Annex: Rulers of Paraguay

Paraguay, since 1539, has had several leaders throughout its history whose titles have varied according to the status of this territory. Firstly, when he was discovered, the adelantado was in charge; Later it was an integral part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, thus, after the King of Spain, the highest authority was the Viceroy of Peru. However, due to its enormous extension that it included, it was divided into smaller entities, leaving this area in charge of the Río de la Plata and Paraguay governments, which were later divided into its two territories. In 1776 it became part of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, being one of its municipalities from 1782, until Paraguay achieved its independence in 1811. Between 1813 and 1844 the head of State and Government was designated as consul or dictator. From 1844 he was called president.

List of rulers

Governors of Nueva Andalucía del Río de la Plata

The first leaders of this territory were the adelantados of the Río de la Plata and later with the creation of the government of Nueva Andalucía that also included Buenos Aires, the government was governed by the governor, who in most cases they received the titles of governor and captain general, and those who administered the region of the capital who were also lieutenants general until 1580 and then intermittently from 1591 to 1597 and from 1601 to 1612, were the lieutenants of governor of Asunción. The first adelantados and governors depended directly on the Council of the Indies until 1566, the year in which the territory became one of the dependencies of the Viceroyalty of Peru.

#	Ruler	Years	Notes
Hispanic Monarchy (1534-1811)
Governors of the Rio de la Plata and Paraguay
1	Pedro de Mendoza (1)	1534-1537	Adelan
	Interregno	1537-1539	Juan de Ayolas and Francisco Ruiz Galán as nominal
2	Domingo Martínez de Irala (2)	1539-1542	Interino. First Government
3	Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (3)	1542-1544	Adelan
4	Domingo Martínez de Irala	1544-1548	Interino. Second Government
5	Gonzalo de Mendoza (4)	1548-1549	Interino. First Government
6	Domingo Martínez de Irala	1549-1556	Intern until 1555. Third Government
7	Gonzalo de Mendoza	1556-1558	Interino. Second Government
8	Francisco Ortiz de Vergara (5)	1558-1564	Interino
9	Juan Ortiz de Zárate (6)	1564-1568	First government. First government dependent on the Virreinate of Peru (1566)
10	Felipe de Cáceres (7)	1568-1572	Interino
11	Martín Suárez de Toledo (8)	1572-1574	Interino
12	Juan Ortiz de Zárate	1574-1576	Advance. Second Government
13	Diego Ortiz de Zárate y Mendieta (9)	1576-1577	Interino
14	Luis de Osorio (10)	1577	Interino
15	Juan Torres de Vera y Aragón (11)	1577-1578	Advance. First Government
16	Juan de Garay (12)	1578-1583
17	Rodrigo Ortiz de Zárate (13)	1583-1584
18	Juan de Torres Navarrete (14)	1584-1587	Interino
19	Juan Torres de Vera y Aragón	1588-1592	Advance. Second Government
	Interregno	1592
20	Hernando Arias de Saavedra (15)	1592-1593	Interino. First Government
21	Fernando Ortiz de Zárate (16)	1594-1595	Governor of Tucumán at the same time
22	Bartolomé Sandoval and Ocampo (17)	1595	Interino
23	Juan Ramírez de Velasco (18)	1595-1596
24	Hernando Arias de Saavedra	1596-1599	Second Government
25	Diego Rodríguez Valdez y de la Banda (19)	1599-1600
26	French of Beaumont and Navarre (20)	1600-1602	Interino. First Government
27	Hernando Arias de Saavedra	1602-1609	Third Government
28	Diego Marín de Negrón (21)	1609-1613
29	Francisco González de Santa Cruz (22)	1613	Interino
30	Mateo Leal de Ayala (23)	1613-1615	Interino
31	French of Beaumont and Navarre	1615	Interino. Second Government
32	Hernando Arias de Saavedra	1615-1618	Fourth Government

Governors of Paraguay

Governors of Paraguay with autonomy from the Peruvian viceroyalty

With the division in 1618, by royal decree of 1617, the governors of Asunción only controlled the Guayrá area, leaving Buenos Aires in charge of the Río de la Plata governorate; A century later, with the advent of the Community Revolution, the community members deposed the governor and in 1731 created a Governing Board chaired by the president, until the governor appointed by the king took office again in 1733.

Governors of Paraguay dependent on the Viceroyalty of the River Plate

In 1777 it became part of the new Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, by royal decree of 1776.

Intendant Governors of Paraguay in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata

In the year 1783 the government of the River Plate of Paraguay, by royal decree of 1782, became an intendancy and whose official title of the president was that of governor intendant.

Rulers during the First Independent Stage

At the time of independence in 1811, Paraguay continued to maintain the status of Intendancy. In 1813 the republic was adopted as a form of government.

#	Ruler	Years	Notes
Intendence of Paraguay (1811-1813)
Government Board or First Triumvirate
93	Bernardo de Velasco José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia (77) Juan Valeriano de Zeballos (78)	1811	From 16 May to 20 June 1811 First independent government of Paraguay
Senior Government Board
94	Fulgencio Yegros (79) José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia Pedro Juan Caballero (80) Francisco Javier Bogarín (81) Fernando de la Mora (82)	1811-1813	From 20 June 1811 to 12 October 1813
Republic of Paraguay (from 1813)
First Consulate (two consuls alternating every 4 months the incumbent position)
95	José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia	1813-1814	From 12 October 1813 to 12 February 1814
96	Fulgencio Yegros	1814	From 12 February to 12 June 1814
97	José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia	1814	From 12 June to 3 October 1814
Temporary performance
98	José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia	1814-1816	From 3 October 1814 to 30 May 1816
Dictadura Perpetua
99	José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia	1816-1840	From 30 May 1816 to 20 September 1840
Provisional Board of Government
100	Manuel Antonio Ortiz (83) Agustín Cañete (84) Pablo Pereira (85) Miguel Maldonado (86) Gabino Arroyo (87) Policarpo Patiño (88) José Gabriel Benítez (89) Martín Bazán (90)	1840-1841	From 24 September 1840 to 21 January 1841 Chairman of the Board
Second Triumvirate
101	Juan José Medina (91) José Gabriel Benítez José Campos (92)	1841	From January 21 to February 9, 1841
General Command of Arms
102.	Mariano Roque Alonso (93) Carlos Antonio López (94)	1841	From 9 February to 12 March 1841
Second Consulate (Two members of civil and military origins. Shared charge)
103	Carlos Antonio López Mariano Roque Alonso	1841-1844	From 13 March 1841 to 13 March 1844

Presidents of the Republic

Addendum

Taking into account the current Paraguayan territory, in the pre-Hispanic period prior to 1537, each of the indigenous communities had their tribal chiefs commonly known as caciques.

Since the period of Spanish domination and including the independent period, 149 people have been in charge of the government of Paraguay. However, taking into account the two government periods of the Cabildo de Asunción at the head of the province (1631-1633 and 1675-1676), at least one first-vote mayor must be added in each of those two periods, so at least 151 people have exercised the government of Paraguay. All the rulers belong to the male sex.

The Capitulation of May 21, 1534 between Don Pedro de Mendoza and the monarch of Spain granted command of the discovered and undiscovered territories to Mendoza, which included the current Paraguayan lands. Since then, the rulers have carried the title of governors along with other additional positions until the independence of Paraguay in 1811. In total, 76 people were in command of Paraguay during the Spanish domination (1534-1811), whose titles held correspond to:

• Governor (1534-1811): 73

• Governor (1534-1782): 67

• Governor and advance (1534-1592): 4
• Governor (1534-1617): 23
• Governor (1617-1782): 44

• Governor-in-chief (1782-1811): 6

• President of the Board of Government (1731-1733): 3
• First vote mayors of the Cabildo de Asunción (1631-1633 and 1675-1676): at least 2

In 1811 Paraguay became independent from Spain, adopting the republic as its form of government in 1813. Since then, the rulers have held the most varied titles for the position of the country's first magistracy. So far, 75 people have led the country since its independence. Of them have been:

• Government Board Members (triunvirates): 12

• Governor (1811): 1
• Associate members (1811): 2
• Members (1841; 1869-1870 and 1912): 9

• Senior Government Board members (1811-1813): 5

• Chairman: 1
• Vocal: 4

• Consul (1813-1814 and 1841-1844): 4
• Dictator (1814-1840): 1

• Supreme Dictator (1814-1816): 1
• Perpetual Dictator (1816-1840): 1

• Government Board (1840-1841): 8

• First Order Mayor: 1
• Commander: 4
• First Secretary: 1
• Second Secretary: 1
• Fiel de fechos: 1

• General Command of Arms (1841): 2

• General Commander of Arms: 1
• Secretary: 1

• President of the Republic (since 1844): 51