Jesuit missions among the Guaraní
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How it came to be
In the 17th and 18th centuries the Jesuits built 30 settlements, called reducciones, on lands where Guarani communities lived, linked by ranches, mate plantations and routes along the Uruguay River and its tributaries. The site covers five ruins: San Ignacio Miní, Santa Ana, Nuestra Señora de Loreto and Santa María la Mayor in Argentina, and São Miguel Arcanjo in Brazil.
San Ignacio Miní was founded around 1610 by the Jesuits José Cataldino and Simón Maceta in what is now the Brazilian state of Paraná. Fleeing raids by the slave-hunting bandeirantes, it moved in 1632 and settled on its present site in 1696. In the 18th century about 3,000 people lived there, and a church 74 metres long, designed by the Italian priest Juan Brasanelli, was built of local red sandstone.
After the suppression of the Jesuits in 1767, the priests left the following year, and in 1817 Luso-Brazilian forces destroyed the missions of the region. The overgrown ruins of San Ignacio Miní were found in 1897, and state excavation and restoration began in 1940. The ruins of São Miguel in Brazil were listed as national heritage in 1938.
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