a group of Mennonite refugees brought from Berlin to South America on the Volendam. Another large group from the same voyage settled in the Neuland Colony in the Chaco. Two smaller groups followed in 1948: about 50 people who came to Buenos Aires on the Stuart Heinzelman in July, and 447 who arrived on the Volendam's second voyage in November, bringing the total number of immigrant settlers to almost 1,723. Other sources give different totals: a map in the Schroeder collection of the Mennonite Church Canada archives gives 2,305 refugees, and statistics compiled by the Paraguayan Mennonite association ACOMEPA give 1,913 immigrants.
The first settlers founded 12 villages with a cooperative and a Waisenamt (orphans' and estates office); their river port was named Puerto Menno. By 1950 the colony had 15 villages with 1,810 people in 441 families and eight elementary schools. Most of the land was heavily wooded and had to be cleared by hand. Because economic progress was slow, many settlers moved on to Canada, and by 1959 the population had fallen to about 1,200.
Economy and society
Cleared forest land proved suitable for wheat, soybeans and feed grains, while the lowlands were used for cattle grazing. In 1986 the colony owned 32,700 hectares (81,000 acres), divided into farms of 100 hectares (250 acres) per family. In 1987 its 676 inhabitants lived in twelve villages. The colony's administration follows the pattern developed by Mennonites in Russia, with an Oberschulze (administrator) and four advisers. In the late 1980s it had a hospital, elementary and secondary schools, a retirement home and a producer–consumer cooperative that marketed colony products and ran the cooperative store. The cooperative, Kooperative Volendam, publishes the bimonthly magazine VolendamInfo.
In 1987 the colony had two congregations: the Volendam Mennonite congregation (General Conference) with 269 members and the Volendam Mennonite Brethren congregation with 52 members.
Population
Historical population
Year
Pop.
±%
1947
1,135
—
1950
1,810
+59.5%
1959
1,200
−33.7%
1987
676
−43.7%
2022
710
+5.0%
Sources: GAMEO (1947–1987); ACOMEPA via Menno-Welt (2022).
Paraguay