Last modified: 2021-12-24 by rob raeside
Keywords: eldorado department | misiones province | argentina |
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![[Eldorado municipal flag]](../images/a/ar-n-el.gif)
image by Ivan Sache, 24 May 2017
The municipality of Eldorado (57,323 inhabitants in 2010) is located 200 km of Posadas, on the border with Paraguay.
Eldorado was founded on 22 September 1919 by Adolfo Julio Schwelm (1882-1948). The son of the director of the Goldschmidt bank in
Frankfurt (Germany), Schwelm worked at the Rothschild bank, first in Paris and second in London, where he took the British citizenship and
was appointed in 1910 director of the Rothschild-controlled Wagg bank. The Rothschild bank sent him in 1914 to Argentina as its delegate for
South America; he served also as the director of the Argentine branch of Western Telegraph.
Schwelm, in partnership with Luciano Leiva, the son of the governor of the Santa Fe Province, acquired big mountain plots in La Pampa, Chaco and Santiago del Estero, supplying the booming railway companies with high quality wood. In 1918, Schwelm, invited by his friend Vicente Fidel López to a hunting and fishing expedition on river Paraná, discovered the potential of the Misiones Province. The same year, he acquired, in partnership with the Tornqvist bank and Luciano Leiva, a 85,000-ha plot located north of river Piray Miní - today, Colonia Victoria. In partnership with another of his friends, José Guerrico, Mayor of Buenos Aires, he acquired another 67,500 ha plot
Established on a 82,000-ha plot delimited by river Paraná and two of its tributaries, rivers Piray Miní and Piray Guazú, the colony was
named for the mythical, wealthy town that was allegedly yet to be discovered in the forest.
The Compañía Eldorado, Colonización y Explotación de Bosques Limitada S.A. was constituted in 1924 to manage the colony and exploit the
forest resources. The model colony was supplied with electricity, fresh water, shops, radio and telegraph; health was provided by a
doctor and a pharmacist. The first German, Danish and Swedish colonists were soon joined by German colonists who had left Río Grande
do Sul (Brazil), where they had been allocated poor lands located in dangerous places and faced local hostility.
The colony was designed along a main "picada" (trail) running perpendicularly to river Paraná. The families were grouped by
nationality on 25-50 ha plots lining the main street.
The flag of Eldorado, designed by Carlos Vicente Rojas, winner of a public contest organized by the municipality, was inaugurated on 29
September 2015 during the celebration of the 96th anniversary of the town.
The colour specifications are the following (CMYK):