The first European to come into contact with the Payaguá may have been the castaway and explorer Aleixo Garcia. Garcia was killed in 1525 near the Paraguay river, possibly by the Payaguá.García Aldonate, Mario (1994). ...Y resultaron humanos: fin de las culturas nativas en territorio argentino. Compañía Literaria, pp. 39, 88. In 1527, the explorer Sebastian Cabot fought a river battle against Payaguás near the junction of the Paraguay and Bermejo River in present-day Argentina. The Payaguá force was estimated by a later Spanish chronicler to have numbered 300 canoes (probably an exaggeration as Payaguá canoes typically transported about 10 men). In 1537, the Payaguá killed Juan de Ayolas and 80 Spaniards at a fortress the Spanish had erected, probably near present-day Fuerte Olimpo, Paraguay.Gott, Richard (1993), Land Without Evil: Utopian Journeys across the South American WatershedLondon: Verso, p. 81-82. Lest the Payaguá be considered the sole initiator of these conflicts, European expeditions to the Americans routinely demanded food, shelter, women, and porters of native peoples..
