 After Russia introduced the general conscription in 1874, about a third of the Russian Mennonites migrated to the US and Canada.The members of the Colonia Menno (of which Loma Plata is the largest town and administrative centre), settled first in Canada until a universal, secular compulsory education was implemented in 1917 that required the use of the English language, which the more conservative Mennonites saw as a threat to the religious basis of their community.1743 pioneers came from Canada to Paraguay in 1927 and turned the arid Chaco into fertile farmland over the years.