Originally inhabited by various indigenous cultures since ancient times, the region was conquered by the Spanish Empire in the 16th century. Nicaragua gained independence from Spain in 1821. The Mosquito Coast followed a different historical path, being colonized by the English in the 17th century and later coming under British rule. It became an autonomous territory of Nicaragua in 1860 and its northernmost part was transferred to Honduras in 1960. Since its independence, Nicaragua has undergone periods of political unrest, dictatorship, occupation and fiscal crisis, including the Nicaraguan Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s and the Contra War of the 1980s.
There are two prevailing theories on how the name "Nicaragua" came to be. The first is that the name was coined by Spanish colonists based on the name Nicarao,[20] who was the chieftain or cacique of a powerful indigenous tribe encountered by the Spanish conquistadorGil González Dávila during his entry into southwestern Nicaragua in 1522. This theory holds that the name Nicaragua was formed from Nicarao and agua (Spanish for "water"), to reference the fact that there are two large lakes and several other bodies of water within the country.[21] However, as of 2002, it was determined that the cacique's real name was Macuilmiquiztli, which meant "Five Deaths" in the Nahuatl language, rather than Nicarao.[22][23][24][25]
The second theory is that the country's name comes from any of the following Nahuatl words: nic-anahuac, which meant "Anahuac reached this far", or "the Nahuas came this far", or "those who come from Anahuac came this far"; nican-nahua, which meant "here are the Nahuas"; or nic-atl-nahuac, which meant "here by the water" or "surrounded by water".[20][21][26][27]
At the end of the 15th century, western Nicaragua was inhabited by several indigenous peoples related by culture to the Mesoamerican civilizations of the Aztec and Maya, and by language to the Mesoamerican language area.[33] The Chorotegas were Mangue language ethnic groups who had arrived in Nicaragua from what is now the Mexican state of Chiapas sometime around 800 CE.[26][32]: 26–33 The Nicarao people were a branch of Nahuas who spoke the Nawat dialect and also came from Chiapas, around 1200 CE.[34] Prior to that, the Nicaraos had been associated with the Toltec civilization.[32]: 26–33 [34][35][36][37] Both Chorotegas and Nicaraos originated in Mexico's Cholula valley,[34] and migrated south.[32]: 26–33 A third group, the Subtiabas, were an Oto-Manguean people who migrated from the Mexican state of Guerrero around 1200 CE.[38]: 159 Additionally, there were trade-related colonies in Nicaragua set up by the Aztecs starting in the 14th century.[32]: 26–33
In 1502, on his fourth voyage, Christopher Columbus became the first European known to have reached what is now Nicaragua as he sailed southeast toward the Isthmus of Panama.[29]: 193 [32]: 92 Columbus explored the Mosquito Coast on the Atlantic side of Nicaragua[39] but did not encounter any indigenous people. 20 years later, the Spaniards returned to Nicaragua, this time to its southwestern part. The first attempt to conquer Nicaragua was by the conquistador Gil González Dávila,[40] who had arrived in Panama in January 1520. In 1522, González Dávila ventured to the area that later became the Rivas Department of Nicaragua.[29]: 35 [32]: 92 There he encountered an indigenous Nahua tribe led by chief Macuilmiquiztli, whose name has sometimes been erroneously referred to as "Nicarao" or "Nicaragua". The tribe's capital was Quauhcapolca.[25][41][42] González Dávila conversed with Macuilmiquiztli thanks to two indigenous interpreters who had learned Spanish, whom he had brought along.[24] After exploring and gathering gold[25][29]: 35 [32]: 55 in the fertile western valleys, González Dávila and his men were attacked and driven off by the Chorotega, led by chief Diriangén.[25][43] The Spanish tried to convert the tribes to Christianity; Macuilmiquiztli's tribe was baptized,[25][32]: 86 but Diriangén was openly hostile to the Spaniards. Western Nicaragua, at the Pacific Coast, became a port and shipbuilding facility for the Galleons plying the waters between Manila, Philippines and Acapulco, Mexico.[44]
The clashes among Spanish forces did not impede their destruction of the indigenous people and their culture. The series of battles came to be known as the "War of the Captains".[46] Pedro Arias Dávila was a winner;[29]: 35 although he lost control of Panama, he moved to Nicaragua and established his base in León.[47] In 1527, León became the capital of the colony.[32]: 93 [47] Through diplomacy, Arias Dávila became the colony's first governor.[45]
Without women in their parties,[32]: 123 the Spanish conquerors took Nahua and Chorotega wives and partners, beginning the multiethnic mix of indigenous and European stock now known as "mestizo", which constitutes the great majority of the population in western Nicaragua.[33] Many indigenous people were killed by European infectious diseases, compounded by neglect by the Spaniards, who controlled their subsistence.[40] Many other indigenous peoples were captured and transported as slaves to Panama and Peru between 1526 and 1540.[29]: 193 [32]: 104–105
The early years of independence were characterized by rivalry between the Liberal elite of León and the Conservative elite of Granada, which often degenerated into civil war, particularly during the 1840s and 1850s. Managua rose to undisputed preeminence as the nation's capital in 1852 to allay the rivalry between the two feuding cities.[50][51] Following the start (1848) of the California Gold Rush, Nicaragua provided a route for travelers from the eastern United States to journey to California by sea, via the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua.[29]: 81 Invited by the Liberals in 1855 to join their struggle against the Conservatives, the American adventurer and filibusterWilliam Walker set himself up as President of Nicaragua after conducting a farcical election in 1856; his presidency lasted less than a year.[52] Military forces from Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua itself united to drive Walker out of Nicaragua in 1857,[53][54][55] bringing three decades of Conservative rule.
Great Britain, which had claimed the Mosquito Coast as a protectorate since 1655, delegated the area to Honduras in 1859 before transferring it to Nicaragua in 1860. The Mosquito Coast remained an autonomous area until 1894. José Santos Zelaya, President of Nicaragua from 1893 to 1909, negotiated the integration of the Mosquito Coast into Nicaragua. In his honor, the region became "Zelaya Department".
Throughout the late 19th-century, the United States and several European powers considered various schemes to link the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic by building a canal across Nicaragua.[56]
In 1909, the United States supported the conservative-led forces rebelling against President Zelaya. U.S. motives included differences over the proposed Nicaragua Canal, Nicaragua's potential to destabilize the region, and Zelaya's attempts to regulate foreign access to Nicaraguan natural resources. On November 18, 1909, U.S. warships were sent to the area after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) were executed by order of Zelaya. The U.S. justified the intervention by claiming to protect U.S. lives and property. Zelaya resigned later that year.
In August 1912, the President of Nicaragua, Adolfo Díaz, requested the secretary of war, General Luis Mena, to resign for fear he was leading an insurrection. Mena fled Managua with his brother, the chief of police of Managua, to start an insurrection. After Mena's troops captured steam boats of an American company, the U.S. delegation asked President Díaz to ensure the safety of American citizens and property during the insurrection. He replied he could not, and asked the U.S. to intervene in the conflict.[57][58]
U.S. Marines occupied Nicaragua from 1912 to 1933,[29]: 111, 197 [59] except for a nine-month period beginning in 1925. In 1914, the Bryan–Chamorro Treaty was signed, giving the U.S. control over a proposed canal through Nicaragua, as well as leases for potential canal defenses.[60] After the U.S. Marines left, another violent conflict between Liberals and Conservatives in 1926, resulted in the return of U.S. Marines.[61]
From 1927 to 1933, rebel general Augusto César Sandino led a sustained guerrilla war against the Conservative regime and then against the U.S. Marines, whom he fought for over five years.[62] When the Americans left in 1933, they set up the Guardia Nacional (national guard),[63] a combined military and police force trained and equipped by the Americans and designed to be loyal to U.S. interests.
After the U.S. Marines withdrew from Nicaragua in January 1933, Sandino and the newly elected administration of President Juan Bautista Sacasa reached an agreement that Sandino would cease his guerrilla activities in return for amnesty, a land grant for an agricultural colony, and retention of an armed band of 100 men for a year.[64] However, due to a growing hostility between Sandino and National Guard director Anastasio Somoza García and a fear of armed opposition from Sandino, Somoza García ordered his assassination.[63][65][66] Sacasa invited Sandino for dinner and to sign a peace treaty at the Presidential House on the night of February 21, 1934. After leaving the Presidential House, Sandino's car was stopped by National Guard soldiers and they kidnapped him. Later that night, Sandino was assassinated by National Guard soldiers. Later, hundreds of men, women, and children from Sandino's agricultural colony were murdered.[67]
Nicaragua has experienced several military dictatorships, the longest being the hereditary dictatorship of the Somoza family, who ruled for 43 nonconsecutive years during the 20th century.[68] The Somoza family came to power as part of a U.S.-engineered pact in 1927 that stipulated the formation of the Guardia Nacional to replace the marines who had long reigned in the country.[69] Somoza García slowly eliminated officers in the national guard who might have stood in his way, and then deposed Sacasa and became president on January 1, 1937, in a rigged election.[63]
In 1941, during the Second World War, Nicaragua declared war on Japan (8 December), Germany (11 December), Italy (11 December), Bulgaria (19 December), Hungary (19 December) and Romania (19 December). Only Romania reciprocated, declaring war on Nicaragua on the same day (19 December 1941).[70] No soldiers were sent to the war, but Somoza García confiscated properties held by German Nicaraguan residents.[71] In 1945, Nicaragua was among the first countries to ratify the United Nations Charter.[72]
On September 29, 1956,[73] Somoza García was shot to death by Rigoberto López Pérez, a 27-year-old Liberal Nicaraguan poet. Luis Somoza Debayle, the eldest son of the late president, was appointed president by the congress and officially took charge of the country.[63] He is remembered by some as moderate, but after only a few years in power died of a heart attack. His successor as president was René Schick Gutiérrez, whom most Nicaraguans viewed "as nothing more than a puppet of the Somozas".[74] Somoza García's youngest son, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, often referred to simply as "Somoza", became president in 1967.
An earthquake in 1972 destroyed nearly 90% of Managua, including much of its infrastructure.[75] Instead of helping to rebuild the city, Somoza siphoned off relief money. The mishandling of relief money also prompted Pittsburgh Pirates star Roberto Clemente to personally fly to Managua on December 31, 1972, but he died en route in an airplane accident.[76][77] Even the economic elite were reluctant to support Somoza, as he had acquired monopolies in industries that were key to rebuilding the nation.[78]
The Somoza family was among a few families or groups of influential firms which reaped most of the benefits of the country's growth from the 1950s to the 1970s. When Somoza was deposed by the Sandinistas in 1979, the family's worth was estimated to be between $500 million and $1.5 billion.[79]
United States–supported anti-Sandinista "Contra" rebels (ARDE Frente Sur) in 1987
In 1961, Carlos Fonseca looked back to the historical figure of Sandino, and along with two other people (one of whom was believed to be Casimiro Sotelo, who was later assassinated), founded the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).[63] After the 1972 earthquake and Somoza's apparent corruption, the ranks of the Sandinistas were flooded with young disaffected Nicaraguans who no longer had anything to lose.[80]
In December 1974, a group of the FSLN, in an attempt to kidnap U.S. ambassador Turner Shelton, held some Managuan partygoers hostage (after killing the host, former agriculture minister, Jose Maria Castillo), until the Somozan government met their demands for a large ransom and free transport to Cuba. Somoza granted this, then subsequently sent his national guard out into the countryside to look for the kidnappers, described by opponents of the kidnapping as "terrorists".[81]
On January 10, 1978, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, the editor of the national newspaper La Prensa and ardent opponent of Somoza, was assassinated.[82] It is alleged that the planners and perpetrators of the murder were at the highest echelons of the Somoza regime.[82]
The Sandinistas forcefully took power in July 1979, ousting Somoza, and prompting the exodus of the majority of Nicaragua's middle class, wealthy landowners, and professionals, many of whom settled in the United States.[83][84][85] The Carter administration decided to work with the new government, while attaching a provision for aid forfeiture if it was found to be assisting insurgencies in neighboring countries.[86] Somoza fled the country and eventually ended up in Paraguay, where he was assassinated in September 1980, allegedly by members of the Argentinian Revolutionary Workers' Party.[87]
In 1980, the Carter administration provided $60 million in aid to Nicaragua under the Sandinistas, but the aid was suspended when the administration obtained evidence of Nicaraguan shipment of arms to El Salvadoran rebels.[88] Most people sided with Nicaragua against the Sandinistas.[89] In response to the coming to power of the Sandinistas, various rebel groups collectively known as the "Contras" were formed to oppose the new government. The Reagan administration authorized the CIA to help the Contra rebels with funding, weapons and training.[90] The Contras operated from camps in the neighboring countries of Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south.[90]
10th anniversary of the Nicaraguan revolution in Managua, 1989
They engaged in a systematic campaign of terror among rural Nicaraguans to disrupt the social reform projects of the Sandinistas. Several historians have criticized the Contra campaign and the Reagan administration's support for the Contras, citing the brutality and numerous human rights violations of the Contras. LaRamee and Polakoff, for example, describe the destruction of health centers, schools, and cooperatives at the hands of the rebels,[91] and others have contended that murder, rape, and torture occurred on a large scale in Contra-dominated areas.[92] The U.S. also carried out a campaign of economic sabotage, and disrupted shipping by planting underwater mines in Nicaragua's port of Corinto,[93] an action condemned by the International Court of Justice as illegal.[94] The court also found that the U.S. encouraged acts contrary to humanitarian law by producing the manual Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare and disseminating it to the Contras.[95] The manual, among other things, advised on how to rationalize killings of civilians.[96] The U.S. also sought to place economic pressure on the Sandinistas, and the Reagan administration imposed a full trade embargo.[97]
The Sandinistas were also accused of human rights abuses including torture, disappearances and mass executions.[98][99] The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights investigated abuses by Sandinista forces, including an execution of 35 to 40 Miskitos in December 1981,[100] and an execution of 75 people in November 1984.[101]
In the Nicaraguan general elections of 1984, which were judged by at least one visiting 30-person delegation of NGO representatives to have been free and fair,[102] the Sandinistas won the parliamentary election and their leader Daniel Ortega won the presidential election.[103] The Reagan administration criticized the elections as a "sham" based on the claim that Arturo Cruz, the candidate nominated by the Coordinadora Democrática Nicaragüense, comprising three right wing political parties, did not participate in the elections. However, the administration privately argued against Cruz's participation for fear that his involvement would legitimize the elections, and thus weaken the case for American aid to the Contras.[104] According to Martin Kriele, the results of the election were rigged.[105][106][107][108]
In 1983 the U.S. Congress prohibited federal funding of the Contras, but the Reagan administration illegally continued to back them by covertly selling arms to Iran and channeling the proceeds to the Contras in the Iran–Contra affair, for which several members of the Reagan administration were convicted of felonies.[109] The International Court of Justice, in regard to the case of Nicaragua v. United States in 1986, found, "the United States of America was under an obligation to make reparation to the Republic of Nicaragua for all injury caused to Nicaragua by certain breaches of obligations under customary international law and treaty-law committed by the United States of America".[110] During the war between the Contras and the Sandinistas, 30,000 people were killed.[111]
Post-war (1990–present)
Violeta Chamorro in 1990 became the first woman president democratically elected in the Americas.
In the Nicaraguan general election, 1990, a coalition of anti-Sandinista parties (from the left and right of the political spectrum) led by Violeta Chamorro, the widow of Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, defeated the Sandinistas. The defeat shocked the Sandinistas, who had expected to win.[112]
Exit polls of Nicaraguans reported Chamorro's victory over Ortega was achieved with a 55% majority.[113] Chamorro was the first woman president of Nicaragua. Ortega vowed he would govern desde abajo (from below).[114] Chamorro came to office with an economy in ruins, primarily because of the financial and social costs of the Contra War with the Sandinista-led government.[115] In the next election, the Nicaraguan general election, 1996, Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas of the FSLN lost again, this time to Arnoldo Alemán of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC).
In the 2001 elections, the PLC again defeated the FSLN, with Alemán's Vice President Enrique Bolaños succeeding him as president. However, Alemán was convicted and sentenced in 2003 to 20 years in prison for embezzlement, money laundering, and corruption;[116] liberal and Sandinista parliament members combined to strip the presidential powers of President Bolaños and his ministers, calling for his resignation and threatening impeachment. The Sandinistas said they no longer supported Bolaños after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Bolaños to distance from the FSLN.[117] This "slow motion coup d'état" was averted partially by pressure from the Central American presidents, who vowed not to recognize any movement that removed Bolaños; the U.S., the OAS, and the European Union also opposed the action.[118]
Before the general elections on November 5, 2006, the National Assembly passed a bill further restricting abortion in Nicaragua.[119] As a result, Nicaragua is one of five countries in the world where abortion is illegal with no exceptions.[120] Legislative and presidential elections took place on November 5, 2006. Ortega returned to the presidency with 37.99% of the vote. This percentage was enough to win the presidency outright, because of a change in electoral law which lowered the percentage requiring a runoff election from 45% to 35% (with a 5% margin of victory).[121] Nicaragua's 2011 general election resulted in re-election of Ortega, with a landslide victory and 62.46% of the vote. In 2014 the National Assembly approved changes to the constitution allowing Ortega to run for a third successive term.[122]
In November 2016, Ortega was elected for his third consecutive term (his fourth overall). International monitoring of the elections was initially prohibited, and as a result the validity of the elections has been disputed, but observation by the OAS was announced in October.[123][124] Ortega was reported by Nicaraguan election officials as having received 72% of the vote. However the Broad Front for Democracy (FAD), having promoted boycotts of the elections, claimed that 70% of voters had abstained (while election officials claimed 65.8% participation).[125]
In April 2018, demonstrations opposed a decree increasing taxes and reducing benefits in the country's pension system. Local independent press organizations had documented at least 19 dead and over 100 missing in the ensuing conflict.[126] A reporter from NPR spoke to protestors who explained that while the initial issue was about the pension reform, the uprisings that spread across the country reflected many grievances about the government's time in office, and that the fight is for President Ortega and his vice president wife to step down.[127] April 24, 2018 marked the day of the greatest march in opposition of the Sandinista party. On May 2, 2018, university-student leaders publicly announced that they give the government seven days to set a date and time for a dialogue that was promised to the people due to the recent events of repression. The students also scheduled another march on that same day for a peaceful protest. As of May 2018, estimates of the death toll were as high as 63, many of them student protesters, and the wounded totalled more than 400.[128] Following a working visit from May 17 to 21, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights adopted precautionary measures aimed at protecting members of the student movement and their families after testimonies indicated the majority of them had suffered acts of violence and death threats for their participation.[129] In the last week of May, thousands who accuse Mr. Ortega and his wife of acting like dictators joined in resuming anti-government rallies after attempted peace talks have remained unresolved.[130]
Nicaragua occupies a landmass of 130,967 km2 (50,567 sq mi), which makes it slightly larger than England. Nicaragua has three distinct geographical regions: the Pacific lowlands – fertile valleys which the Spanish colonists settled, the Amerrisque Mountains (North-central highlands), and the Mosquito Coast (Atlantic lowlands/Caribbean lowlands).
The low plains of the Atlantic Coast are 97 km (60 mi) wide in areas. They have long been exploited for their natural resources.
On the Pacific side of Nicaragua are the two largest fresh water lakes in Central America—Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua. Surrounding these lakes and extending to their northwest along the rift valley of the Gulf of Fonseca are fertile lowland plains, with soil highly enriched by ash from nearby volcanoes of the central highlands. Nicaragua's abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems contribute to Mesoamerica's designation as a biodiversity hotspot. Nicaragua has made efforts to become less dependent on fossil fuels, and it expects to acquire 90% of its energy from renewable resources by 2020.[131][132] Nicaragua was one of the few countries that did not enter an INDC at COP21.[133][134] Nicaragua initially chose not to join the Paris Climate Accord because it felt that "much more action is required" by individual countries on restricting global temperature rise.[131] However, in October 2017, Nicaragua made the decision to join the agreement.[135][136][137] It ratified this agreement on November 22, 2017.[138]
Nearly one fifth of Nicaragua is designated as protected areas like national parks, nature reserves, and biological reserves. The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 3.63/10, ranking it 146th globally out of 172 countries.[139]Geophysically, Nicaragua is surrounded by the Caribbean Plate, an oceanictectonic plate underlying Central America and the Cocos Plate. Since Central America is a major subduction zone, Nicaragua hosts most of the Central American Volcanic Arc. On 9 June 2021, Nicaragua launched a new volcanic supersite research in strengthening the monitoring and surveillance of the country's 21 active volcanoes.
In the west of the country, these lowlands consist of a broad, hot, fertile plain. Punctuating this plain are several large volcanoes of the Cordillera Los Maribios mountain range, including Mombacho just outside Granada, and Momotombo near León. The lowland area runs from the Gulf of Fonseca to Nicaragua's Pacific border with Costa Rica south of Lake Nicaragua. Lake Nicaragua is the largest freshwater lake in Central America (20th largest in the world),[140] and is home to some of the world's rare freshwater sharks (Nicaraguan shark).[141] The Pacific lowlands region is the most populous, with over half of the nation's population.
The eruptions of western Nicaragua's 40 volcanoes, many of which are still active, have sometimes devastated settlements but also have enriched the land with layers of fertile ash. The geologic activity that produces vulcanism also breeds powerful earthquakes. Tremors occur regularly throughout the Pacific zone, and earthquakes have nearly destroyed the capital city, Managua, more than once.[142]
Peñas Blancas, part of the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve is the second largest rainforest in the Western Hemisphere, after the Amazonian Rainforest in Brazil. Located northeast of the city of Jinotega in Northeastern Nicaragua.
Most of the Pacific zone is tierra caliente, the "hot land" of tropical Spanish America at elevations under 610 metres (2,000 ft). Temperatures remain virtually constant throughout the year, with highs ranging between 29.4 and 32.2 °C (85 and 90 °F). After a dry season lasting from November to April, rains begin in May and continue to October, giving the Pacific lowlands 1,016 to 1,524 millimetres (40 to 60 in) of precipitation. Good soils and a favourable climate combine to make western Nicaragua the country's economic and demographic centre. The southwestern shore of Lake Nicaragua lies within 24 kilometres (15 mi) of the Pacific Ocean. Thus the lake and the San Juan River were often proposed in the 19th century as the longest part of a canal route across the Central American isthmus. Canal proposals were periodically revived in the 20th and 21st centuries.[142][143] Roughly a century after the opening of the Panama Canal, the prospect of a Nicaraguan ecocanal remains a topic of interest.[144][145][146][147]
In addition to its beach and resort communities, the Pacific lowlands contains most of Nicaragua's Spanish colonial architecture and artifacts. Cities such as León and Granada abound in colonial architecture; founded in 1524, Granada is the oldest colonial city in the Americas.[148]
Northern Nicaragua is the most diversified region producing coffee, cattle, milk products, vegetables, wood, gold, and flowers. Its extensive forests, rivers and geography are suited for ecotourism.
The central highlands are a significantly less populated and economically developed area in the north, between Lake Nicaragua and the Caribbean. Forming the country's tierra templada, or "temperate land", at elevations between 610 and 1,524 metres (2,000 and 5,000 ft), the highlands enjoy mild temperatures with daily highs of 23.9 to 26.7 °C (75 to 80 °F). This region has a longer, wetter rainy season than the Pacific lowlands, making erosion a problem on its steep slopes. Rugged terrain, poor soils, and low population density characterize the area as a whole, but the northwestern valleys are fertile and well settled.[142]
The area has a cooler climate than the Pacific lowlands. About a quarter of the country's agriculture takes place in this region, with coffee grown on the higher slopes. Oaks, pines, moss, ferns and orchids are abundant in the cloud forests of the region.
This large rainforest region is irrigated by several large rivers and is sparsely populated. The area has 57% of the territory of the nation and most of its mineral resources. It has been heavily exploited, but much natural diversity remains. The Rio Coco is the largest river in Central America; it forms the border with Honduras. The Caribbean coastline is much more sinuous than its generally straight Pacific counterpart; lagoons and deltas make it very irregular.[citation needed]
Nicaragua's Bosawás Biosphere Reserve is in the Atlantic lowlands, part of which is located in the municipality of Siuna; it protects 7,300 square kilometres (1,800,000 acres) of La Mosquitia forest – almost 7% of the country's area – making it the largest rainforest north of the Amazon in Brazil.[149]
The municipalities of Siuna, Rosita, and Bonanza, known as the "Mining Triangle", are located in the region known as the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, in the Caribbean lowlands. Bonanza still contains an active gold mine owned by HEMCO. Siuna and Rosita do not have active mines but panning for gold is still very common in the region.[citation needed]
Nicaragua's tropical east coast is very different from the rest of the country. The climate is predominantly tropical, with high temperature and high humidity. Around the area's principal city of Bluefields, English is widely spoken along with the official Spanish. The population more closely resembles that found in many typical Caribbean ports than the rest of Nicaragua.[150]
Guardabarranco ("ravine-guard") is Nicaragua's national bird.
Nicaragua is home to a rich variety of plants and animals. Nicaragua is located in the middle of the Americas and this privileged location has enabled the country to serve as host to a great biodiversity. This factor, along with the weather and light altitudinal variations, allows the country to harbor 248 species of amphibians and reptiles, 183 species of mammals, 705 bird species, 640 fish species, and about 5,796 species of plants.
The region of great forests is located on the eastern side of the country. Rainforests are found in the Río San Juan Department and in the autonomous regions of RAAN and RAAS. This biome groups together the greatest biodiversity in the country and is largely protected by the Indio Maíz Biological Reserve in the south and the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve in the north. The Nicaraguan jungles, which represent about 9,700 square kilometres (2.4 million acres), are considered the lungs of Central America and comprise the second largest-sized rainforest of the Americas.[152][153]
There are currently 78 protected areas in Nicaragua, covering more than 22,000 square kilometres (8,500 sq mi), or about 17% of its landmass. These include wildlife refuges and nature reserves that shelter a wide range of ecosystems. There are more than 1,400 animal species classified thus far in Nicaragua. Some 12,000 species of plants have been classified thus far in Nicaragua, with an estimated 5,000 species not yet classified.[154]
The bull shark is a species of shark that can survive for an extended period of time in fresh water. It can be found in Lake Nicaragua and the San Juan River, where it is often referred to as the "Nicaragua shark".[155] Nicaragua has recently banned freshwater fishing of the Nicaragua shark and the sawfish in response to the declining populations of these animals.[156]
Between 2007 and 2009, Nicaragua's major political parties discussed the possibility of going from a presidential system to a parliamentary system. Their reason: there would be a clear differentiation between the head of government (prime minister) and the head of state (president). Nevertheless, it was argued that the true reason for this proposal was to find a legal way for President Ortega to stay in power after January 2012, when his second and last government period was expected to end. Ortega was reelected to a third term in November 2016, and a fourth in 2021; both elections were tainted by credible reports of large-scale fraud, voter intimidation, and politically motivated arrests of opposition party leaders. Independent observers were barred from the polls. The OAS, United States, and European Union all described the 2021 election as a "sham" due to these issues.[157][158]
Since Daniel Ortega's election in 2006, liberal democratic norms and individual rights in practice have deteriorated. Parties other than the ruling FSLN have been repressed through arbitrary arrest and detention of opposition candidates and activists. Most government jobs de facto require membership in the FSLN. Opposition media has been repressed through arrests of journalists and seizure of broadcasting and printing materials.[159]
The Nicaraguan Armed Forces consist of various military contingents. Nicaragua has an army, navy and an air force. There are roughly 14,000 active duty personnel, which is much less compared to the numbers seen during the Nicaraguan Revolution. Although the army has had a rough military history, a portion of its forces, which were known as the national guard, became integrated with what is now the National Police of Nicaragua. In essence, the police became a gendarmerie. The National Police of Nicaragua are rarely, if ever, labeled as a gendarmerie. The other elements and manpower that were not devoted to the national police were sent over to cultivate the new Army of Nicaragua.
The age to serve in the armed forces is 17 and conscription is not imminent. As of 2006[update], the military budget was roughly 0.7% of Nicaragua's expenditures.
The National Police of Nicaragua Force (in Spanish: La Policía Nacional Nicaragüense) is the national police of Nicaragua. The force is in charge of regular police functions and, at times, works in conjunction with the Nicaraguan military, making it an indirect and rather subtle version of a gendarmerie.[citation needed] However, the Nicaraguan National Police work separately and have a different established set of norms than the nation's military.[citation needed] According to a recent US Department of State report, corruption is endemic, especially within law enforcement and the judiciary, and arbitrary arrests, torture, and harsh prison conditions are the norm.[161]
Nicaragua is the safest country in Central America and one of the safest in Latin America, according to the United Nations Development Program, with a homicide rate of 8.7 per 100,000 inhabitants.[162]
Nicaragua is a unitary republic. For administrative purposes it is divided into 15 departments (departamentos) and two self-governing regions (autonomous communities) based on the Spanish model. The departments are then subdivided into 153 municipios (municipalities). The two autonomous regions are the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region and South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, often referred to as RACCN and RACCS, respectively.[163]
A proportional representation of Nicaragua exports, 2019
Historical GDP per capita development of Nicaragua
Nicaragua is among the poorest countries in the Americas.[164][165][166] Its gross domestic product (GDP) in purchasing power parity (PPP) in 2008 was estimated at US$17.37 billion.[5] Agriculture represents 15.5% of GDP, the highest percentage in Central America.[167] Remittances account for over 15% of the Nicaraguan GDP. Close to one billion dollars are sent to the country by Nicaraguans living abroad.[168] The economy grew at a rate of about 4% in 2011.[5] By 2019, given restrictive taxes and a civil conflict, it recorded a negative growth of - 3.9%; the International Monetary Fund forecast for 2020 is a further decline of 6% due to COVID-19.[169]
The restrictive tax measures put in place in 2019 and a political crisis over social security negatively affected the country's weak public spending and investor confidence in sovereign debt. According to the update IMF forecasts from 14 April 2020, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19, GDP growth is expected to fall to -6% in 2020.[citation needed][needs update]
According to the United Nations Development Programme, 48% of the population of Nicaragua live below the poverty line,[170] 79.9% of the population live with less than $2 per day,[171] According to UN figures, 80% of the indigenous people (who make up 5% of the population) live on less than $1 per day.[172]
According to the World Bank, Nicaragua ranked as the 123rd out of 190 best economy for starting a business.[173] In 2007, Nicaragua's economy was labelled "62.7% free" by the conservative think tankHeritage Foundation, with high levels of fiscal, government, labor, investment, financial, and trade freedom.[174] It ranked as the 61st freest economy, and 14th (of 29) in the Americas.
In March 2007, Poland and Nicaragua signed an agreement to write off 30.6 million dollars which was borrowed by the Nicaraguan government in the 1980s.[175] Inflation reduced from 33,500% in 1988 to 9.45% in 2006, and the foreign debt was cut in half.[176]
Nicaragua is primarily an agricultural country; agriculture constitutes 60% of its total exports which annually yield approximately US$300 million.[177] Nearly two-thirds of the coffee crop comes from the northern part of the central highlands, in the area north and east of the town of Estelí.[142] Tobacco, grown in the same northern highlands region as coffee, has become an increasingly important cash crop since the 1990s, with annual exports of leaf and cigars in the neighborhood of $200 million per year.[178] Soil erosion and pollution from the heavy use of pesticides have become serious concerns in the cotton district. Yields and exports have both been declining since 1985.[142] Today most of Nicaragua's bananas are grown in the northwestern part of the country near the port of Corinto; sugarcane is also grown in the same district.[142]Cassava, a root crop somewhat similar to the potato, is an important food in tropical regions. Cassava is also the main ingredient in tapioca pudding.[142] Nicaragua's agricultural sector has benefited because of the country's strong ties to Venezuela. It is estimated that Venezuela will import approximately $200 million in agricultural goods.[179] In the 1990s, the government initiated efforts to diversify agriculture. Some of the new export-oriented crops were peanuts, sesame, melons, and onions.[142]
Fishing boats on the Caribbean side bring shrimp as well as lobsters into processing plants at Puerto Cabezas, Bluefields, and Laguna de Perlas.[142] A turtle fishery thrived on the Caribbean coast before it collapsed from overexploitation.[142]
Mining is becoming a major industry in Nicaragua,[180] contributing less than 1% of gross domestic product (GDP). Restrictions are being placed on lumbering due to increased environmental concerns about destruction of the rain forests. But lumbering continues despite these obstacles; indeed, a single hardwood tree may be worth thousands of dollars.[142]
During the war between the US-backed Contras and the government of the Sandinistas in the 1980s, much of the country's infrastructure was damaged or destroyed.[181] Transportation throughout the nation is often inadequate. For example, it was until recently impossible to travel all the way by highway from Managua to the Caribbean coast. A new road between Nueva Guinea and Bluefields was completed in 2019 and allows regular bus service to the capital.[182] The Centroamérica power plant on the Tuma River in the Central highlands has been expanded, and other hydroelectric projects have been undertaken to help provide electricity to the nation's newer industries.[142] Nicaragua has long been considered as a possible site for a new canal that could supplement the Panama Canal, connecting the Caribbean Sea (and therefore the Atlantic Ocean) with the Pacific Ocean.
Nicaragua's minimum wage is among the lowest in the Americas and in the world.[183][184][185][186] Remittances are equivalent to roughly 15% of the country's gross domestic product.[5] Growth in the maquila sector slowed in the first decade of the 21st century with rising competition from Asian markets, particularly China.[142] Land is the traditional basis of wealth in Nicaragua, with great fortunes coming from the export of staples such as coffee, cotton, beef, and sugar. Almost all of the upper class and nearly a quarter of the middle class are substantial landowners.
A 1985 government study classified 69.4 percent of the population as poor on the basis that they were unable to satisfy one or more of their basic needs in housing, sanitary services (water, sewage, and garbage collection), education, and employment. The defining standards for this study were very low; housing was considered substandard if it was constructed of discarded materials with dirt floors or if it was occupied by more than four persons per room.
Rural workers are dependent on agricultural wage labor, especially in coffee and cotton. Only a small fraction hold permanent jobs. Most are migrants who follow crops during the harvest period and find other work during the off-season. The "lower" peasants are typically smallholders without sufficient land to sustain a family; they also join the harvest labor force. The "upper" peasants have sufficient resources to be economically independent. They produce enough surplus, beyond their personal needs, to allow them to participate in the national and world markets.
The urban lower class is characterized by the informal sector of the economy. The informal sector consists of small-scale enterprises that utilize traditional technologies and operate outside the legal regime of labor protections and taxation. Workers in the informal sector are self-employed, unsalaried family workers or employees of small-enterprises, and they are generally poor.
Nicaragua's informal sector workers include tinsmiths, mattress makers, seamstresses, bakers, shoemakers, and carpenters; people who take in laundry and ironing or prepare food for sale in the streets; and thousands of peddlers, owners of small businesses (often operating out of their own homes), and market stall operators. Some work alone, but others labor in the small talleres (workshops/factories) that are responsible for a large share of the country's industrial production. Because informal sector earnings are generally very low, few families can subsist on one income.[187] Like most Latin American nations Nicaragua is also characterized by a very small upper-class, roughly 2% of the population, that is very wealthy and wields the political and economic power in the country that is not in the hands of foreign corporations and private industries. These families are oligarchical in nature and have ruled Nicaragua for generations and their wealth is politically and economically horizontally and vertically integrated.
Nicaragua is currently a member of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, which is also known as ALBA. ALBA has proposed creating a new currency, the Sucre, for use among its members. In essence, this means that the Nicaraguan córdoba will be replaced with the Sucre. Other nations that will follow a similar pattern include: Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Honduras, Cuba, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda.[188]
Nicaragua is considering construction of a canal linking the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, which President Daniel Ortega has said will give Nicaragua its "economic independence".[189] Scientists have raised concerns about environmental impacts, but the government has maintained that the canal will benefit the country by creating new jobs and potentially increasing its annual growth to an average of 8% per year.[190] The project was scheduled to begin construction in December 2014,[191] however the Nicaragua Canal has yet to be started.[192]
By 2006, tourism had become the second largest industry in Nicaragua.[193] Previously, tourism had grown about 70% nationwide during a period of 7 years, with rates of 10%–16% annually.[194] The increase and growth led to the income from tourism to rise more than 300% over a period of 10 years.[195] The growth in tourism has also positively affected the agricultural, commercial, and finance industries, as well as the construction industry. President Daniel Ortega has stated his intention to use tourism to combat poverty throughout the country.[196] The results for Nicaragua's tourism-driven economy have been significant, with the nation welcoming one million tourists in a calendar year for the first time in its history in 2010.[197]
Every year about 60,000 U.S. citizens visit Nicaragua, primarily business people, tourists, and those visiting relatives.[198] Some 5,300 people from the U.S. reside in Nicaragua. The majority of tourists who visit Nicaragua are from the U.S., Central or South America, and Europe. According to the Ministry of Tourism of Nicaragua (INTUR),[199] the colonial cities of León and Granada are the preferred spots for tourists. Also, the cities of Masaya, Rivas and the likes of San Juan del Sur, El Ostional, the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception, Ometepe Island, the Mombacho volcano, and the Corn Islands among other locations are the main tourist attractions. In addition, ecotourism, sport fishing and surfing attract many tourists to Nicaragua.
According to the TV Noticias news program, the main attractions in Nicaragua for tourists are the beaches, the scenic routes, the architecture of cities such as León and Granada, ecotourism, and agritourism particularly in northern Nicaragua.[194] As a result of increased tourism, Nicaragua has seen its foreign direct investment increase by 79.1% from 2007 to 2009.[200]
Nicaragua is referred to as "the land of lakes and volcanoes" due to the number of lagoons and lakes, and the chain of volcanoes that runs from the north to the south along the country's Pacific side.[10][11][201] Today, only 7 of the 50 volcanoes in Nicaragua are considered active. Many of these volcanoes offer some great possibilities for tourists with activities such as hiking, climbing, camping, and swimming in crater lakes.
The Apoyo Lagoon Natural Reserve was created by the eruption of the Apoyo Volcano about 23,000 years ago, which left a huge 7 km-wide crater that gradually filled with water. It is surrounded by the old crater wall.[202] The rim of the lagoon is lined with restaurants, many of which have kayaks available. Besides exploring the forest around it, many water sports are practiced in the lagoon, most notably kayaking.[203]
The Solentiname Islands are tropical islands located in Lake Nicaragua which are home to 76 bird species and are a growing ecotourism destination.
Ecotourism aims to be ecologically and socially conscious; it focuses on local culture, wilderness, and adventure. Nicaragua's ecotourism is growing with every passing year.[204] It boasts a number of ecotourist tours and perfect places for adventurers. Nicaragua has three eco-regions (the Pacific, Central, and Atlantic) which contain volcanoes, tropical rainforests, and agricultural land.[205] The majority of the eco-lodges and other environmentally-focused touristic destinations are found on Ometepe Island,[206] located in the middle of Lake Nicaragua just an hour's boat ride from Granada. While some are foreign-owned, others are owned by local families.
Nicaraguan High school students at the American Nicaraguan School
According to a 2014 research published in the journal Genetics and Molecular Biology, European ancestry predominates in 69% of Nicaraguans, followed by African ancestry in 20%, and lastly indigenous ancestry in 11%.[209] A Japanese research of "Genomic Components in America's demography" demonstrated that, on average, the ancestry of Nicaraguans is 58–62% European, 28% Native American, and 14% African, with a very small Near Eastern contribution.[210] Non-genetic data from the CIA World Factbook establish that from Nicaragua's 2016 population of 5,966,798, around 69% are mestizo, 17% white, 5% Native American, and 9% black and other races.[5] This fluctuates with changes in migration patterns. The population is 58% urban as of 2013[update].[211]
The capital Managua is the biggest city, with an estimated population of 1,042,641 in 2016.[212] In 2005, over 5 million people lived in the Pacific, Central and North regions, and 700,000 in the Caribbean region.[213]
There is a growing expatriate community,[214] the majority of whom move for business, investment or retirement from across the world, such as from the US, Canada, Taiwan, and European countries; the majority have settled in Managua, Granada and San Juan del Sur.
Many Nicaraguans live abroad, particularly in Costa Rica, the United States, Spain, Canada, and other Central American countries.[215]
Nicaragua has a population growth rate of 1.5% as of 2013[update].[216] This is the result of one of the highest birth rates in the Western Hemisphere:[citation needed] 17.7 per 1,000 as of 2017.[217] The death rate was 4.7 per 1,000 during the same period according to the United Nations.[218]
Ethnic groups
Afro-Nicaraguan
The majority of the Nicaraguan population is composed of mestizos, roughly 69%, while 17% of Nicaragua's population is white,[219] with the majority of them being of Spanish descent, while others are of German, Italian, English, Turkish, Danish or French ancestry.
Black Creoles
About 9% of Nicaragua's population is black and mainly resides on the country's Caribbean (or Atlantic) coast. The black population is mostly composed of black English-speaking Creoles who are the descendants of escaped or shipwrecked slaves; many carry the name of Scottish settlers who brought slaves with them, such as Campbell, Gordon, Downs, and Hodgson. Although many Creoles supported Somoza because of his close association with the United States, they rallied to the Sandinista cause in July 1979, only to reject the revolution soon afterwards in response to a new phase of "westernization" and imposition of central rule from Managua.[220] There is a smaller number of Garifuna, a people of mixed West African, Carib and Arawak descent. In the mid-1980s, the government divided the Zelaya Department – consisting of the eastern half of the country – into two autonomous regions and granted the black and indigenous people of this region limited self-rule within the republic.
Indigenous population
The remaining 5% of Nicaraguans are indigenous, the descendants of the country's original inhabitants. Nicaragua's pre-Columbian population consisted of many indigenous groups. In the western region, the Nahuas (Nicarao people) were present along with other groups such as the Chorotega people and the Subtiabas (also known as Maribios or Hokan Xiu). The central region and the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua were inhabited by indigenous peoples who were Macro-Chibchan language groups that had migrated to and from South America in ancient times, primarily what is now Colombia and Venezuela.[221][222] These groups include the present-day Matagalpas, Miskitos, Ramas, as well as Mayangnas and Ulwas who are also known as Sumos.[223][29]: 20 In the 19th century, there was a substantial indigenous minority, but this group was largely assimilated culturally into the mestizo majority. The Garifuna are also present, mainly on the Caribbean Coast. They are a people of mixed African and Indigenous descent.[224]
A sign in Bluefields in English (top), Spanish (middle) and Miskito (bottom)
Nicaraguan Spanish has many indigenous influences and several distinguishing characteristics. For example, some Nicaraguans have a tendency to replace /s/ with /h/ when speaking.[225] Although Spanish is spoken throughout, the country has great variety: vocabulary, accents and colloquial language can vary between towns and departments.[226]Nicaraguan Sign Language emerged in the 1970s and 1980s among deaf children as the first special education schools brought them together, and its emergence became of particular interest to linguists as an opportunity to directly observe the creation of a language.[227][228][229]
On the Caribbean coast, indigenous languages, English-based creoles, and Spanish are spoken. The Miskito language, spoken by the Miskito people as a first language and some other indigenous and Afro-descendants people as a second, third, or fourth language, is the most commonly spoken indigenous language. The indigenous Misumalpan languages of Mayangna and Ulwa are spoken by the respective peoples of the same names. Many Miskito, Mayangna, and Sumo people also speak Miskito Coast Creole, and a large majority also speak Spanish. Fewer than three dozen of nearly 2,000 Rama people speak their Chibchanlanguage fluently, with nearly all Ramas speaking Rama Cay Creole and the vast majority speaking Spanish. Linguists have attempted to document and revitalize the language over the past three decades.[230]
The Garifuna people, descendants of indigenous and Afro-descendant people who came to Nicaragua from Honduras in the early twentieth century, have recently attempted to revitalize their Arawakanlanguage. The majority speak Miskito Coast Creole as their first language and Spanish as their second. The Creole or Kriol people, descendants of enslaved Africans brought to the Mosquito Coast during the British colonial period and European, Chinese, Arab, and British West Indian immigrants, also speak Miskito Coast Creole as their first language and Spanish as their second.[231]
Religion plays a significant part of the culture of Nicaragua and is afforded special protections in the constitution. Religious freedom, which has been guaranteed since 1939, and religious tolerance are officially promoted by the government and the constitution, but in recent years the Catholic Church and the regime led by Daniel Ortega have been in open conflict, with the latter being accused of using the police to harass clergy and bishops,[232] closing down Catholic media outlets, and even arresting a dozen members of the clergy, including Bishop Rolando Alvarez, of the Diocese of Matagalpa.
Nicaragua has no official religion. Catholic bishops are expected to lend their authority to important state occasions, and their pronouncements on national issues are closely followed. They can be called upon to mediate between contending parties at moments of political crisis.[233] In 1979, Miguel D'Escoto Brockman, a priest who had embraced Liberation Theology, served in the government as foreign minister when the Sandinistas came to power. The largest denomination, and traditionally the religion of the majority, is the Roman Catholic Church. It came to Nicaragua in the 16th century with the Spanish conquest and remained, until 1939, the established faith.
The number of practicing Roman Catholics has been declining, while membership of evangelical Protestant groups and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has been growing rapidly since the 1990s. There is a significant LDS missionary effort in Nicaragua. There are two missions and 95,768 members of the LDS Church (1.54% of the population).[234] There are also strong Anglican and Moravian communities on the Caribbean coast in what once constituted the sparsely populated Mosquito Coast colony. It was under British influence for nearly three centuries. Protestantism was brought to the Mosquito Coast mainly by British and German colonists in forms of Anglicanism and the Moravian Church. Other kinds of Protestant and other Christian denominations were introduced to the rest of Nicaragua during the 19th century.
Popular religion revolves around the saints, who are perceived as intercessors between human beings and God. Most localities, from the capital of Managua to small rural communities, honor patron saints, selected from the Roman Catholic calendar, with annual fiestas. In many communities, a rich lore has grown up around the celebrations of patron saints, such as Managua's Saint Dominic (Santo Domingo), honored in August with two colorful, often riotous, day-long processions through the city. The high point of Nicaragua's religious calendar for the masses is neither Christmas nor Easter, but La Purísima, a week of festivities in early December dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, during which elaborate altars to the Virgin Mary are constructed in homes and workplaces.[233]
Buddhism has increased with a steady influx of immigration.[235]
Although Jews have been living in Nicaragua since the 18th century, the Jewish population is small, numbering less than 200 people in 2017. Of these, 112 were recent converts who claimed Sephardic Jewish ancestry.[236]
Relative to its population, Nicaragua has not experienced large waves of immigration. The number of immigrants in Nicaragua, from other Latin American countries or other countries, never surpassed 1% of its total population before 1995. The 2005 census showed the foreign-born population at 1.2%, having risen a mere 0.06% in 10 years.[213]
In the 19th century, Nicaragua experienced modest waves of immigration from Europe. In particular, families from Germany, Italy, Spain, France and Belgium immigrated to Nicaragua, particularly the departments in the Central and Pacific region.
Also present is a small Middle Eastern-Nicaraguan community of Syrians, Armenians, Jewish Nicaraguans, and Lebanese people in Nicaragua. This community numbers about 30,000. There is an East Asian community mostly consisting of Chinese. The Chinese Nicaraguan population is estimated at 12,000.[238] The Chinese arrived in the late 19th century but were unsubstantiated until the 1920s.
The Civil War forced many Nicaraguans to start lives outside of their country. Many people emigrated during the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century due to the lack of employment opportunities and poverty. The majority of the Nicaraguan Diaspora migrated to the United States and Costa Rica. Today one in six Nicaraguans live in these two countries.[239]
The diaspora has seen Nicaraguans settling around in smaller communities in other parts of the world, particularly Western Europe. Small communities of Nicaraguans are found in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Communities also exist in Australia and New Zealand. Canada, Brazil and Argentina host small groups of these communities. In Asia, Japan hosts a small Nicaraguan community.
Due to extreme poverty at home, many Nicaraguans are now living and working in neighboring El Salvador, a country that has the US dollar as its currency.[240][241]
Although Nicaragua's health outcomes have improved over the past few decades with the efficient utilization of resources relative to other Central American nations, healthcare in Nicaragua still confronts challenges responding to its populations' diverse healthcare needs.[242]
The Nicaraguan government guarantees universal free health care for its citizens.[243] However, limitations of current delivery models and unequal distribution of resources and medical personnel contribute to the persistent lack of quality care in more remote areas of Nicaragua, especially among rural communities in the Central and Atlantic region.[242] To respond to the dynamic needs of localities, the government has adopted a decentralized model that emphasizes community-based preventive and primary medical care.[244]
Primary education is free in Nicaragua. A system of private schools exists, many of which are religiously affiliated and often have more robust English programs.[246] As of 1979, the educational system was one of the poorest in Latin America.[247] One of the first acts of the newly elected Sandinista government in 1980 was an extensive and successful literacy campaign, using secondary school students, university students and teachers as volunteer teachers: it reduced the overall illiteracy rate from 50.3% to 12.9% within only five months.[248] This was one of a number of large-scale programs which received international recognition for their gains in literacy, health care, education, childcare, unions, and land reform.[249][250] The Sandinistas also added a leftist ideological content to the curriculum, which was removed after 1990.[142] In September 1980, UNESCO awarded Nicaragua the Soviet Union sponsored Nadezhda Krupskaya award for the literacy campaign.[251]
Nicaragua's gender equality ranks high among countries in Latin America.[252] When it came to global rankings regarding gender equality, the World Economic Forum ranked Nicaragua at number twelve in 2015,[252] and in its 2020 report Nicaragua ranked number five, behind only northern European countries.[253]
In 2009, a Special Ombudsman for Sexual Diversity position was created within its Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman. And, in 2014, the Health Ministry in 2014 banned discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.[255] Nevertheless, discrimination against LGBTQ individuals is common, particularly in housing, education, and the workplace.[161]
El Güegüense is a drama and was the first literary work of post-Columbian Nicaragua. It is regarded as one of Latin America's most distinctive colonial-era expressions and as Nicaragua's signature folkloric masterpiece combining music, dance and theatre.
Nicaraguan culture has strong folklore, music and religious traditions, deeply influenced by European culture but also including Native American sounds and flavors. Nicaraguan culture can further be defined in several distinct strands. The Pacific coast has strong folklore, music and religious traditions, deeply influenced by Europeans. It was colonized by Spain and has a similar culture to other Spanish-speaking Latin American countries. The indigenous groups that historically inhabited the Pacific coast have largely been assimilated into the mestizo culture.
The Caribbean coast of Nicaragua was once a British protectorate. English is still predominant in this region and spoken domestically along with Spanish and indigenous languages. Its culture is similar to that of Caribbean nations that were or are British possessions, such as Jamaica, Belize, the Cayman Islands, etc. Unlike on the west coast, the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean coast have maintained distinct identities, and some still speak their native languages as first languages.
Nicaraguan music is a mixture of indigenous and Spanish influences. Musical instruments include the marimba and others common across Central America. The marimba of Nicaragua is played by a sitting performer holding the instrument on his knees. He is usually accompanied by a bass fiddle, guitar and guitarrilla (a small guitar like a mandolin). This music is played at social functions as a sort of background music.
The marimba is made with hardwood plates placed over bamboo or metal tubes of varying lengths. It is played with two or four hammers. The Caribbean coast of Nicaragua is known for a lively, sensual form of dance music called Palo de Mayo which is popular throughout the country. It is especially loud and celebrated during the Palo de Mayo festival in May. The Garifuna community (Afro-Native American) is known for its popular music called Punta.
Nicaraguan women wearing the Mestizaje costume, which is a traditional costume worn to dance the Mestizaje dance. The costume demonstrates the Spanish influence upon Nicaraguan clothing.[257]
Nicaragua enjoys a variety of international influence in the music arena. Bachata, Merengue, Salsa and Cumbia have gained prominence in cultural centres such as Managua, Leon and Granada. Cumbia dancing has grown popular with the introduction of Nicaraguan artists, including Gustavo Leyton, on Ometepe Island and in Managua. Salsa dancing has become extremely popular in Managua's nightclubs. With various influences, the form of salsa dancing varies in Nicaragua. New York style and Cuban Salsa (Salsa Casino) elements have gained popularity across the country.
Dance in Nicaragua varies depending upon the region. Rural areas tend to have a stronger focus on movement of the hips and turns. The dance style in cities focuses primarily on more sophisticated footwork in addition to movement and turns. Combinations of styles from the Dominican Republic and the United States can be found throughout Nicaragua. Bachata dancing is popular in Nicaragua. A considerable amount of Bachata dancing influence comes from Nicaraguans living abroad, in cities that include Miami, Los Angeles and, to a much lesser extent, New York City. Tango has also surfaced recently in cultural cities and ballroom dance occasions.
The origin of Nicaraguan literature can arguably be traced to pre-Columbian times. The myths and oral literature formed the cosmogenic view of the world of the indigenous people. Some of these stories are still known in Nicaragua. Like many Latin American countries, the Spanish conquerors have had the most effect on both the culture and the literature. Nicaraguan literature has historically been an important source of poetry in the Spanish-speaking world, with internationally renowned contributors such as Rubén Darío who is regarded as the most important literary figure in Nicaragua. He is called the "Father of Modernism" for leading the modernismo literary movement at the end of the 19th century.[258] Other literary figures include Carlos Martinez Rivas, Pablo Antonio Cuadra, Alberto Cuadra Mejia, Manolo Cuadra, Pablo Alberto Cuadra Arguello, Orlando Cuadra Downing, Alfredo Alegría Rosales, Sergio Ramirez Mercado, Ernesto Cardenal, Gioconda Belli, Claribel Alegría and José Coronel Urtecho, among others.[259]
The satirical drama El Güegüense was the first literary work of post-Columbian Nicaragua. It was written in both Nicarao and Spanish.[38]: 21 It's regarded as one of Latin America's most distinctive colonial-era expressions and as Nicaragua's signature folkloric masterpiece. El Güegüense is a work of resistance to Spanish colonialism that combined music, dance and theatre.[258] The theatrical play was written by an anonymous author in the 16th century, making it one of the oldest indigenous theatrical/dance works of the Western Hemisphere. In 2005 it was recognized by UNESCO as "a patrimony of humanity".[260] After centuries of popular performance, the play was first published in a book in 1942.[261]
Vigorón is a dish that is served with boiled yuca and chicharrones (fried pork with skin) and topped with a cabbage salad.
Nicaraguan cuisine is a mixture of Spanish food and dishes of a pre-Columbian origin.[262] Traditional cuisine changes from the Pacific to the Caribbean coast. The Pacific coast's main staple revolves around local fruits and corn, the Caribbean coast cuisine makes use of seafood and the coconut.
Gallo pinto is a traditional dish of Nicaragua made with rice and beans.
As in many other Latin American countries, maize is a staple food and is used in many of the widely consumed dishes, such as the nacatamal, güirila, and indio viejo. Maize is also an ingredient for drinks such as pinolillo and chicha as well as sweets and desserts. In addition to corn, rice and beans are eaten very often.
Gallo pinto, Nicaragua's national dish, is made with white rice and small red beans that are cooked individually and then fried together. The dish has several variations including the addition of coconut milk and/or grated coconut on the Caribbean coast. Most Nicaraguans begin their day with gallo pinto. Gallo pinto is most usually served with carne asada, a salad, fried cheese, plantains or maduros.
Traditional street food snacks found in Nicaragua include "quesillo", a thick tortilla with soft cheese and cream, "tajadas" (deep-fried plantain chips), "maduros" (a sautéed ripe plantain), and "fresco" (fresh juices such as hibiscus and tamarind commonly served in a plastic bag with a straw).[263]
Nicaraguans have been known to eat guinea pigs,[264] known as cuy. Tapirs, iguanas, turtle eggs, armadillos and boas are also sometimes eaten, but because of extinction threats to these wild creatures, there are efforts to curb this custom.[262]
For most Nicaraguans radio and TV are the main sources of news. There are more than 100 radio stations and several TV networks. Cable TV is available in most urban areas.[265]
The Nicaraguan print media are varied and partisan, representing pro and anti-government positions. Publications include La Prensa, El Nuevo Diario, Confidencial, Hoy, and Mercurio. Online news publications include Confidencial and The Nicaragua Dispatch.
Baseball is the most popular sport in Nicaragua. Although some professional Nicaraguan baseball teams have recently folded, the country still enjoys a strong tradition of American-style baseball.
Baseball was introduced to Nicaragua during the 19th century. In the Caribbean coast, locals from Bluefields were taught how to play baseball in 1888 by Albert Addlesberg, a retailer from the United States.[266] Baseball did not catch on in the Pacific coast until 1891 when a group of mostly college students from the United States formed "La Sociedad de Recreo" (Society of Recreation) where they played various sports, baseball being the most popular.[266]
^As shown on the Córdoba (bank notes and coins).[1]
References
^Banco Central de Nicaragua 24 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine
^"Nicaragua Demographics Profile 2011". Nicaragua. Index Mundi. 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
^The Latin American Socio-Religious Studies Program / Programa Latinoamericano de Estudios Sociorreligiosos (PROLADES) 12 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine PROLADES Religion in America by country
^"CENSO DE POBLACIÓN 2005" (PDF). 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.[permanent dead link]
^ abcde"Nicaragua". CIA World Factbook. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^ abBrierley, Jan (15 October 2017). "Sense of wonder: Discover the turbulent past of Central America". Daily Express. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
^ abWallace, Will; Wallace, Camilla (10 April 2010). "Traveller's Guide: Nicaragua". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
^Peter (16 February 2019). "12 largest rainforests in the world and where to find them". Atlas & Boots. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
^Dicum, G (17 December 2006). "The Rediscovery of Nicaragua". Travel Section. New York: TraveThe New York Times. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^Davis, LS (22 April 2009). "Nicaragua: The next Costa Rica?". Mother Nature Network. MNN Holdings, LLC. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^Kurtas, Susan. "Research Guides: UN Membership: Founding Members". research.un.org. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
^Vanden, Harry E.; Morales, Waltraud Queiser (1985). "Nicaraguan Relations with the Nonaligned Movement". Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs. 27 (3): 141–161. doi:10.2307/165603. ISSN 0022-1937. JSTOR 165603.
^"Organization of American States (OAS)". The Nuclear Threat Initiative. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
^"A Guide to ALBA". Americas Quarterly. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
^"CELAC | CELAC INTERNATIONAL". 16 February 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
^ ab"¿Por qué los países de América Latina se llaman como se llaman?" [Why do Latin American countries call themselves as they are called?]. Ideal (in Spanish). 29 July 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
^ abSánchez, Edwin (16 October 2016). . El Pueblo Presidente (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
^Sánchez, Edwin (3 October 2016). "De Macuilmiquiztli al Güegüence pasando por Fernando Silva" [From Macuilmiquiztli to Güegüence through Fernando Silva]. El 19 (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 April 2017.
^Silva, Fernando (15 March 2003). . El Nuevo Diario (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 12 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
^ abSánchez, Edwin (16 September 2002). "No hubo Nicarao, todo es invento" [There was no Nicarao, it's all invented]. El Nuevo Diario (in Spanish).
^ abcde [Encounter of the cacique and the conqueror]. El Nuevo Diario (in Spanish). 4 April 2009. Archived from the original on 7 May 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
^ abSolórzano, Carla Torres (18 September 2010). [Clash of languages or the mixing of our language]. La Prensa (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 12 April 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
^ [The Nahuatl root of our language]. El Nuevo Diario (in Spanish). 10 August 2004. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
^Dall, Christopher (1 October 2005). Nicaragua in Pictures. Twenty-First Century Books. pp. 66–67. ISBN978-0-8225-2671-1.
^ abcdefghijklmPérez-Brignoli, Héctor; translated by Sawrey A., Ricardo B.; Sawrey, Susana Stettri de (1989). A Brief History of Central America (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN978-0520060494.
^Gloria Helena Rey, "The Chibcha Culture – Forgotten, But Still Alive" 2012-02-20 at the Wayback Machine, Colombia, Inter Press Service (IPS) News, 30 Nov 2007, accessed 9 Nov 2010
^ abcdefghijklmnNewson, Linda A. (1987). Indian survival in colonial Nicaragua (1st ed.). Norman [OK]: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN978-0806120089.
^ ab"Nicaragua: Precolonial Period". Library of Congress Country Studies. Retrieved 29 June 2007., interpretation of statement: "the native peoples were linguistically and culturally similar to the Aztec and the Maya"
^ abcCampbell, Lyle (1 January 1985). The Pipil Language of El Salvador. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 10–12. ISBN978-3-11-088199-8.
^Fowler, WR Jr. (1985). "Ethnohistoric Sources on the Pipil Nicarao: A Critical Analysis". Ethnohistory. Columbus, Ohio. 32 (1): 37–62. doi:10.2307/482092. JSTOR 482092. OCLC 62217753.
^Brinton, Daniel G. (1887). "Were the Toltecs an Historic Nationality?". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 24 (126): 229–230. JSTOR 983071.
^von Humboldt, Alexander; Poynter, J. Ryan; Altamirano Rayo, Giorleny D; Kraft, Tobias (25 January 2013). Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: A Critical Edition. University of Chicago Press. p. 92. ISBN978-0-226-86509-6.
^ abCampbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian languages : the historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-509427-1.
^. American Journey. Archived from the original on 3 April 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^ abc"Nicaragua: History". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
^Healy, Paul; Pohl, Mary (1980). Archaeology of the Rivas Region, Nicaragua. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. p. 21. ISBN978-0-88920-094-4.
^Dyck, Erika; Fletcher, Christopher (6 October 2015). Locating Health: Historical and Anthropological Investigations of Place and Health. Routledge. p. 107. ISBN978-1-317-32278-8.
^"The Spanish Conquest". Library of Congress. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
^Making the First Global Trade Route: The Southeast Asian Foundations of the Acapulco–Manila Galleon Trade, 1519-1650 (Page 163) Citing Andre Gschaedler, "Mexico and the Pacific, 1540 - 1565: The Voyage of Villabos and Legazpi and the Preparations Made for Them," (Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1954), 40.
^ ab"Nicaragua Briefs: An Historic Find". Envío. Central American University – UCA. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
^Duncan, David Ewing (1995). Hernando de Soto – A Savage Quest in the Americas – Book II: Consolidation. New York: Crown Publishers.
^ abcWhisnant, David E. (9 November 2000). Rascally Signs in Sacred Places: The Politics of Culture in Nicaragua. Univ of North Carolina Press. pp. 30–32. ISBN978-0-8078-6626-9.
^ abBergoeing, Jean Pierre (18 May 2015). Geomorphology of Central America: A Syngenetic Perspective. Elsevier Science. pp. 68–69. ISBN978-0-12-803185-8.
^Smith, RS (1963). "Financing the Central American federation, 1821–1838". The Hispanic American Historical Review. 43 (4): 483–510. doi:10.2307/2509898. JSTOR 2509898.
^Cybriwsky, Roman Adrian (23 May 2013). Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 177. ISBN978-1-61069-248-9.
^. La Prensa (in Spanish). 9 March 2006. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2017. Fue elevada a ciudad en 1846 y salomónicamente declarada capital de la República en 1852, para dirimir el viejo conflicto entre las urbes coloniales de León (occidente) y Granada (oriente) que rivalizaban por ejercer la hegemonía política de Nicaragua.
^. Ministerio de Educación. 9 December 2012. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012.
^Walker, W (1860). The War in Nicaragua. New York: S.H. Goetzel & Company.
^Juda, F (1919). "California Filibusters: A History of their Expeditions into Hispanic America (excerpt)". The Grizzly Bear. XXI (4): 3–6, 15, 19. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
^Baker, CP (2001). "The William Walker Saga". Moon Handbooks: Costa Rica (4th ed.). New York: Avalon Travel Publishing. p. 67. ISBN978-1-56691-608-0.
^ Colquhoun, AR (1895). The key of the Pacific: the Nicaragua canal. Westminster, England: Archibald Constable and Company.
^Foreign Relations of the United States. 1912. p. 1032.
^Langley, Lester D. (2002). The Banana Wars: United States Intervention in the Caribbean, 1898-1934. Wilmington: SR Books. p. 64. ISBN978-0-8420-5047-0.
^. Socialist Worker. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
^"Bryan–Chamorro Treaty". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
^"General Augusto C. Sandino: The Constitutional War". ViaNica. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
^Vukelich, D. . The Advocacy Project. Archived from the original on 3 April 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^ abcde"The Somoza years". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
^. Archived from the original on 31 December 2006. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^"History of U.S. Violence Across the Globe: Washington's War Crimes (1912–33)". 16 December 2001. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^Solo, T (7 October 2005). "Nicaragua: From Sandino to Chavez". Dissident Voice. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^(PDF). University of Pittsburgh. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 November 2006. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^Colburn, Forrest D. (26 March 2012). . World Policy Journal. 29 (Spring 2012): 91–100. doi:10.1177/0740277512443806. Archived from the original on 6 May 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
^Model, David (2005). Lying for Empire: How to Commit War Crimes With a Straight Face. Common Courage Press.
^Goldstein, Erik (2005) Wars and Peace Treaties: 1816 to 1991. Routledge. p. 218. ISBN9781134899111
^ (in Spanish). 6 January 2005. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
^"Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the International Court of Justice" (PDF). San Francisco: United Nations. 26 June 1945: 49. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^"SOMOZA'S NATION CALLED HIS FIEF; Rule of Nicaraguan General, Beginning With 1935 Coup, Was Seldom Challenged PRESIDENT FIRST IN '37 Graduate of Business School in U.S., He Acquired Great Wealth During Regime". New York Times TimesMachine. 30 September 1956. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
^Leonard, TM (2003). "Against all odds: U.S. policy and the 1963 Central America Summit Conference". Journal of Third World Studies. p. 11. Archived from the original on 28 June 2009. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^. Vanderbilt Television News Archive. 16 December 1972. Archived from the original on 10 May 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2007.
^"Roberto Clemente". National Baseball Hall of Fame. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
^. The National Baseball Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 27 April 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^. TIME. 11 September 1978. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
^Annis, B (1993). "Nicaragua: Diversification and Growth, 1945–77". The Library of Congress. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
^. Grinnell College. Archived from the original on 6 February 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^Constable, Pamela; Valenzuela, Arturo (1991). A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet. p. 150. ISBN978-0-393-30985-0.
^ ab. American Nicaraguan School. Archived from the original on 20 May 2006. Retrieved 4 August 2007.
^Nordheimer, Jon (29 July 1987). "Nicaraguan Exiles Find A Place In The Sun: Miami". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
^Wilkinson, Tracy (7 August 1988). "Families Struggle to Maintain Life Style : Sandinista Rule Not Easy on Middle Class". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
^Wicker, Tom (29 July 1983). "In The Nation; The Sandinista Puzzle". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
^Pastor, Robert (2001). Exiting the Whirlpool: U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Latin America and the Caribbean. Westview Press. ISBN978-0-8133-3811-8.
^. Stanford University. Archived from the original on 26 April 2006. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^U.S. HALTS ECONOMIC AID TO NICARAGUA, New York Times, 2 April 1981
^Mary C. Waters, et al. The New Americans : A Guide to Immigration Since 1965. Harvard University Press, 2007. EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohost-com.lpclibrary.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=282331&site=ehost-live.
^ ab"Nicaragua: Growth of Opposition, 1981–83". Ciao Atlas. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
^LaRamee, Pierre; Polakoff, Erica (1999). The Undermining of the Sandinista Revolution. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 141–205. ISBN9780333751992.
^Chomsky, Noam (1985). Turning the Tide. Boston, MA: South End Press.
^Truver, SC. (PDF). p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 April 2008. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
^"...Finds that the United States of America, by producing in 1983 a manual entitled "Operaciones sicológicas en guerra de guerrillas", and disseminating it to Contra forces, has encouraged the commission by them of acts contrary to general principles of humanitarian law." As seen at: International Court of Justice 1986, (9)
^"In the case of shooting "a citizen who was trying to leave the town or city in which the guerrillas are carrying out armed propaganda or political proselytism," the manual suggests that the Contras "...explain that if that citizen had managed to escape, he would have alerted the enemy." As seen at: Sklar 1988, p. 179
^"US Policy: Economic Embargo: The War Goes On". Envío. Central American University – UCA. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
^Moore, John Norton (1987) The Secret War in Central America. University Publications of America. p. 143. ISBN978-0890939611
^Miranda, Roger and Ratliff, William (1993) The Civil War in Nicaragua. Transaction. p. 193. ISBN9781412819688
^"OAS Study Says Miskito Indians Suffered Abuse From Sandinistas". The Washington Post. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
^"Annual Report 1992–1993". Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. 12 March 1993. Retrieved 30 March 2009.
^"NICARAGUAN VOTE:'FREE, FAIR, HOTLY CONTESTED'". The New York Times. 16 November 1984. p. 30.
^"1984: Sandinistas claim election victory". BBC News. 5 November 1984.
^Taubman, Philip (21 October 1984). "KEY AIDES DISPUTE U.S. ROLE IN NICARAGUAN VOTE". The New York Times. p. 12.
^Kriele, Martin (1986). "Power and Human Rights in Nicaragua". Nicaragua: Das blutende Herz Amerikas. Piper. pp. 56–57, 63–67.
^Leiken, Robert S. (December 5, 1985) "The Nicaraguan Tangle," New York Review of Books.
^"The Nicaraguan Tangle: Another Exchange," New York Review of Books, June 26, 1986
^Cuzan, Alfred G. (Summer 1994) Letter, Commentary, December 1985 and "The Latin American Studies Association vs. the United States," Academic Questions.
^Baker, D (5 March 2007). The United States since 1980 (The World Since 1980). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 101. ISBN978-0-521-86017-8.
^(PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015.
^The PRIO Battle Deaths Dataset, 1946–2008, Version 3.0: Documentation of Coding Decisions by Bethany Lacina
^O'Grady, M. "Ortega's Comeback Schemes Roil Nicaragua". Retrieved 9 May 2007.[dead link]
^. Tulane University. Archived from the original on 1 September 2006. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^"El Sandinista Daniel Ortega se convierte de nuevo en presidente de Nicaragua". El Mundo (in Spanish). 8 November 2006. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^Dennis, G (December 1993). "Social conditions of Nicaragua". The Library of Congress. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^"Nicaragua: Political profile". Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^Thompson, G (6 April 2005). . International Herald Tribune. p. 3. Archived from the original on 6 June 2008. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^"Nicaragua 'creeping coup' warning". BBC News. 30 September 2005. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^Frazier, JB (18 November 2006). "Nicaraguan President Signs Abortion Ban". The Washington Post. Retrieved 25 May 2007.
^Boseley, S (11 June 2010). "Nicaragua refuses to lift abortion ban". The Guardian.
^"Bolaños Will Move To The National Assembly After All". Envío Magazine. 2006. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^Gibney, James (30 January 2014). "Nicaragua's Revolution Heads Toward Dictatorship". Bloomberg. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
^Geoff, Thale. "As Nicaragua's Election Draws Near, Concerns Grow Over Abuse of Power". WOLA. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
^"OAS Mission in Nicaragua Recommends Integral Electoral Reform". Organization of American States. 7 November 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
^"Nicaragua's Ortega re-elected president". BBC News. 7 November 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
^Cerda, Arlen (22 April 2018). "Los muertos de la represión que Daniel Ortega oculta". Confidencial (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 April 2018.
^Kahn, Carrie (23 April 2018). "Nicaragua Withdraws Social Security Changes That Sparked Unrest". NPR. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
^Garvin, Glenn (2 May 2018). "In Nicaragua, the political battle is moving from the streets to the negotiating table". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
^"CIDH condena nuevos hechos de violencia en Nicaragua". www.oas.org (in Spanish). Organization of American States. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. 25 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
^"Nicaraguan protesters call on Ortega to go". BBC News. BBC. 27 May 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
^ ab"Why isn't Nicaragua in the Paris agreement?". BBC News. 3 June 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
^"Nicaragua: a renewable energy paradise in Central America". World Bank. 25 October 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
^Nussbaum, Alex; Krukowska, Ewa; Carr, Mathew (8 December 2015). "Carbon Markets Are Making a Slow, But Steady, Comeback". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
^"Nicaragua to join Paris climate accord, leaving US and Syria isolated". The Guardian. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
^Stack, Liam (24 October 2017). "Only U.S. and Syria Now Oppose Paris Climate Deal, as Nicaragua Joins". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
^Noack, Rick (24 October 2017). "Being outside the Paris climate deal: Something now only the U.S. and Syria agree on". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
^"Paris Agreement – Status of Ratification". United Nations. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
^Grantham, H. S.; et al. (2020). "Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity - Supplementary Material". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 5978. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.5978G. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19493-3. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC7723057. PMID 33293507.
^"Large Lakes of the World". factmonster.com. Retrieved 25 May 2007.
^. nature.org. Archived from the original on 5 April 2007. Retrieved 25 May 2007.
^. american.edu. Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
^Muñoz, Néfer (2001). . Accents. Granada, Nicaragua: Tierramérica. Archived from the original on 10 May 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
^. Proyectos (in Spanish). Managua: Empresa Portuaria Nacional. 2009. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
^Alvarez, Gustavo (18 February 2008). . elnuevodiario.com.ni (in Spanish). Managua: El Nuevo Diario. Archived from the original on 13 July 2010. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
^Álvarez Hidalgo, Wendy (7 July 2010). . laprensa.co.ni (in Spanish). Managua: La Prensa. Archived from the original on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
^White, RL (24 August 2004). "Pittsburghers find once war-ravaged country is a good place to invest". Post Gazette. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^"Bosawas Bioreserve Nicaragua". Retrieved 25 May 2007.
^Trudgill, Peter; Watts, Richard J., eds. (2002). Alternative Histories of English. Routledge. p. 35. ISBN9780415233569. English-speaking protestants formed the majority of the population until about 1900...indigenous anglophones still form about 85 per cent of the population, which also includes non-anglophone Black Caribs...At least at the level of arolectal Whites, the accent is rhotic though obviously Caribbean....England established a protectorate over the local Miskito Indians, who the region is named after, and the area was a British dependency from 1740 to 1786. In Nicaragua the British founded the principal Miskito coast city of Bluefields... There are about 30,000 native speakers of English in this area of Nicaragua who look to Bluefields as their centre... The English of the anglophone Corn Islands is also typically Caribbean.
^"Nicaraguan Animal Guide". Vianica. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
^Rogers, Tim (15 May 2013). "In Latin America's Second Largest Rainforest, an Indigenous Tribe Fights for Its Land". Time. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
^Connor, Liz (17 November 2016). "10 reasons why you should visit Nicaragua". Evening Standard. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
^. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
^. The Nature Conservancy. Archived from the original on 5 April 2007. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
^"Nicaragua bans freshwater shark fishing amid dwindling population numbers". UnderwaterTimes.com. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
^Sesin, Carmen (8 November 2021). "'Rigged': Criticism mounts of Nicaragua's 'sham' elections under Ortega". NBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
^Blinken, Anthony. "New Sanctions Following Sham Elections in Nicaragua". White House. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
^"Freedom in the World 2022: Nicaragua". Freedom House. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
^"Chapter XXVI: Disarmament – No. 9 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons". United Nations Treaty Collection. 7 July 2017.
^ ab"Nicaragua". United States Department of State. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
^Johnson, Stephen; Kareff, Samuel and Asvapromtada, Siremorn (July 10, 2012) Nicaragua: Lessons from a Country with a Low Crime Rate. csis.org
^(PDF). p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2006. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^. CIA World Factbook. Archived from the original on 24 April 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^"Social indicators: Per capita GDP". United Nations. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^. www.cia.gov. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
^"Migration Information Source – Remittance Trends in Central America". Migrationinformation.org. April 2006. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^. Nordea. 2020. Archived from the original on 25 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
^. Pnud.org.ni. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^. Hdrstats.undp.org. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^Silva, JA. . IPS. Archived from the original on 11 September 2008. Retrieved 12 September 2008.
^. World Bank. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
^. Heritage.org. Archived from the original on 26 October 2007. Retrieved 2 November 2007.
^"Poland forgives nearly 31 million dollars of debt owed by Nicaragua". People's Daily Online. 21 March 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^"Nicaragua:Economy". U.S. State Department. Retrieved 2 November 2007.
^. Archived from the original on 28 August 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
^"Tobacco Sector Exceeds Expectations – CentralAmericaData :: The Regional Business Portal". www.centralamericadata.com.
^Sánchez, E (29 March 2010). "Nicaragua Plans to Sell Over $200 Million to Venezuela – CentralAmericaData :: The Regional Business Portal". CentralAmericaData. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^Dan Oancea: "Mining In Central America" January 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
^Tartter, JR. "The Nicaraguan Resistance". Country Studies. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2 November 2007.
^"Nicaragua completes Bluefields-Nueva Guinea highway". Bnamericas. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
^PBS Now Politics CAFTA. (PDF). Retrieved on 2012-05-02.
^Raphaelidis, Leia . Multinational Monitor. September 1, 1997
^Sarah Anderson . wakeupwalmart.com. April 15, 2005
^Dean, ANU College of Asia & the Pacific. (PDF). ANU College of Asia & the Pacific. Archived from the original on 5 July 2010.
^"Nicaragua – SOCIETY". Mongabay.com. Menlo Park, CA, USA: Mongabay. Retrieved 3 May 2014. CITATION: Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress. The Country Studies Series. Published 1988–1999. Original source: Merrill, Tim (1994). Nicaragua. lcweb2.loc.gov. Country Studies. Washington, DC: Federal Research Division, U.S. Library of Congress. ISBN978-0-8444-0831-6. OCLC 30623751. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
^. Laprensa.com.ni. 16 June 2010. Archived from the original on 16 January 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^"Nicaragua canal construction 'will not begin until 2015'". BBC News. bbc.co.uk. 4 January 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
^Howard, Brian Clark (22 February 2014). "Nicaraguan Canal Could Wreck Environment, Scientists Say". National Geographic. National Geographic Society. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
^"Nicaragua, Chinese tycoon say canal work to start in 2014". The Nation. 13 January 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
^. PanAm Post. 8 May 2017. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
^"Travel And Tourism in Nicaragua". Euromonitor International. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^ abAlemán, G. . Canal 2 (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 17 July 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2007.
^. ProNicaragua. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
^Carroll, Rory (7 January 2007). . Guardian Unlimited. London. Archived from the original on 7 June 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2007.
^. Sify. Archived from the original on 17 October 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
^"Background Note: Nicaragua; Economy". U.S. State Department. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^. INTUR. Archived from the original on 13 May 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^Acan-Efe (27 March 2009). "Foreign investment Increases by 79.1% in Nicaragua – CentralAmericaData :: The Regional Business Portal". CentralAmericaData. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^Parker, Nick (1 August 2012). "Can Nicaragua deliver on huge potential?". CNN Travel. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
^"Volcanoes in Nicaragua: Apoyo Volcano". ViaNica. Retrieved 12 August 2007.
^"Activities in and around the Apoyo Lagoon". ViaNica. Retrieved 12 August 2007.
^"Nicaraguan Ecotourism". Nicaragua.com. Retrieved 12 August 2007.
^. World Travel Guide. Archived from the original on 7 August 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2007.
^. ometepeislandinfo.com. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
^"World Population Prospects 2022: Demographic indicators by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100" (XSLX). population.un.org ("Total Population, as of 1 July (thousands)"). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
^Mauro Salzano, Francisco; Sans, Mónica (2014). "Interethnic admixture and the evolution of Latin American populations". Genetics and Molecular Biology. 37 (1 (suppl)): 151–170. doi:10.1590/s1415-47572014000200003. PMC3983580. PMID 24764751.
^"Genomic Components in America's demography". Retrieved 8 January 2018.
^"Urban population (% of total)". World Bank. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
^(PDF) (Report). INIDE. February 2016. p. 52. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
^ ab(PDF). Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (in Spanish). October 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 August 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
^"Expatriates of Nicaragua". Nicaragua.com. Retrieved 30 July 2007.
^Migration Information Source – El Salvador: Despite End to Civil War, Emigration Continues. Migrationinformation.org. Retrieved on 2011-04-29.
^"Population growth (annual %)". World Bank. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
^. UNData. Archived from the original on 27 June 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
^"Nicaragua – People and Society". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
^Baracco, L (2005). "From Acquiescence to Ethnic Militancy: Costeno Responses to Sandinista Anti-Imperialist Nationalism". Nicaragua: The Imagining of a Nation. From Nineteenth-Century Liberals to Twentieth-Century Sandinistas. New York: Algora Publishing.
^Zúñiga, Alejandro (11 January 2008). "Vestiges of Ancient Indigenous Language Still Found Today in Matagalpa's Northern Highlands". The Tico Times. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
^Urban, Matthias. "¿La Costa Pacífica de América Central y América del sur Como Zona de Difusión Lexical?: Primeras Aproximaciones" (PDF). ALFAL 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
^"Indigenous peoples in Nicaragua". IWGIA. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
^"Garifuna". World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples. Minority Rights Group International. 19 June 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
^Nicaraguan Americans—History, Indigenous Societies, Colonial Period, Independence, Modern Era. Everyculture.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-02.
^"Aqui Nicaragua Documentary, Program by Carlos Fernando Chamorro. Programa Inaugural de Aqui Nicaragua, Idiosincracia Nicaragüense" (in Spanish). YouTube.com. Archived from the original on 28 October 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^"LADR About NSL". www.columbia.edu. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
^"Evolution: Library: Birth of a Language". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
^Kocab, Annemarie; Senghas, Ann; Snedeker, Jesse (November 2016). "The emergence of temporal language in Nicaraguan Sign Language". Cognition. 156: 147–163. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2016.08.005. PMC5027136. PMID 27591549.
^"Languages of Nicaragua". Ethnologue. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^ACN (24 May 2022). "Nicaragua bishop on hunger strike to protest police harassment". ACN International. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
^ abDennis, G. "Nicaragua: Religion". Country Studies. Library of Congress. Retrieved 30 October 2007.
^"Nicaragua – Facts and Statistics". Mormon Newsroom. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
^Con Todo el Poder de la Informmación – El Nuevo Diario – Managua, Nicaragua 2011-05-13 at the Wayback Machine. Archivo.elnuevodiario.com.ni. Retrieved on 2011-04-29.
^Dolsten, Josefin (2 August 2017). "Tiny Nicaraguan Community Doubles in Size as 112 Convert". Times of Israel. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
^International Religious Freedom 2007 24 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine (Released October 2007, covers period of June 2006 to May 2007)
^"Nicaragua: People groups". Joshua Project. Retrieved 26 March 2007.
^(PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^. El Nuevo Diario. 18 May 2011. Archived from the original on 6 July 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
^Lazo, Flor (28 August 2011). . La Prensa Gráfica. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
^ abAngel-Urdinola D, Cortez R, Tanabe K. (2008). Equity, Access to Health Care Services and Expenditures on Health in Nicaragua. Health, Nutrition and Population of the World Bank.
^Sequeira M, Espinoza H, Amador JJ, Domingo G, Quintanilla M, and de los Santos T. (2011). The Nicaraguan Health System. PATH.
^Birn AE, Zimmerman S, Garfield R. (2000). To decentralize or not to decentralize, is that the question? Nicaraguan health policy under structural adjustment in the 1990s. International Journal of Health Services,30, 111–28.
^. UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
^Liu, D (6 December 2006). . CHINA VIEW. Archived from the original on 28 December 2006. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^Gilbert, D. "Nicaragua: Education". Country Studies. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
^Hanemann, U. . UNESCO. Archived from the original on 3 July 2007. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
^. Stanford University. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^. Global Exchange. Archived from the original on 30 September 2006. Retrieved 9 May 2007.
^Arrien, JB. "Literacy in Nicaragua" (PDF). UNESCO. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
^ abPiper, Alan T. (May 2018). "An investigation into the reported closing of the Nicaraguan gender gap". Mpra Paper.
^"Global Gender Gap Report" (PDF). Geneva: World Economic Forum. 2020. p. 9. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
^"Americas and the Caribbean". UN Women. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
^. Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights. 18 December 2018. Archived from the original on 26 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
^"Human development indices and indicators: 2018 statistical update" (PDF). 19 September 2018. doi:10.18356/9a42b856-en. S2CID 240203402. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^"Traditional Nicaraguan Costumes: Mestizaje Costume". ViaNica.com. Retrieved 21 November 2007.
^ ab. Encyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2007. Retrieved 3 August 2007.
^"Nicaragua, Eternal Land of Poets". Elcomercio.pe. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
^. Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on 6 December 2007. Retrieved 3 August 2007.
^"El Güegüense o Macho Ratón". ViaNica. Retrieved 3 August 2007.
^ abc"Try the culinary delights of Nicaragua cuisine". Nicaragua.com. Retrieved 8 May 2006.
^Gleeson, Bridget (15 April 2016). "How to eat like a Nicaraguan". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
^Gritzner, Charles F. (2010). Nicaragua. Infobase Publishing. ISBN9781604136197.
^"Country profile: Nicaragua". BBC News. 2 September 2009. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
^ abVilla, B. . Latino Baseball (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2 July 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2007.
^Washburn, G. . Major League Baseball. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
^"Baseball's Perfect Games: Dennis Martinez, Montreal Expos|. Also, Everth Cabrera who MLB debut was in 2009 season with San Diego Padres". The BASEBALL Page.com. Archived from the original on 13 November 2006. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
^"Salon de la Fama: Deportes en Nicaragua" (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 July 2007.
^. FIFA. Archived from the original on 24 June 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
^Panama win men's basketball gold at Central American Games in Managua Michael Pavitt (insidethegames.biz), 7 December 2017. Accessed 14 August 2020.
^"Continental Cup Finals start in Africa". FIVB. 22 June 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2021.
nicaragua, coordinates, ɑː, listen, spanish, nikaˈɾaɣwa, listen, officially, republic, spanish, república, help, info, largest, country, central, america, bordered, honduras, north, caribbean, east, costa, rica, south, pacific, ocean, west, managua, country, c. Coordinates 13 8 N 85 7 W 13 133 N 85 117 W 13 133 85 117 Nicaragua ˌ n ɪ k e ˈ r ɑː ɡ w e ˈ r ae ɡ ɡ j u e listen Spanish nikaˈɾaɣwa listen officially the Republic of Nicaragua Spanish Republica de Nicaragua help info is the largest country in Central America bordered by Honduras to the north the Caribbean to the east Costa Rica to the south and the Pacific Ocean to the west Managua is the country s capital and largest city As of 2015 update it was estimated to be the second largest city in Central America Nicaragua s multiethnic population of six million includes people of mestizo indigenous European and African heritage The main language is Spanish Indigenous tribes on the Mosquito Coast speak their own languages and English Republic of NicaraguaRepublica de Nicaragua Spanish Flag Coat of armsMotto En Dios confiamos Spanish In God We Trust a Anthem Salve a ti Nicaragua Spanish Hail to Thee Nicaragua source source Capitaland largest cityManagua12 6 N 86 14 W 12 100 N 86 233 W 12 100 86 233Official languagesSpanishRecognised regional languagesEnglishMiskitoRamaSumoMiskito Coast CreoleGarifunaRama Cay CreoleEthnic groups 2011 2 69 Mestizo mixed White and Indigenous 17 White9 Black5 IndigenousReligion 2015 3 4 84 4 Christianity 55 0 Roman Catholic 27 2 Protestant 2 2 Other Christian14 7 No religion0 9 OtherDemonym s NicaraguanPinolero Pinolera colloquial GovernmentUnitary dominant party presidential republic PresidentDaniel Ortega Vice PresidentRosario MurilloLegislatureNational AssemblyIndependence from Spain Mexico and the Federal Republic of Central America Declared15 September 1821 Recognized25 July 1850 from the First Mexican Empire1 July 1823 from the Federal Republic of Central America31 May 1838 Admitted to the United Nations24 October 1945 Revolution19 July 1979 Current constitution9 January 1987 5 Area Total130 375 km2 50 338 sq mi 96th Water 7 14Population 2022 estimate6 301 880 6 110th Density51 km2 132 1 sq mi 155th GDP PPP 2018 estimate Total 35 757 billion 7 115th Per capita 5 683 7 129th GDP nominal 2018 estimate Total 13 380 billion 7 127th Per capita 2 126 7 134th Gini 2014 46 2 8 highHDI 2021 0 667 9 medium 126thCurrencyCordoba NIO Time zoneUTC 6 CST Driving siderightCalling code 505ISO 3166 codeNIInternet TLD niOriginally inhabited by various indigenous cultures since ancient times the region was conquered by the Spanish Empire in the 16th century Nicaragua gained independence from Spain in 1821 The Mosquito Coast followed a different historical path being colonized by the English in the 17th century and later coming under British rule It became an autonomous territory of Nicaragua in 1860 and its northernmost part was transferred to Honduras in 1960 Since its independence Nicaragua has undergone periods of political unrest dictatorship occupation and fiscal crisis including the Nicaraguan Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s and the Contra War of the 1980s The mixture of cultural traditions has generated substantial diversity in folklore cuisine music and literature particularly the latter given the literary contributions of Nicaraguan poets and writers such as Ruben Dario Known as the land of lakes and volcanoes 10 11 Nicaragua is also home to the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve the second largest rainforest of the Americas 12 The biological diversity warm tropical climate and active volcanoes make Nicaragua an increasingly popular tourist destination 13 14 Nicaragua co founded the United Nations 15 and is also a member of the Non Aligned Movement 16 Organization of American States 17 Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America 18 and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States 19 Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2 1 Pre Columbian history 2 2 Spanish era 1523 1821 2 3 Independent Nicaragua from 1821 to 1909 2 4 United States occupation 1909 1933 2 5 Somoza dynasty 1927 1979 2 6 Nicaraguan Revolution 1960s 1990 2 7 Post war 1990 present 3 Geography and climate 3 1 Pacific lowlands 3 2 North central highlands 3 3 Caribbean lowlands 3 4 Flora and fauna 4 Government 4 1 Foreign relations 4 2 Military 4 3 Law enforcement 4 4 Administrative divisions 5 Economy 5 1 Tourism 6 Demographics 6 1 Ethnic groups 6 1 1 Black Creoles 6 1 2 Indigenous population 6 2 Languages 6 3 Largest cities 6 4 Religion 6 5 Immigration 6 6 Diaspora 6 7 Healthcare 6 8 Education 6 9 Gender equality 7 Culture 7 1 Music 7 2 Dance 7 3 Literature 7 4 Cuisine 7 5 Media 7 6 Sports 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 Additional sources 12 External links 12 1 Government 12 2 OtherEtymology EditThere are two prevailing theories on how the name Nicaragua came to be The first is that the name was coined by Spanish colonists based on the name Nicarao 20 who was the chieftain or cacique of a powerful indigenous tribe encountered by the Spanish conquistador Gil Gonzalez Davila during his entry into southwestern Nicaragua in 1522 This theory holds that the name Nicaragua was formed from Nicarao and agua Spanish for water to reference the fact that there are two large lakes and several other bodies of water within the country 21 However as of 2002 it was determined that the cacique s real name was Macuilmiquiztli which meant Five Deaths in the Nahuatl language rather than Nicarao 22 23 24 25 The second theory is that the country s name comes from any of the following Nahuatl words nic anahuac which meant Anahuac reached this far or the Nahuas came this far or those who come from Anahuac came this far nican nahua which meant here are the Nahuas or nic atl nahuac which meant here by the water or surrounded by water 20 21 26 27 History EditMain article History of Nicaragua Pre Columbian history Edit An ancient petroglyph on Ometepe Island Paleo Americans first inhabited what is now known as Nicaragua as far back as 12 000 BCE 28 In later pre Columbian times Nicaragua s indigenous people were part of the Intermediate Area 29 33 between the Mesoamerican and Andean cultural regions and within the influence of the Isthmo Colombian Area Nicaragua s central region and its Caribbean coast were inhabited by Macro Chibchan language ethnic groups such as the Miskito Rama Mayangna and Matagalpas 29 20 They had coalesced in Central America and migrated both to and from present day northern Colombia and nearby areas 30 Their food came primarily from hunting and gathering but also fishing and slash and burn agriculture 29 33 31 32 65 At the end of the 15th century western Nicaragua was inhabited by several indigenous peoples related by culture to the Mesoamerican civilizations of the Aztec and Maya and by language to the Mesoamerican language area 33 The Chorotegas were Mangue language ethnic groups who had arrived in Nicaragua from what is now the Mexican state of Chiapas sometime around 800 CE 26 32 26 33 The Nicarao people were a branch of Nahuas who spoke the Nawat dialect and also came from Chiapas around 1200 CE 34 Prior to that the Nicaraos had been associated with the Toltec civilization 32 26 33 34 35 36 37 Both Chorotegas and Nicaraos originated in Mexico s Cholula valley 34 and migrated south 32 26 33 A third group the Subtiabas were an Oto Manguean people who migrated from the Mexican state of Guerrero around 1200 CE 38 159 Additionally there were trade related colonies in Nicaragua set up by the Aztecs starting in the 14th century 32 26 33 Spanish era 1523 1821 Edit Further information Spanish colonization of the Americas and Spanish conquest of Nicaragua The Colonial City of Granada near Lake Nicaragua is one of the most visited sites in Central America In 1502 on his fourth voyage Christopher Columbus became the first European known to have reached what is now Nicaragua as he sailed southeast toward the Isthmus of Panama 29 193 32 92 Columbus explored the Mosquito Coast on the Atlantic side of Nicaragua 39 but did not encounter any indigenous people 20 years later the Spaniards returned to Nicaragua this time to its southwestern part The first attempt to conquer Nicaragua was by the conquistador Gil Gonzalez Davila 40 who had arrived in Panama in January 1520 In 1522 Gonzalez Davila ventured to the area that later became the Rivas Department of Nicaragua 29 35 32 92 There he encountered an indigenous Nahua tribe led by chief Macuilmiquiztli whose name has sometimes been erroneously referred to as Nicarao or Nicaragua The tribe s capital was Quauhcapolca 25 41 42 Gonzalez Davila conversed with Macuilmiquiztli thanks to two indigenous interpreters who had learned Spanish whom he had brought along 24 After exploring and gathering gold 25 29 35 32 55 in the fertile western valleys Gonzalez Davila and his men were attacked and driven off by the Chorotega led by chief Diriangen 25 43 The Spanish tried to convert the tribes to Christianity Macuilmiquiztli s tribe was baptized 25 32 86 but Diriangen was openly hostile to the Spaniards Western Nicaragua at the Pacific Coast became a port and shipbuilding facility for the Galleons plying the waters between Manila Philippines and Acapulco Mexico 44 The first Spanish permanent settlements were founded in 1524 40 That year the conquistador Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba founded two of Nicaragua s main cities Granada on Lake Nicaragua and then Leon west of Lake Managua 29 35 193 32 92 Cordoba soon built defenses for the cities and fought against incursions by other conquistadors 32 92 Cordoba was later publicly beheaded for having defied his superior Pedro Arias Davila 29 35 Cordoba s tomb and remains were discovered in 2000 in the ruins of Leon Viejo 45 The clashes among Spanish forces did not impede their destruction of the indigenous people and their culture The series of battles came to be known as the War of the Captains 46 Pedro Arias Davila was a winner 29 35 although he lost control of Panama he moved to Nicaragua and established his base in Leon 47 In 1527 Leon became the capital of the colony 32 93 47 Through diplomacy Arias Davila became the colony s first governor 45 Without women in their parties 32 123 the Spanish conquerors took Nahua and Chorotega wives and partners beginning the multiethnic mix of indigenous and European stock now known as mestizo which constitutes the great majority of the population in western Nicaragua 33 Many indigenous people were killed by European infectious diseases compounded by neglect by the Spaniards who controlled their subsistence 40 Many other indigenous peoples were captured and transported as slaves to Panama and Peru between 1526 and 1540 29 193 32 104 105 In 1610 the Momotombo volcano erupted destroying the city of Leon 48 The city was rebuilt northwest of the original 47 48 which is now known as the ruins of Leon Viejo During the American Revolutionary War Central America was subject to conflict between Britain and Spain British navy admiral Horatio Nelson led expeditions in the Battle of San Fernando de Omoa in 1779 and on the San Juan River in 1780 the latter of which had temporary success before being abandoned due to disease Independent Nicaragua from 1821 to 1909 Edit Federal Republic of Central America and British colony of the Mosquito Coast in 1830 Painting of the Battle of San Jacinto during the Filibuster War The Act of Independence of Central America dissolved the Captaincy General of Guatemala in September 1821 and Nicaragua soon became part of the First Mexican Empire In July 1823 after the overthrow of the Mexican monarchy in March of the same year Nicaragua joined the newly formed United Provinces of Central America country later known as the Federal Republic of Central America Nicaragua definitively became an independent republic in 1838 49 The early years of independence were characterized by rivalry between the Liberal elite of Leon and the Conservative elite of Granada which often degenerated into civil war particularly during the 1840s and 1850s Managua rose to undisputed preeminence as the nation s capital in 1852 to allay the rivalry between the two feuding cities 50 51 Following the start 1848 of the California Gold Rush Nicaragua provided a route for travelers from the eastern United States to journey to California by sea via the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua 29 81 Invited by the Liberals in 1855 to join their struggle against the Conservatives the American adventurer and filibuster William Walker set himself up as President of Nicaragua after conducting a farcical election in 1856 his presidency lasted less than a year 52 Military forces from Costa Rica Honduras El Salvador Guatemala and Nicaragua itself united to drive Walker out of Nicaragua in 1857 53 54 55 bringing three decades of Conservative rule Great Britain which had claimed the Mosquito Coast as a protectorate since 1655 delegated the area to Honduras in 1859 before transferring it to Nicaragua in 1860 The Mosquito Coast remained an autonomous area until 1894 Jose Santos Zelaya President of Nicaragua from 1893 to 1909 negotiated the integration of the Mosquito Coast into Nicaragua In his honor the region became Zelaya Department Throughout the late 19th century the United States and several European powers considered various schemes to link the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic by building a canal across Nicaragua 56 United States occupation 1909 1933 Edit See also United States occupation of Nicaragua In 1909 the United States supported the conservative led forces rebelling against President Zelaya U S motives included differences over the proposed Nicaragua Canal Nicaragua s potential to destabilize the region and Zelaya s attempts to regulate foreign access to Nicaraguan natural resources On November 18 1909 U S warships were sent to the area after 500 revolutionaries including two Americans were executed by order of Zelaya The U S justified the intervention by claiming to protect U S lives and property Zelaya resigned later that year In August 1912 the President of Nicaragua Adolfo Diaz requested the secretary of war General Luis Mena to resign for fear he was leading an insurrection Mena fled Managua with his brother the chief of police of Managua to start an insurrection After Mena s troops captured steam boats of an American company the U S delegation asked President Diaz to ensure the safety of American citizens and property during the insurrection He replied he could not and asked the U S to intervene in the conflict 57 58 U S Marines occupied Nicaragua from 1912 to 1933 29 111 197 59 except for a nine month period beginning in 1925 In 1914 the Bryan Chamorro Treaty was signed giving the U S control over a proposed canal through Nicaragua as well as leases for potential canal defenses 60 After the U S Marines left another violent conflict between Liberals and Conservatives in 1926 resulted in the return of U S Marines 61 Rebel leader Augusto Cesar Sandino center From 1927 to 1933 rebel general Augusto Cesar Sandino led a sustained guerrilla war against the Conservative regime and then against the U S Marines whom he fought for over five years 62 When the Americans left in 1933 they set up the Guardia Nacional national guard 63 a combined military and police force trained and equipped by the Americans and designed to be loyal to U S interests After the U S Marines withdrew from Nicaragua in January 1933 Sandino and the newly elected administration of President Juan Bautista Sacasa reached an agreement that Sandino would cease his guerrilla activities in return for amnesty a land grant for an agricultural colony and retention of an armed band of 100 men for a year 64 However due to a growing hostility between Sandino and National Guard director Anastasio Somoza Garcia and a fear of armed opposition from Sandino Somoza Garcia ordered his assassination 63 65 66 Sacasa invited Sandino for dinner and to sign a peace treaty at the Presidential House on the night of February 21 1934 After leaving the Presidential House Sandino s car was stopped by National Guard soldiers and they kidnapped him Later that night Sandino was assassinated by National Guard soldiers Later hundreds of men women and children from Sandino s agricultural colony were murdered 67 Somoza dynasty 1927 1979 Edit President Anastasio Somoza Garcia left with Dominican President Rafael Trujillo 1952 Nicaragua has experienced several military dictatorships the longest being the hereditary dictatorship of the Somoza family who ruled for 43 nonconsecutive years during the 20th century 68 The Somoza family came to power as part of a U S engineered pact in 1927 that stipulated the formation of the Guardia Nacional to replace the marines who had long reigned in the country 69 Somoza Garcia slowly eliminated officers in the national guard who might have stood in his way and then deposed Sacasa and became president on January 1 1937 in a rigged election 63 In 1941 during the Second World War Nicaragua declared war on Japan 8 December Germany 11 December Italy 11 December Bulgaria 19 December Hungary 19 December and Romania 19 December Only Romania reciprocated declaring war on Nicaragua on the same day 19 December 1941 70 No soldiers were sent to the war but Somoza Garcia confiscated properties held by German Nicaraguan residents 71 In 1945 Nicaragua was among the first countries to ratify the United Nations Charter 72 Anastasio Somoza Debayle center with Richard Nixon 1971 On September 29 1956 73 Somoza Garcia was shot to death by Rigoberto Lopez Perez a 27 year old Liberal Nicaraguan poet Luis Somoza Debayle the eldest son of the late president was appointed president by the congress and officially took charge of the country 63 He is remembered by some as moderate but after only a few years in power died of a heart attack His successor as president was Rene Schick Gutierrez whom most Nicaraguans viewed as nothing more than a puppet of the Somozas 74 Somoza Garcia s youngest son Anastasio Somoza Debayle often referred to simply as Somoza became president in 1967 An earthquake in 1972 destroyed nearly 90 of Managua including much of its infrastructure 75 Instead of helping to rebuild the city Somoza siphoned off relief money The mishandling of relief money also prompted Pittsburgh Pirates star Roberto Clemente to personally fly to Managua on December 31 1972 but he died en route in an airplane accident 76 77 Even the economic elite were reluctant to support Somoza as he had acquired monopolies in industries that were key to rebuilding the nation 78 The Somoza family was among a few families or groups of influential firms which reaped most of the benefits of the country s growth from the 1950s to the 1970s When Somoza was deposed by the Sandinistas in 1979 the family s worth was estimated to be between 500 million and 1 5 billion 79 Nicaraguan Revolution 1960s 1990 Edit Main article Nicaraguan Revolution United States supported anti Sandinista Contra rebels ARDE Frente Sur in 1987 In 1961 Carlos Fonseca looked back to the historical figure of Sandino and along with two other people one of whom was believed to be Casimiro Sotelo who was later assassinated founded the Sandinista National Liberation Front FSLN 63 After the 1972 earthquake and Somoza s apparent corruption the ranks of the Sandinistas were flooded with young disaffected Nicaraguans who no longer had anything to lose 80 In December 1974 a group of the FSLN in an attempt to kidnap U S ambassador Turner Shelton held some Managuan partygoers hostage after killing the host former agriculture minister Jose Maria Castillo until the Somozan government met their demands for a large ransom and free transport to Cuba Somoza granted this then subsequently sent his national guard out into the countryside to look for the kidnappers described by opponents of the kidnapping as terrorists 81 On January 10 1978 Pedro Joaquin Chamorro Cardenal the editor of the national newspaper La Prensa and ardent opponent of Somoza was assassinated 82 It is alleged that the planners and perpetrators of the murder were at the highest echelons of the Somoza regime 82 The Sandinistas forcefully took power in July 1979 ousting Somoza and prompting the exodus of the majority of Nicaragua s middle class wealthy landowners and professionals many of whom settled in the United States 83 84 85 The Carter administration decided to work with the new government while attaching a provision for aid forfeiture if it was found to be assisting insurgencies in neighboring countries 86 Somoza fled the country and eventually ended up in Paraguay where he was assassinated in September 1980 allegedly by members of the Argentinian Revolutionary Workers Party 87 In 1980 the Carter administration provided 60 million in aid to Nicaragua under the Sandinistas but the aid was suspended when the administration obtained evidence of Nicaraguan shipment of arms to El Salvadoran rebels 88 Most people sided with Nicaragua against the Sandinistas 89 In response to the coming to power of the Sandinistas various rebel groups collectively known as the Contras were formed to oppose the new government The Reagan administration authorized the CIA to help the Contra rebels with funding weapons and training 90 The Contras operated from camps in the neighboring countries of Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south 90 10th anniversary of the Nicaraguan revolution in Managua 1989 They engaged in a systematic campaign of terror among rural Nicaraguans to disrupt the social reform projects of the Sandinistas Several historians have criticized the Contra campaign and the Reagan administration s support for the Contras citing the brutality and numerous human rights violations of the Contras LaRamee and Polakoff for example describe the destruction of health centers schools and cooperatives at the hands of the rebels 91 and others have contended that murder rape and torture occurred on a large scale in Contra dominated areas 92 The U S also carried out a campaign of economic sabotage and disrupted shipping by planting underwater mines in Nicaragua s port of Corinto 93 an action condemned by the International Court of Justice as illegal 94 The court also found that the U S encouraged acts contrary to humanitarian law by producing the manual Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare and disseminating it to the Contras 95 The manual among other things advised on how to rationalize killings of civilians 96 The U S also sought to place economic pressure on the Sandinistas and the Reagan administration imposed a full trade embargo 97 The Sandinistas were also accused of human rights abuses including torture disappearances and mass executions 98 99 The Inter American Commission on Human Rights investigated abuses by Sandinista forces including an execution of 35 to 40 Miskitos in December 1981 100 and an execution of 75 people in November 1984 101 In the Nicaraguan general elections of 1984 which were judged by at least one visiting 30 person delegation of NGO representatives to have been free and fair 102 the Sandinistas won the parliamentary election and their leader Daniel Ortega won the presidential election 103 The Reagan administration criticized the elections as a sham based on the claim that Arturo Cruz the candidate nominated by the Coordinadora Democratica Nicaraguense comprising three right wing political parties did not participate in the elections However the administration privately argued against Cruz s participation for fear that his involvement would legitimize the elections and thus weaken the case for American aid to the Contras 104 According to Martin Kriele the results of the election were rigged 105 106 107 108 In 1983 the U S Congress prohibited federal funding of the Contras but the Reagan administration illegally continued to back them by covertly selling arms to Iran and channeling the proceeds to the Contras in the Iran Contra affair for which several members of the Reagan administration were convicted of felonies 109 The International Court of Justice in regard to the case of Nicaragua v United States in 1986 found the United States of America was under an obligation to make reparation to the Republic of Nicaragua for all injury caused to Nicaragua by certain breaches of obligations under customary international law and treaty law committed by the United States of America 110 During the war between the Contras and the Sandinistas 30 000 people were killed 111 Post war 1990 present Edit Violeta Chamorro in 1990 became the first woman president democratically elected in the Americas In the Nicaraguan general election 1990 a coalition of anti Sandinista parties from the left and right of the political spectrum led by Violeta Chamorro the widow of Pedro Joaquin Chamorro Cardenal defeated the Sandinistas The defeat shocked the Sandinistas who had expected to win 112 Exit polls of Nicaraguans reported Chamorro s victory over Ortega was achieved with a 55 majority 113 Chamorro was the first woman president of Nicaragua Ortega vowed he would govern desde abajo from below 114 Chamorro came to office with an economy in ruins primarily because of the financial and social costs of the Contra War with the Sandinista led government 115 In the next election the Nicaraguan general election 1996 Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas of the FSLN lost again this time to Arnoldo Aleman of the Constitutional Liberal Party PLC Flooding in Lake Managua after Hurricane Mitch in 1998 In the 2001 elections the PLC again defeated the FSLN with Aleman s Vice President Enrique Bolanos succeeding him as president However Aleman was convicted and sentenced in 2003 to 20 years in prison for embezzlement money laundering and corruption 116 liberal and Sandinista parliament members combined to strip the presidential powers of President Bolanos and his ministers calling for his resignation and threatening impeachment The Sandinistas said they no longer supported Bolanos after U S Secretary of State Colin Powell told Bolanos to distance from the FSLN 117 This slow motion coup d etat was averted partially by pressure from the Central American presidents who vowed not to recognize any movement that removed Bolanos the U S the OAS and the European Union also opposed the action 118 Before the general elections on November 5 2006 the National Assembly passed a bill further restricting abortion in Nicaragua 119 As a result Nicaragua is one of five countries in the world where abortion is illegal with no exceptions 120 Legislative and presidential elections took place on November 5 2006 Ortega returned to the presidency with 37 99 of the vote This percentage was enough to win the presidency outright because of a change in electoral law which lowered the percentage requiring a runoff election from 45 to 35 with a 5 margin of victory 121 Nicaragua s 2011 general election resulted in re election of Ortega with a landslide victory and 62 46 of the vote In 2014 the National Assembly approved changes to the constitution allowing Ortega to run for a third successive term 122 In November 2016 Ortega was elected for his third consecutive term his fourth overall International monitoring of the elections was initially prohibited and as a result the validity of the elections has been disputed but observation by the OAS was announced in October 123 124 Ortega was reported by Nicaraguan election officials as having received 72 of the vote However the Broad Front for Democracy FAD having promoted boycotts of the elections claimed that 70 of voters had abstained while election officials claimed 65 8 participation 125 In April 2018 demonstrations opposed a decree increasing taxes and reducing benefits in the country s pension system Local independent press organizations had documented at least 19 dead and over 100 missing in the ensuing conflict 126 A reporter from NPR spoke to protestors who explained that while the initial issue was about the pension reform the uprisings that spread across the country reflected many grievances about the government s time in office and that the fight is for President Ortega and his vice president wife to step down 127 April 24 2018 marked the day of the greatest march in opposition of the Sandinista party On May 2 2018 university student leaders publicly announced that they give the government seven days to set a date and time for a dialogue that was promised to the people due to the recent events of repression The students also scheduled another march on that same day for a peaceful protest As of May 2018 estimates of the death toll were as high as 63 many of them student protesters and the wounded totalled more than 400 128 Following a working visit from May 17 to 21 the Inter American Commission on Human Rights adopted precautionary measures aimed at protecting members of the student movement and their families after testimonies indicated the majority of them had suffered acts of violence and death threats for their participation 129 In the last week of May thousands who accuse Mr Ortega and his wife of acting like dictators joined in resuming anti government rallies after attempted peace talks have remained unresolved 130 Geography and climate EditMain articles Geography of Nicaragua and Climate of Nicaragua See also Volcanoes of Nicaragua Nicaragua map of Koppen climate classification Nicaragua occupies a landmass of 130 967 km2 50 567 sq mi which makes it slightly larger than England Nicaragua has three distinct geographical regions the Pacific lowlands fertile valleys which the Spanish colonists settled the Amerrisque Mountains North central highlands and the Mosquito Coast Atlantic lowlands Caribbean lowlands The low plains of the Atlantic Coast are 97 km 60 mi wide in areas They have long been exploited for their natural resources On the Pacific side of Nicaragua are the two largest fresh water lakes in Central America Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua Surrounding these lakes and extending to their northwest along the rift valley of the Gulf of Fonseca are fertile lowland plains with soil highly enriched by ash from nearby volcanoes of the central highlands Nicaragua s abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems contribute to Mesoamerica s designation as a biodiversity hotspot Nicaragua has made efforts to become less dependent on fossil fuels and it expects to acquire 90 of its energy from renewable resources by 2020 131 132 Nicaragua was one of the few countries that did not enter an INDC at COP21 133 134 Nicaragua initially chose not to join the Paris Climate Accord because it felt that much more action is required by individual countries on restricting global temperature rise 131 However in October 2017 Nicaragua made the decision to join the agreement 135 136 137 It ratified this agreement on November 22 2017 138 Nearly one fifth of Nicaragua is designated as protected areas like national parks nature reserves and biological reserves The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 3 63 10 ranking it 146th globally out of 172 countries 139 Geophysically Nicaragua is surrounded by the Caribbean Plate an oceanic tectonic plate underlying Central America and the Cocos Plate Since Central America is a major subduction zone Nicaragua hosts most of the Central American Volcanic Arc On 9 June 2021 Nicaragua launched a new volcanic supersite research in strengthening the monitoring and surveillance of the country s 21 active volcanoes Pacific lowlands Edit Nicaragua is known as the land of lakes and volcanoes pictured is Concepcion volcano as seen from Maderas volcano In the west of the country these lowlands consist of a broad hot fertile plain Punctuating this plain are several large volcanoes of the Cordillera Los Maribios mountain range including Mombacho just outside Granada and Momotombo near Leon The lowland area runs from the Gulf of Fonseca to Nicaragua s Pacific border with Costa Rica south of Lake Nicaragua Lake Nicaragua is the largest freshwater lake in Central America 20th largest in the world 140 and is home to some of the world s rare freshwater sharks Nicaraguan shark 141 The Pacific lowlands region is the most populous with over half of the nation s population The eruptions of western Nicaragua s 40 volcanoes many of which are still active have sometimes devastated settlements but also have enriched the land with layers of fertile ash The geologic activity that produces vulcanism also breeds powerful earthquakes Tremors occur regularly throughout the Pacific zone and earthquakes have nearly destroyed the capital city Managua more than once 142 Penas Blancas part of the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve is the second largest rainforest in the Western Hemisphere after the Amazonian Rainforest in Brazil Located northeast of the city of Jinotega in Northeastern Nicaragua Most of the Pacific zone is tierra caliente the hot land of tropical Spanish America at elevations under 610 metres 2 000 ft Temperatures remain virtually constant throughout the year with highs ranging between 29 4 and 32 2 C 85 and 90 F After a dry season lasting from November to April rains begin in May and continue to October giving the Pacific lowlands 1 016 to 1 524 millimetres 40 to 60 in of precipitation Good soils and a favourable climate combine to make western Nicaragua the country s economic and demographic centre The southwestern shore of Lake Nicaragua lies within 24 kilometres 15 mi of the Pacific Ocean Thus the lake and the San Juan River were often proposed in the 19th century as the longest part of a canal route across the Central American isthmus Canal proposals were periodically revived in the 20th and 21st centuries 142 143 Roughly a century after the opening of the Panama Canal the prospect of a Nicaraguan ecocanal remains a topic of interest 144 145 146 147 In addition to its beach and resort communities the Pacific lowlands contains most of Nicaragua s Spanish colonial architecture and artifacts Cities such as Leon and Granada abound in colonial architecture founded in 1524 Granada is the oldest colonial city in the Americas 148 North central highlands Edit The Somoto Canyon National Monument is located in Somoto in the Madriz Department in Northern Nicaragua Northern Nicaragua is the most diversified region producing coffee cattle milk products vegetables wood gold and flowers Its extensive forests rivers and geography are suited for ecotourism The central highlands are a significantly less populated and economically developed area in the north between Lake Nicaragua and the Caribbean Forming the country s tierra templada or temperate land at elevations between 610 and 1 524 metres 2 000 and 5 000 ft the highlands enjoy mild temperatures with daily highs of 23 9 to 26 7 C 75 to 80 F This region has a longer wetter rainy season than the Pacific lowlands making erosion a problem on its steep slopes Rugged terrain poor soils and low population density characterize the area as a whole but the northwestern valleys are fertile and well settled 142 The area has a cooler climate than the Pacific lowlands About a quarter of the country s agriculture takes place in this region with coffee grown on the higher slopes Oaks pines moss ferns and orchids are abundant in the cloud forests of the region Bird life in the forests of the central region includes resplendent quetzals goldfinches hummingbirds jays and toucanets Caribbean lowlands Edit This large rainforest region is irrigated by several large rivers and is sparsely populated The area has 57 of the territory of the nation and most of its mineral resources It has been heavily exploited but much natural diversity remains The Rio Coco is the largest river in Central America it forms the border with Honduras The Caribbean coastline is much more sinuous than its generally straight Pacific counterpart lagoons and deltas make it very irregular citation needed Nicaragua s Bosawas Biosphere Reserve is in the Atlantic lowlands part of which is located in the municipality of Siuna it protects 7 300 square kilometres 1 800 000 acres of La Mosquitia forest almost 7 of the country s area making it the largest rainforest north of the Amazon in Brazil 149 The municipalities of Siuna Rosita and Bonanza known as the Mining Triangle are located in the region known as the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region in the Caribbean lowlands Bonanza still contains an active gold mine owned by HEMCO Siuna and Rosita do not have active mines but panning for gold is still very common in the region citation needed Nicaragua s tropical east coast is very different from the rest of the country The climate is predominantly tropical with high temperature and high humidity Around the area s principal city of Bluefields English is widely spoken along with the official Spanish The population more closely resembles that found in many typical Caribbean ports than the rest of Nicaragua 150 A great variety of birds can be observed including eagles toucans parakeets and macaws Other animal life in the area includes different species of monkeys anteaters white tailed deer and tapirs 151 Flora and fauna Edit Main article Fauna of Nicaragua Guardabarranco ravine guard is Nicaragua s national bird Nicaragua is home to a rich variety of plants and animals Nicaragua is located in the middle of the Americas and this privileged location has enabled the country to serve as host to a great biodiversity This factor along with the weather and light altitudinal variations allows the country to harbor 248 species of amphibians and reptiles 183 species of mammals 705 bird species 640 fish species and about 5 796 species of plants The region of great forests is located on the eastern side of the country Rainforests are found in the Rio San Juan Department and in the autonomous regions of RAAN and RAAS This biome groups together the greatest biodiversity in the country and is largely protected by the Indio Maiz Biological Reserve in the south and the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve in the north The Nicaraguan jungles which represent about 9 700 square kilometres 2 4 million acres are considered the lungs of Central America and comprise the second largest sized rainforest of the Americas 152 153 There are currently 78 protected areas in Nicaragua covering more than 22 000 square kilometres 8 500 sq mi or about 17 of its landmass These include wildlife refuges and nature reserves that shelter a wide range of ecosystems There are more than 1 400 animal species classified thus far in Nicaragua Some 12 000 species of plants have been classified thus far in Nicaragua with an estimated 5 000 species not yet classified 154 The bull shark is a species of shark that can survive for an extended period of time in fresh water It can be found in Lake Nicaragua and the San Juan River where it is often referred to as the Nicaragua shark 155 Nicaragua has recently banned freshwater fishing of the Nicaragua shark and the sawfish in response to the declining populations of these animals 156 Government EditMain article Politics of Nicaragua This section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Nicaragua news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2017 Learn how and when to remove this template message Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega with then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow in 2008 Politics of Nicaragua takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic whereby the President of Nicaragua is both head of state and head of government and of a multi party system Executive power is exercised by the government Legislative power is vested in both the government and the national assembly The judiciary makes up the third branch of government Between 2007 and 2009 Nicaragua s major political parties discussed the possibility of going from a presidential system to a parliamentary system Their reason there would be a clear differentiation between the head of government prime minister and the head of state president Nevertheless it was argued that the true reason for this proposal was to find a legal way for President Ortega to stay in power after January 2012 when his second and last government period was expected to end Ortega was reelected to a third term in November 2016 and a fourth in 2021 both elections were tainted by credible reports of large scale fraud voter intimidation and politically motivated arrests of opposition party leaders Independent observers were barred from the polls The OAS United States and European Union all described the 2021 election as a sham due to these issues 157 158 Since Daniel Ortega s election in 2006 liberal democratic norms and individual rights in practice have deteriorated Parties other than the ruling FSLN have been repressed through arbitrary arrest and detention of opposition candidates and activists Most government jobs de facto require membership in the FSLN Opposition media has been repressed through arrests of journalists and seizure of broadcasting and printing materials 159 Foreign relations Edit Main article Foreign relations of Nicaragua Nicaragua pursues an independent foreign policy Nicaragua is in territorial disputes with Colombia over the Archipelago de San Andres y Providencia and Quita Sueno Bank and with Costa Rica over a boundary dispute involving the San Juan River Military Edit Main article Nicaraguan Armed Forces AN 26 and Mi 17 are used by the Nicaraguan Air Force The Nicaraguan Armed Forces consist of various military contingents Nicaragua has an army navy and an air force There are roughly 14 000 active duty personnel which is much less compared to the numbers seen during the Nicaraguan Revolution Although the army has had a rough military history a portion of its forces which were known as the national guard became integrated with what is now the National Police of Nicaragua In essence the police became a gendarmerie The National Police of Nicaragua are rarely if ever labeled as a gendarmerie The other elements and manpower that were not devoted to the national police were sent over to cultivate the new Army of Nicaragua The age to serve in the armed forces is 17 and conscription is not imminent As of 2006 update the military budget was roughly 0 7 of Nicaragua s expenditures In 2017 Nicaragua signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons 160 Law enforcement Edit Main article Law enforcement in Nicaragua National Police of Nicaragua The National Police of Nicaragua Force in Spanish La Policia Nacional Nicaraguense is the national police of Nicaragua The force is in charge of regular police functions and at times works in conjunction with the Nicaraguan military making it an indirect and rather subtle version of a gendarmerie citation needed However the Nicaraguan National Police work separately and have a different established set of norms than the nation s military citation needed According to a recent US Department of State report corruption is endemic especially within law enforcement and the judiciary and arbitrary arrests torture and harsh prison conditions are the norm 161 Nicaragua is the safest country in Central America and one of the safest in Latin America according to the United Nations Development Program with a homicide rate of 8 7 per 100 000 inhabitants 162 Administrative divisions Edit Main article Departments of Nicaragua Nicaragua is a unitary republic For administrative purposes it is divided into 15 departments departamentos and two self governing regions autonomous communities based on the Spanish model The departments are then subdivided into 153 municipios municipalities The two autonomous regions are the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region and South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region often referred to as RACCN and RACCS respectively 163 Department Capital city1 Boaco Boaco2 Carazo Jinotepe3 Chinandega Chinandega4 Chontales Juigalpa5 Esteli Esteli6 Granada Granada7 Jinotega Jinotega8 Leon Leon9 Madriz Somoto10 Managua Managua11 Masaya Masaya12 Matagalpa Matagalpa13 Nueva Segovia Ocotal14 Rivas Rivas15 Rio San Juan San Carlos16 North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region Bilwi17 South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region BluefieldsEconomy EditMain article Economy of Nicaragua A proportional representation of Nicaragua exports 2019 Historical GDP per capita development of Nicaragua Nicaragua is among the poorest countries in the Americas 164 165 166 Its gross domestic product GDP in purchasing power parity PPP in 2008 was estimated at US 17 37 billion 5 Agriculture represents 15 5 of GDP the highest percentage in Central America 167 Remittances account for over 15 of the Nicaraguan GDP Close to one billion dollars are sent to the country by Nicaraguans living abroad 168 The economy grew at a rate of about 4 in 2011 5 By 2019 given restrictive taxes and a civil conflict it recorded a negative growth of 3 9 the International Monetary Fund forecast for 2020 is a further decline of 6 due to COVID 19 169 The restrictive tax measures put in place in 2019 and a political crisis over social security negatively affected the country s weak public spending and investor confidence in sovereign debt According to the update IMF forecasts from 14 April 2020 due to the outbreak of the COVID 19 GDP growth is expected to fall to 6 in 2020 citation needed needs update According to the United Nations Development Programme 48 of the population of Nicaragua live below the poverty line 170 79 9 of the population live with less than 2 per day 171 According to UN figures 80 of the indigenous people who make up 5 of the population live on less than 1 per day 172 According to the World Bank Nicaragua ranked as the 123rd out of 190 best economy for starting a business 173 In 2007 Nicaragua s economy was labelled 62 7 free by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation with high levels of fiscal government labor investment financial and trade freedom 174 It ranked as the 61st freest economy and 14th of 29 in the Americas In March 2007 Poland and Nicaragua signed an agreement to write off 30 6 million dollars which was borrowed by the Nicaraguan government in the 1980s 175 Inflation reduced from 33 500 in 1988 to 9 45 in 2006 and the foreign debt was cut in half 176 Coffee is one of the most important exports of Nicaragua It is grown in Jinotega Esteli Nueva Segovia Matagalpa and Madriz and exported worldwide through North America Latin America Europe Asia and Australia Many coffee companies like Nestle and Starbucks buy Nicaraguan coffee Nicaragua is primarily an agricultural country agriculture constitutes 60 of its total exports which annually yield approximately US 300 million 177 Nearly two thirds of the coffee crop comes from the northern part of the central highlands in the area north and east of the town of Esteli 142 Tobacco grown in the same northern highlands region as coffee has become an increasingly important cash crop since the 1990s with annual exports of leaf and cigars in the neighborhood of 200 million per year 178 Soil erosion and pollution from the heavy use of pesticides have become serious concerns in the cotton district Yields and exports have both been declining since 1985 142 Today most of Nicaragua s bananas are grown in the northwestern part of the country near the port of Corinto sugarcane is also grown in the same district 142 Cassava a root crop somewhat similar to the potato is an important food in tropical regions Cassava is also the main ingredient in tapioca pudding 142 Nicaragua s agricultural sector has benefited because of the country s strong ties to Venezuela It is estimated that Venezuela will import approximately 200 million in agricultural goods 179 In the 1990s the government initiated efforts to diversify agriculture Some of the new export oriented crops were peanuts sesame melons and onions 142 Fishing boats on the Caribbean side bring shrimp as well as lobsters into processing plants at Puerto Cabezas Bluefields and Laguna de Perlas 142 A turtle fishery thrived on the Caribbean coast before it collapsed from overexploitation 142 Mining is becoming a major industry in Nicaragua 180 contributing less than 1 of gross domestic product GDP Restrictions are being placed on lumbering due to increased environmental concerns about destruction of the rain forests But lumbering continues despite these obstacles indeed a single hardwood tree may be worth thousands of dollars 142 During the war between the US backed Contras and the government of the Sandinistas in the 1980s much of the country s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed 181 Transportation throughout the nation is often inadequate For example it was until recently impossible to travel all the way by highway from Managua to the Caribbean coast A new road between Nueva Guinea and Bluefields was completed in 2019 and allows regular bus service to the capital 182 The Centroamerica power plant on the Tuma River in the Central highlands has been expanded and other hydroelectric projects have been undertaken to help provide electricity to the nation s newer industries 142 Nicaragua has long been considered as a possible site for a new canal that could supplement the Panama Canal connecting the Caribbean Sea and therefore the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean Nicaragua s minimum wage is among the lowest in the Americas and in the world 183 184 185 186 Remittances are equivalent to roughly 15 of the country s gross domestic product 5 Growth in the maquila sector slowed in the first decade of the 21st century with rising competition from Asian markets particularly China 142 Land is the traditional basis of wealth in Nicaragua with great fortunes coming from the export of staples such as coffee cotton beef and sugar Almost all of the upper class and nearly a quarter of the middle class are substantial landowners A 1985 government study classified 69 4 percent of the population as poor on the basis that they were unable to satisfy one or more of their basic needs in housing sanitary services water sewage and garbage collection education and employment The defining standards for this study were very low housing was considered substandard if it was constructed of discarded materials with dirt floors or if it was occupied by more than four persons per room Rural workers are dependent on agricultural wage labor especially in coffee and cotton Only a small fraction hold permanent jobs Most are migrants who follow crops during the harvest period and find other work during the off season The lower peasants are typically smallholders without sufficient land to sustain a family they also join the harvest labor force The upper peasants have sufficient resources to be economically independent They produce enough surplus beyond their personal needs to allow them to participate in the national and world markets The capital city Managua at nightThe urban lower class is characterized by the informal sector of the economy The informal sector consists of small scale enterprises that utilize traditional technologies and operate outside the legal regime of labor protections and taxation Workers in the informal sector are self employed unsalaried family workers or employees of small enterprises and they are generally poor Nicaragua s informal sector workers include tinsmiths mattress makers seamstresses bakers shoemakers and carpenters people who take in laundry and ironing or prepare food for sale in the streets and thousands of peddlers owners of small businesses often operating out of their own homes and market stall operators Some work alone but others labor in the small talleres workshops factories that are responsible for a large share of the country s industrial production Because informal sector earnings are generally very low few families can subsist on one income 187 Like most Latin American nations Nicaragua is also characterized by a very small upper class roughly 2 of the population that is very wealthy and wields the political and economic power in the country that is not in the hands of foreign corporations and private industries These families are oligarchical in nature and have ruled Nicaragua for generations and their wealth is politically and economically horizontally and vertically integrated Nicaragua is currently a member of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas which is also known as ALBA ALBA has proposed creating a new currency the Sucre for use among its members In essence this means that the Nicaraguan cordoba will be replaced with the Sucre Other nations that will follow a similar pattern include Venezuela Ecuador Bolivia Honduras Cuba Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda 188 Nicaragua is considering construction of a canal linking the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean which President Daniel Ortega has said will give Nicaragua its economic independence 189 Scientists have raised concerns about environmental impacts but the government has maintained that the canal will benefit the country by creating new jobs and potentially increasing its annual growth to an average of 8 per year 190 The project was scheduled to begin construction in December 2014 191 however the Nicaragua Canal has yet to be started 192 Tourism Edit Main article Tourism in Nicaragua A Royal Caribbean Cruise ship docked near the beach at San Juan del Sur in Southern NicaraguaBy 2006 tourism had become the second largest industry in Nicaragua 193 Previously tourism had grown about 70 nationwide during a period of 7 years with rates of 10 16 annually 194 The increase and growth led to the income from tourism to rise more than 300 over a period of 10 years 195 The growth in tourism has also positively affected the agricultural commercial and finance industries as well as the construction industry President Daniel Ortega has stated his intention to use tourism to combat poverty throughout the country 196 The results for Nicaragua s tourism driven economy have been significant with the nation welcoming one million tourists in a calendar year for the first time in its history in 2010 197 2 100 year old human footprints called Huellas de Acahualinca preserved in volcanic mud near Lake Managua Every year about 60 000 U S citizens visit Nicaragua primarily business people tourists and those visiting relatives 198 Some 5 300 people from the U S reside in Nicaragua The majority of tourists who visit Nicaragua are from the U S Central or South America and Europe According to the Ministry of Tourism of Nicaragua INTUR 199 the colonial cities of Leon and Granada are the preferred spots for tourists Also the cities of Masaya Rivas and the likes of San Juan del Sur El Ostional the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception Ometepe Island the Mombacho volcano and the Corn Islands among other locations are the main tourist attractions In addition ecotourism sport fishing and surfing attract many tourists to Nicaragua According to the TV Noticias news program the main attractions in Nicaragua for tourists are the beaches the scenic routes the architecture of cities such as Leon and Granada ecotourism and agritourism particularly in northern Nicaragua 194 As a result of increased tourism Nicaragua has seen its foreign direct investment increase by 79 1 from 2007 to 2009 200 Nicaragua is referred to as the land of lakes and volcanoes due to the number of lagoons and lakes and the chain of volcanoes that runs from the north to the south along the country s Pacific side 10 11 201 Today only 7 of the 50 volcanoes in Nicaragua are considered active Many of these volcanoes offer some great possibilities for tourists with activities such as hiking climbing camping and swimming in crater lakes Apoyo Lagoon Natural Reserve is a nature reserve located between the departments of Masaya and Granada The Apoyo Lagoon Natural Reserve was created by the eruption of the Apoyo Volcano about 23 000 years ago which left a huge 7 km wide crater that gradually filled with water It is surrounded by the old crater wall 202 The rim of the lagoon is lined with restaurants many of which have kayaks available Besides exploring the forest around it many water sports are practiced in the lagoon most notably kayaking 203 Sand skiing has become a popular attraction at the Cerro Negro volcano in Leon Both dormant and active volcanoes can be climbed Some of the most visited volcanoes include the Masaya Volcano Momotombo Mombacho Cosiguina and Ometepe s Maderas and Concepcion The Solentiname Islands are tropical islands located in Lake Nicaragua which are home to 76 bird species and are a growing ecotourism destination Ecotourism aims to be ecologically and socially conscious it focuses on local culture wilderness and adventure Nicaragua s ecotourism is growing with every passing year 204 It boasts a number of ecotourist tours and perfect places for adventurers Nicaragua has three eco regions the Pacific Central and Atlantic which contain volcanoes tropical rainforests and agricultural land 205 The majority of the eco lodges and other environmentally focused touristic destinations are found on Ometepe Island 206 located in the middle of Lake Nicaragua just an hour s boat ride from Granada While some are foreign owned others are owned by local families Demographics EditMain articles Nicaraguans and Demographics of Nicaragua Population 207 208 Year Million1950 1 32000 5 02021 6 9 Nicaraguan High school students at the American Nicaraguan SchoolAccording to a 2014 research published in the journal Genetics and Molecular Biology European ancestry predominates in 69 of Nicaraguans followed by African ancestry in 20 and lastly indigenous ancestry in 11 209 A Japanese research of Genomic Components in America s demography demonstrated that on average the ancestry of Nicaraguans is 58 62 European 28 Native American and 14 African with a very small Near Eastern contribution 210 Non genetic data from the CIA World Factbook establish that from Nicaragua s 2016 population of 5 966 798 around 69 are mestizo 17 white 5 Native American and 9 black and other races 5 This fluctuates with changes in migration patterns The population is 58 urban as of 2013 update 211 The capital Managua is the biggest city with an estimated population of 1 042 641 in 2016 212 In 2005 over 5 million people lived in the Pacific Central and North regions and 700 000 in the Caribbean region 213 There is a growing expatriate community 214 the majority of whom move for business investment or retirement from across the world such as from the US Canada Taiwan and European countries the majority have settled in Managua Granada and San Juan del Sur Many Nicaraguans live abroad particularly in Costa Rica the United States Spain Canada and other Central American countries 215 Nicaragua has a population growth rate of 1 5 as of 2013 update 216 This is the result of one of the highest birth rates in the Western Hemisphere citation needed 17 7 per 1 000 as of 2017 217 The death rate was 4 7 per 1 000 during the same period according to the United Nations 218 Ethnic groups Edit Afro Nicaraguan The majority of the Nicaraguan population is composed of mestizos roughly 69 while 17 of Nicaragua s population is white 219 with the majority of them being of Spanish descent while others are of German Italian English Turkish Danish or French ancestry Black Creoles Edit About 9 of Nicaragua s population is black and mainly resides on the country s Caribbean or Atlantic coast The black population is mostly composed of black English speaking Creoles who are the descendants of escaped or shipwrecked slaves many carry the name of Scottish settlers who brought slaves with them such as Campbell Gordon Downs and Hodgson Although many Creoles supported Somoza because of his close association with the United States they rallied to the Sandinista cause in July 1979 only to reject the revolution soon afterwards in response to a new phase of westernization and imposition of central rule from Managua 220 There is a smaller number of Garifuna a people of mixed West African Carib and Arawak descent In the mid 1980s the government divided the Zelaya Department consisting of the eastern half of the country into two autonomous regions and granted the black and indigenous people of this region limited self rule within the republic Indigenous population Edit The remaining 5 of Nicaraguans are indigenous the descendants of the country s original inhabitants Nicaragua s pre Columbian population consisted of many indigenous groups In the western region the Nahuas Nicarao people were present along with other groups such as the Chorotega people and the Subtiabas also known as Maribios or Hokan Xiu The central region and the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua were inhabited by indigenous peoples who were Macro Chibchan language groups that had migrated to and from South America in ancient times primarily what is now Colombia and Venezuela 221 222 These groups include the present day Matagalpas Miskitos Ramas as well as Mayangnas and Ulwas who are also known as Sumos 223 29 20 In the 19th century there was a substantial indigenous minority but this group was largely assimilated culturally into the mestizo majority The Garifuna are also present mainly on the Caribbean Coast They are a people of mixed African and Indigenous descent 224 Languages Edit Main article Languages of Nicaragua A sign in Bluefields in English top Spanish middle and Miskito bottom Nicaraguan Spanish has many indigenous influences and several distinguishing characteristics For example some Nicaraguans have a tendency to replace s with h when speaking 225 Although Spanish is spoken throughout the country has great variety vocabulary accents and colloquial language can vary between towns and departments 226 Nicaraguan Sign Language emerged in the 1970s and 1980s among deaf children as the first special education schools brought them together and its emergence became of particular interest to linguists as an opportunity to directly observe the creation of a language 227 228 229 On the Caribbean coast indigenous languages English based creoles and Spanish are spoken The Miskito language spoken by the Miskito people as a first language and some other indigenous and Afro descendants people as a second third or fourth language is the most commonly spoken indigenous language The indigenous Misumalpan languages of Mayangna and Ulwa are spoken by the respective peoples of the same names Many Miskito Mayangna and Sumo people also speak Miskito Coast Creole and a large majority also speak Spanish Fewer than three dozen of nearly 2 000 Rama people speak their Chibchan language fluently with nearly all Ramas speaking Rama Cay Creole and the vast majority speaking Spanish Linguists have attempted to document and revitalize the language over the past three decades 230 The Garifuna people descendants of indigenous and Afro descendant people who came to Nicaragua from Honduras in the early twentieth century have recently attempted to revitalize their Arawakan language The majority speak Miskito Coast Creole as their first language and Spanish as their second The Creole or Kriol people descendants of enslaved Africans brought to the Mosquito Coast during the British colonial period and European Chinese Arab and British West Indian immigrants also speak Miskito Coast Creole as their first language and Spanish as their second 231 Largest cities Edit Largest municipalities in Nicaragua Anuario Estadistico 2015 pp 50 53 2016 projections Rank Name Department Pop Managua Leon 1 Managua Managua 1 042 641 Masaya Matagalpa2 Leon Leon 206 2643 Masaya Masaya 176 3444 Matagalpa Matagalpa 158 0955 Tipitapa Managua 140 5696 Chinandega Chinandega 135 1547 Jinotega Jinotega 133 7058 Granada Granada 127 8929 Esteli Esteli 126 29010 Puerto Cabezas RACCN 113 534 Religion Edit Main article Religion in Nicaragua Leon Cathedral one of Nicaragua s World Heritage Sites Religion plays a significant part of the culture of Nicaragua and is afforded special protections in the constitution Religious freedom which has been guaranteed since 1939 and religious tolerance are officially promoted by the government and the constitution but in recent years the Catholic Church and the regime led by Daniel Ortega have been in open conflict with the latter being accused of using the police to harass clergy and bishops 232 closing down Catholic media outlets and even arresting a dozen members of the clergy including Bishop Rolando Alvarez of the Diocese of Matagalpa Nicaragua has no official religion Catholic bishops are expected to lend their authority to important state occasions and their pronouncements on national issues are closely followed They can be called upon to mediate between contending parties at moments of political crisis 233 In 1979 Miguel D Escoto Brockman a priest who had embraced Liberation Theology served in the government as foreign minister when the Sandinistas came to power The largest denomination and traditionally the religion of the majority is the Roman Catholic Church It came to Nicaragua in the 16th century with the Spanish conquest and remained until 1939 the established faith The number of practicing Roman Catholics has been declining while membership of evangelical Protestant groups and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints LDS Church has been growing rapidly since the 1990s There is a significant LDS missionary effort in Nicaragua There are two missions and 95 768 members of the LDS Church 1 54 of the population 234 There are also strong Anglican and Moravian communities on the Caribbean coast in what once constituted the sparsely populated Mosquito Coast colony It was under British influence for nearly three centuries Protestantism was brought to the Mosquito Coast mainly by British and German colonists in forms of Anglicanism and the Moravian Church Other kinds of Protestant and other Christian denominations were introduced to the rest of Nicaragua during the 19th century Popular religion revolves around the saints who are perceived as intercessors between human beings and God Most localities from the capital of Managua to small rural communities honor patron saints selected from the Roman Catholic calendar with annual fiestas In many communities a rich lore has grown up around the celebrations of patron saints such as Managua s Saint Dominic Santo Domingo honored in August with two colorful often riotous day long processions through the city The high point of Nicaragua s religious calendar for the masses is neither Christmas nor Easter but La Purisima a week of festivities in early December dedicated to the Immaculate Conception during which elaborate altars to the Virgin Mary are constructed in homes and workplaces 233 Buddhism has increased with a steady influx of immigration 235 Although Jews have been living in Nicaragua since the 18th century the Jewish population is small numbering less than 200 people in 2017 Of these 112 were recent converts who claimed Sephardic Jewish ancestry 236 As of 2007 approximately 1 200 to 1 500 Nicaraguan residents practiced Islam most of them Sunnis who are resident aliens or naturalized citizens from Palestine Libya and Iran or natural born Nicaraguan descendants of the two groups 237 Immigration Edit Main article Immigration to Nicaragua Relative to its population Nicaragua has not experienced large waves of immigration The number of immigrants in Nicaragua from other Latin American countries or other countries never surpassed 1 of its total population before 1995 The 2005 census showed the foreign born population at 1 2 having risen a mere 0 06 in 10 years 213 In the 19th century Nicaragua experienced modest waves of immigration from Europe In particular families from Germany Italy Spain France and Belgium immigrated to Nicaragua particularly the departments in the Central and Pacific region Also present is a small Middle Eastern Nicaraguan community of Syrians Armenians Jewish Nicaraguans and Lebanese people in Nicaragua This community numbers about 30 000 There is an East Asian community mostly consisting of Chinese The Chinese Nicaraguan population is estimated at 12 000 238 The Chinese arrived in the late 19th century but were unsubstantiated until the 1920s Diaspora Edit Main article Nicaraguan diaspora The Civil War forced many Nicaraguans to start lives outside of their country Many people emigrated during the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century due to the lack of employment opportunities and poverty The majority of the Nicaraguan Diaspora migrated to the United States and Costa Rica Today one in six Nicaraguans live in these two countries 239 The diaspora has seen Nicaraguans settling around in smaller communities in other parts of the world particularly Western Europe Small communities of Nicaraguans are found in France Germany Italy Spain Norway Sweden and the United Kingdom Communities also exist in Australia and New Zealand Canada Brazil and Argentina host small groups of these communities In Asia Japan hosts a small Nicaraguan community Due to extreme poverty at home many Nicaraguans are now living and working in neighboring El Salvador a country that has the US dollar as its currency 240 241 Healthcare Edit Main article Healthcare in NicaraguaAlthough Nicaragua s health outcomes have improved over the past few decades with the efficient utilization of resources relative to other Central American nations healthcare in Nicaragua still confronts challenges responding to its populations diverse healthcare needs 242 The Nicaraguan government guarantees universal free health care for its citizens 243 However limitations of current delivery models and unequal distribution of resources and medical personnel contribute to the persistent lack of quality care in more remote areas of Nicaragua especially among rural communities in the Central and Atlantic region 242 To respond to the dynamic needs of localities the government has adopted a decentralized model that emphasizes community based preventive and primary medical care 244 Education Edit Main article Education in Nicaragua Universidad Nacional De Ingenieria National University of Engineering Managua The adult literacy rate in 2005 was 78 0 245 Primary education is free in Nicaragua A system of private schools exists many of which are religiously affiliated and often have more robust English programs 246 As of 1979 the educational system was one of the poorest in Latin America 247 One of the first acts of the newly elected Sandinista government in 1980 was an extensive and successful literacy campaign using secondary school students university students and teachers as volunteer teachers it reduced the overall illiteracy rate from 50 3 to 12 9 within only five months 248 This was one of a number of large scale programs which received international recognition for their gains in literacy health care education childcare unions and land reform 249 250 The Sandinistas also added a leftist ideological content to the curriculum which was removed after 1990 142 In September 1980 UNESCO awarded Nicaragua the Soviet Union sponsored Nadezhda Krupskaya award for the literacy campaign 251 Gender equality Edit Main article Gender equality in Nicaragua Nicaragua s gender equality ranks high among countries in Latin America 252 When it came to global rankings regarding gender equality the World Economic Forum ranked Nicaragua at number twelve in 2015 252 and in its 2020 report Nicaragua ranked number five behind only northern European countries 253 Nicaragua was among the many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women which aimed to promote women s rights 254 In 2009 a Special Ombudsman for Sexual Diversity position was created within its Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman And in 2014 the Health Ministry in 2014 banned discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation 255 Nevertheless discrimination against LGBTQ individuals is common particularly in housing education and the workplace 161 The Human Development Report ranked Nicaragua 106 out of 160 countries in the Gender Inequality Index GII in 2017 It reflects gender based inequalities in three dimensions reproductive health empowerment and economic activity 256 Culture EditMain article Culture of Nicaragua El Gueguense is a drama and was the first literary work of post Columbian Nicaragua It is regarded as one of Latin America s most distinctive colonial era expressions and as Nicaragua s signature folkloric masterpiece combining music dance and theatre Nicaraguan culture has strong folklore music and religious traditions deeply influenced by European culture but also including Native American sounds and flavors Nicaraguan culture can further be defined in several distinct strands The Pacific coast has strong folklore music and religious traditions deeply influenced by Europeans It was colonized by Spain and has a similar culture to other Spanish speaking Latin American countries The indigenous groups that historically inhabited the Pacific coast have largely been assimilated into the mestizo culture The Caribbean coast of Nicaragua was once a British protectorate English is still predominant in this region and spoken domestically along with Spanish and indigenous languages Its culture is similar to that of Caribbean nations that were or are British possessions such as Jamaica Belize the Cayman Islands etc Unlike on the west coast the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean coast have maintained distinct identities and some still speak their native languages as first languages Music Edit Main article Music of Nicaragua Nicaraguan music is a mixture of indigenous and Spanish influences Musical instruments include the marimba and others common across Central America The marimba of Nicaragua is played by a sitting performer holding the instrument on his knees He is usually accompanied by a bass fiddle guitar and guitarrilla a small guitar like a mandolin This music is played at social functions as a sort of background music The marimba is made with hardwood plates placed over bamboo or metal tubes of varying lengths It is played with two or four hammers The Caribbean coast of Nicaragua is known for a lively sensual form of dance music called Palo de Mayo which is popular throughout the country It is especially loud and celebrated during the Palo de Mayo festival in May The Garifuna community Afro Native American is known for its popular music called Punta Nicaraguan women wearing the Mestizaje costume which is a traditional costume worn to dance the Mestizaje dance The costume demonstrates the Spanish influence upon Nicaraguan clothing 257 Nicaragua enjoys a variety of international influence in the music arena Bachata Merengue Salsa and Cumbia have gained prominence in cultural centres such as Managua Leon and Granada Cumbia dancing has grown popular with the introduction of Nicaraguan artists including Gustavo Leyton on Ometepe Island and in Managua Salsa dancing has become extremely popular in Managua s nightclubs With various influences the form of salsa dancing varies in Nicaragua New York style and Cuban Salsa Salsa Casino elements have gained popularity across the country Dance Edit Further information Dance in Nicaragua Dance in Nicaragua varies depending upon the region Rural areas tend to have a stronger focus on movement of the hips and turns The dance style in cities focuses primarily on more sophisticated footwork in addition to movement and turns Combinations of styles from the Dominican Republic and the United States can be found throughout Nicaragua Bachata dancing is popular in Nicaragua A considerable amount of Bachata dancing influence comes from Nicaraguans living abroad in cities that include Miami Los Angeles and to a much lesser extent New York City Tango has also surfaced recently in cultural cities and ballroom dance occasions Literature Edit Main article Literature of Nicaragua Ruben Dario the founder of the modernismo literary movement in Latin America The origin of Nicaraguan literature can arguably be traced to pre Columbian times The myths and oral literature formed the cosmogenic view of the world of the indigenous people Some of these stories are still known in Nicaragua Like many Latin American countries the Spanish conquerors have had the most effect on both the culture and the literature Nicaraguan literature has historically been an important source of poetry in the Spanish speaking world with internationally renowned contributors such as Ruben Dario who is regarded as the most important literary figure in Nicaragua He is called the Father of Modernism for leading the modernismo literary movement at the end of the 19th century 258 Other literary figures include Carlos Martinez Rivas Pablo Antonio Cuadra Alberto Cuadra Mejia Manolo Cuadra Pablo Alberto Cuadra Arguello Orlando Cuadra Downing Alfredo Alegria Rosales Sergio Ramirez Mercado Ernesto Cardenal Gioconda Belli Claribel Alegria and Jose Coronel Urtecho among others 259 The satirical drama El Gueguense was the first literary work of post Columbian Nicaragua It was written in both Nicarao and Spanish 38 21 It s regarded as one of Latin America s most distinctive colonial era expressions and as Nicaragua s signature folkloric masterpiece El Gueguense is a work of resistance to Spanish colonialism that combined music dance and theatre 258 The theatrical play was written by an anonymous author in the 16th century making it one of the oldest indigenous theatrical dance works of the Western Hemisphere In 2005 it was recognized by UNESCO as a patrimony of humanity 260 After centuries of popular performance the play was first published in a book in 1942 261 Cuisine Edit Main article Nicaraguan cuisine Vigoron is a dish that is served with boiled yuca and chicharrones fried pork with skin and topped with a cabbage salad Nicaraguan cuisine is a mixture of Spanish food and dishes of a pre Columbian origin 262 Traditional cuisine changes from the Pacific to the Caribbean coast The Pacific coast s main staple revolves around local fruits and corn the Caribbean coast cuisine makes use of seafood and the coconut Gallo pinto is a traditional dish of Nicaragua made with rice and beans As in many other Latin American countries maize is a staple food and is used in many of the widely consumed dishes such as the nacatamal guirila and indio viejo Maize is also an ingredient for drinks such as pinolillo and chicha as well as sweets and desserts In addition to corn rice and beans are eaten very often Gallo pinto Nicaragua s national dish is made with white rice and small red beans that are cooked individually and then fried together The dish has several variations including the addition of coconut milk and or grated coconut on the Caribbean coast Most Nicaraguans begin their day with gallo pinto Gallo pinto is most usually served with carne asada a salad fried cheese plantains or maduros Many of Nicaragua s dishes include indigenous fruits and vegetables such as jocote mango papaya tamarindo pipian banana avocado yuca and herbs such as cilantro oregano and achiote 262 Traditional street food snacks found in Nicaragua include quesillo a thick tortilla with soft cheese and cream tajadas deep fried plantain chips maduros a sauteed ripe plantain and fresco fresh juices such as hibiscus and tamarind commonly served in a plastic bag with a straw 263 Nicaraguans have been known to eat guinea pigs 264 known as cuy Tapirs iguanas turtle eggs armadillos and boas are also sometimes eaten but because of extinction threats to these wild creatures there are efforts to curb this custom 262 Media Edit Main article Media of Nicaragua For most Nicaraguans radio and TV are the main sources of news There are more than 100 radio stations and several TV networks Cable TV is available in most urban areas 265 The Nicaraguan print media are varied and partisan representing pro and anti government positions Publications include La Prensa El Nuevo Diario Confidencial Hoy and Mercurio Online news publications include Confidencial and The Nicaragua Dispatch Sports Edit Dennis Martinez National Stadium is Nicaragua s main stadium Baseball is the most popular sport in Nicaragua Although some professional Nicaraguan baseball teams have recently folded the country still enjoys a strong tradition of American style baseball Baseball was introduced to Nicaragua during the 19th century In the Caribbean coast locals from Bluefields were taught how to play baseball in 1888 by Albert Addlesberg a retailer from the United States 266 Baseball did not catch on in the Pacific coast until 1891 when a group of mostly college students from the United States formed La Sociedad de Recreo Society of Recreation where they played various sports baseball being the most popular 266 Nicaragua has had its share of MLB players including shortstop Everth Cabrera and pitcher Vicente Padilla but the most notable is Dennis Martinez who was the first baseball player from Nicaragua to play in Major League Baseball 267 He became the first Latin born pitcher to throw a perfect game and the 13th in the major league history when he played with the Montreal Expos against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in 1991 268 Boxing is the second most popular sport in Nicaragua 269 The country has had world champions such as Alexis Arguello and Ricardo Mayorga as well as Roman Gonzalez Recently football has gained popularity The Dennis Martinez National Stadium has served as a venue for both baseball and football The first ever national football only stadium in Managua the Nicaragua National Football Stadium was completed in 2011 270 Nicaragua s national basketball team had some recent success as it won the silver medal at the 2017 Central American Games 271 Nicaragua featured national teams in beach volleyball that competed at the 2018 2020 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Continental Cup in both the women s and the men s sections 272 See also Edit Nicaragua portal Latin America portalNicaraguan nationality law Bibliography of Nicaragua Index of Nicaragua related articles Outline of NicaraguaNotes Edit As shown on the Cordoba bank notes and coins 1 References Edit Banco Central de Nicaragua Archived 24 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine Nicaragua Demographics Profile 2011 Nicaragua Index Mundi 2011 Retrieved 16 July 2011 The Latin American Socio Religious Studies Program Programa Latinoamericano de Estudios Sociorreligiosos PROLADES Archived 12 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine PROLADES Religion in America by country CENSO DE POBLACIoN 2005 PDF 2015 Retrieved 4 April 2015 permanent dead link a b c d e Nicaragua CIA World Factbook Retrieved 9 May 2007 Nicaragua The World Factbook 2023 ed Central Intelligence Agency Retrieved 24 September 2022 a b c d Nicaragua International Monetary Fund GINI index World Bank estimate data worldbank org World Bank Retrieved 7 March 2019 Human Development Report 2021 2022 PDF United Nations Development Programme 8 September 2022 Retrieved 12 October 2022 a b Brierley Jan 15 October 2017 Sense of wonder Discover the turbulent past of Central America Daily Express Retrieved 27 October 2017 a b Wallace Will Wallace Camilla 10 April 2010 Traveller s Guide Nicaragua The Independent Archived from the original on 18 June 2022 Retrieved 27 October 2017 Peter 16 February 2019 12 largest rainforests in the world and where to find them Atlas amp Boots Retrieved 3 June 2021 Dicum G 17 December 2006 The Rediscovery of Nicaragua Travel Section New York TraveThe New York Times Retrieved 26 June 2010 Davis LS 22 April 2009 Nicaragua The next Costa Rica Mother Nature Network MNN Holdings LLC Retrieved 26 June 2010 Kurtas Susan Research Guides UN Membership Founding Members research un org Retrieved 26 June 2022 Vanden Harry E Morales Waltraud Queiser 1985 Nicaraguan Relations with the Nonaligned Movement Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 27 3 141 161 doi 10 2307 165603 ISSN 0022 1937 JSTOR 165603 Organization of American States OAS The Nuclear Threat Initiative Retrieved 26 June 2022 A Guide to ALBA Americas Quarterly Retrieved 26 June 2022 CELAC CELAC INTERNATIONAL 16 February 2018 Retrieved 26 June 2022 a b Por que los paises de America Latina se llaman como se llaman Why do Latin American countries call themselves as they are called Ideal in Spanish 29 July 2015 Retrieved 12 April 2017 a b Sanchez Edwin 16 October 2016 El origen de Nicarao agua la Traicion y la Paz El Pueblo Presidente in Spanish Archived from the original on 1 August 2017 Retrieved 3 July 2017 Sanchez Edwin 3 October 2016 De Macuilmiquiztli al Gueguence pasando por Fernando Silva From Macuilmiquiztli to Gueguence through Fernando Silva El 19 in Spanish Retrieved 12 April 2017 Silva Fernando 15 March 2003 Macuilmiquiztli El Nuevo Diario in Spanish Archived from the original on 12 April 2017 Retrieved 12 April 2017 a b Sanchez Edwin 16 September 2002 No hubo Nicarao todo es invento There was no Nicarao it s all invented El Nuevo Diario in Spanish a b c d e Encuentro del cacique y el conquistador Encounter of the cacique and the conqueror El Nuevo Diario in Spanish 4 April 2009 Archived from the original on 7 May 2017 Retrieved 17 May 2017 a b Solorzano Carla Torres 18 September 2010 Choque de lenguas o el mestizaje de nuestro idioma Clash of languages or the mixing of our language La Prensa in Spanish Archived from the original on 12 April 2017 Retrieved 26 July 2021 La raiz nahuatl de nuestro lenguaje The Nahuatl root of our language El Nuevo Diario in Spanish 10 August 2004 Archived from the original on 12 August 2017 Retrieved 3 July 2017 Dall Christopher 1 October 2005 Nicaragua in Pictures Twenty First Century Books pp 66 67 ISBN 978 0 8225 2671 1 a b c d e f g h i j k l m Perez Brignoli Hector translated by Sawrey A Ricardo B Sawrey Susana Stettri de 1989 A Brief History of Central America 2nd ed Berkeley University of California Press ISBN 978 0520060494 Gloria Helena Rey The Chibcha Culture Forgotten But Still Alive Archived 2012 02 20 at the Wayback Machine Colombia Inter Press Service IPS News 30 Nov 2007 accessed 9 Nov 2010 Nicaragua VI History Encarta 13 June 2007 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Newson Linda A 1987 Indian survival in colonial Nicaragua 1st ed Norman OK University of Oklahoma Press ISBN 978 0806120089 a b Nicaragua Precolonial Period Library of Congress Country Studies Retrieved 29 June 2007 interpretation of statement the native peoples were linguistically and culturally similar to the Aztec and the Maya a b c Campbell Lyle 1 January 1985 The Pipil Language of El Salvador Walter de Gruyter pp 10 12 ISBN 978 3 11 088199 8 Fowler WR Jr 1985 Ethnohistoric Sources on the Pipil Nicarao A Critical Analysis Ethnohistory Columbus Ohio 32 1 37 62 doi 10 2307 482092 JSTOR 482092 OCLC 62217753 Brinton Daniel G 1887 Were the Toltecs an Historic Nationality Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 24 126 229 230 JSTOR 983071 von Humboldt Alexander Poynter J Ryan Altamirano Rayo Giorleny D Kraft Tobias 25 January 2013 Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas A Critical Edition University of Chicago Press p 92 ISBN 978 0 226 86509 6 a b Campbell Lyle 1997 American Indian languages the historical linguistics of Native America New York Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 509427 1 Letter of Columbus on the Fourth Voyage American Journey Archived from the original on 3 April 2007 Retrieved 9 May 2007 a b c Nicaragua History Encyclopaedia Britannica Retrieved 21 August 2007 Healy Paul Pohl Mary 1980 Archaeology of the Rivas Region Nicaragua Wilfrid Laurier Univ Press p 21 ISBN 978 0 88920 094 4 Dyck Erika Fletcher Christopher 6 October 2015 Locating Health Historical and Anthropological Investigations of Place and Health Routledge p 107 ISBN 978 1 317 32278 8 The Spanish Conquest Library of Congress Retrieved 21 August 2007 Making the First Global Trade Route The Southeast Asian Foundations of the Acapulco Manila Galleon Trade 1519 1650 Page 163 Citing Andre Gschaedler Mexico and the Pacific 1540 1565 The Voyage of Villabos and Legazpi and the Preparations Made for Them Ph D dissertation Columbia University 1954 40 a b Nicaragua Briefs An Historic Find Envio Central American University UCA Retrieved 21 August 2007 Duncan David Ewing 1995 Hernando de Soto A Savage Quest in the Americas Book II Consolidation New York Crown Publishers a b c Whisnant David E 9 November 2000 Rascally Signs in Sacred Places The Politics of Culture in Nicaragua Univ of North Carolina Press pp 30 32 ISBN 978 0 8078 6626 9 a b Bergoeing Jean Pierre 18 May 2015 Geomorphology of Central America A Syngenetic Perspective Elsevier Science pp 68 69 ISBN 978 0 12 803185 8 Smith RS 1963 Financing the Central American federation 1821 1838 The Hispanic American Historical Review 43 4 483 510 doi 10 2307 2509898 JSTOR 2509898 Cybriwsky Roman Adrian 23 May 2013 Capital Cities around the World An Encyclopedia of Geography History and Culture ABC CLIO p 177 ISBN 978 1 61069 248 9 Managua La Prensa in Spanish 9 March 2006 Archived from the original on 11 November 2013 Retrieved 24 May 2017 Fue elevada a ciudad en 1846 y salomonicamente declarada capital de la Republica en 1852 para dirimir el viejo conflicto entre las urbes coloniales de Leon occidente y Granada oriente que rivalizaban por ejercer la hegemonia politica de Nicaragua Gobernantes de Nicaragua Ministerio de Educacion 9 December 2012 Archived from the original on 9 October 2012 Walker W 1860 The War in Nicaragua New York S H Goetzel amp Company Juda F 1919 California Filibusters A History of their Expeditions into Hispanic America excerpt The Grizzly Bear XXI 4 3 6 15 19 Retrieved 20 July 2011 Baker CP 2001 The William Walker Saga Moon Handbooks Costa Rica 4th ed New York Avalon Travel Publishing p 67 ISBN 978 1 56691 608 0 Colquhoun AR 1895 The key of the Pacific the Nicaragua canal Westminster England Archibald Constable and Company Foreign Relations of the United States 1912 p 1032 Langley Lester D 2002 The Banana Wars United States Intervention in the Caribbean 1898 1934 Wilmington SR Books p 64 ISBN 978 0 8420 5047 0 US violence for a century Nicaragua 1912 33 Socialist Worker Archived from the original on 27 September 2007 Retrieved 21 August 2007 Bryan Chamorro Treaty Encyclopaedia Britannica Retrieved 21 August 2007 General Augusto C Sandino The Constitutional War ViaNica Retrieved 21 August 2007 Vukelich D A Disaster Foretold The Advocacy Project Archived from the original on 3 April 2007 Retrieved 9 May 2007 a b c d e The Somoza years Encyclopaedia Britannica Retrieved 21 August 2007 Biographical Notes Archived from the original on 31 December 2006 Retrieved 9 May 2007 History of U S Violence Across the Globe Washington s War Crimes 1912 33 16 December 2001 Retrieved 9 May 2007 Solo T 7 October 2005 Nicaragua From Sandino to Chavez Dissident Voice Retrieved 9 May 2007 The Somoza Dynasty PDF University of Pittsburgh p 1 Archived from the original PDF on 10 November 2006 Retrieved 9 May 2007 Colburn Forrest D 26 March 2012 Nicaragua Forlorn World Policy Journal 29 Spring 2012 91 100 doi 10 1177 0740277512443806 Archived from the original on 6 May 2012 Retrieved 31 May 2012 Model David 2005 Lying for Empire How to Commit War Crimes With a Straight Face Common Courage Press Goldstein Erik 2005 Wars and Peace Treaties 1816 to 1991 Routledge p 218 ISBN 9781134899111 El asalto de Somoza a los alemanes in Spanish 6 January 2005 Archived from the original on 12 October 2007 Retrieved 13 July 2007 Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the International Court of Justice PDF San Francisco United Nations 26 June 1945 49 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help SOMOZA S NATION CALLED HIS FIEF Rule of Nicaraguan General Beginning With 1935 Coup Was Seldom Challenged PRESIDENT FIRST IN 37 Graduate of Business School in U S He Acquired Great Wealth During Regime New York Times TimesMachine 30 September 1956 Retrieved 8 November 2021 Leonard TM 2003 Against all odds U S policy and the 1963 Central America Summit Conference Journal of Third World Studies p 11 Archived from the original on 28 June 2009 Retrieved 9 May 2007 Headline Nicaragua Earthquake Vanderbilt Television News Archive 16 December 1972 Archived from the original on 10 May 2011 Retrieved 24 May 2007 Roberto Clemente National Baseball Hall of Fame Retrieved 8 March 2022 Roberto Clemente Bio The National Baseball Hall of Fame Archived from the original on 27 April 2007 Retrieved 9 May 2007 A Battle Ends a War Begins TIME 11 September 1978 Archived from the original on 30 September 2007 Retrieved 21 August 2007 Annis B 1993 Nicaragua Diversification and Growth 1945 77 The Library of Congress Retrieved 25 September 2012 The Sandinistas and the Revolution Grinnell College Archived from the original on 6 February 2007 Retrieved 9 May 2007 Constable Pamela Valenzuela Arturo 1991 A Nation of Enemies Chile Under Pinochet p 150 ISBN 978 0 393 30985 0 a b History of Nicaragua The Beginning of the End American Nicaraguan School Archived from the original on 20 May 2006 Retrieved 4 August 2007 Nordheimer Jon 29 July 1987 Nicaraguan Exiles Find A Place In The Sun Miami The New York Times Retrieved 27 May 2017 Wilkinson Tracy 7 August 1988 Families Struggle to Maintain Life Style Sandinista Rule Not Easy on Middle Class Los Angeles Times Retrieved 27 May 2017 Wicker Tom 29 July 1983 In The Nation The Sandinista Puzzle The New York Times Retrieved 27 May 2017 Pastor Robert 2001 Exiting the Whirlpool U S Foreign Policy Toward Latin America and the Caribbean Westview Press ISBN 978 0 8133 3811 8 Timeline Nicaragua Stanford University Archived from the original on 26 April 2006 Retrieved 9 May 2007 U S HALTS ECONOMIC AID TO NICARAGUA New York Times 2 April 1981 Mary C Waters et al The New Americans A Guide to Immigration Since 1965 Harvard University Press 2007 EBSCOhost https search ebscohost com lpclibrary idm oclc org login aspx direct true amp db nlebk amp AN 282331 amp site ehost live a b Nicaragua Growth of Opposition 1981 83 Ciao Atlas Retrieved 21 August 2007 LaRamee Pierre Polakoff Erica 1999 The Undermining of the Sandinista Revolution New York Palgrave Macmillan pp 141 205 ISBN 9780333751992 Chomsky Noam 1985 Turning the Tide Boston MA South End Press Truver SC Mines and Underwater IEDs in U S Ports and Waterways PDF p 4 Archived from the original PDF on 28 April 2008 Retrieved 21 August 2007 Summary of the Order Archived 2007 11 07 at the Wayback Machine of the International Court of Justice of 10 May 1984 Finds that the United States of America by producing in 1983 a manual entitled Operaciones sicologicas en guerra de guerrillas and disseminating it to Contra forces has encouraged the commission by them of acts contrary to general principles of humanitarian law As seen at International Court of Justice 1986 9 In the case of shooting a citizen who was trying to leave the town or city in which the guerrillas are carrying out armed propaganda or political proselytism the manual suggests that the Contras explain that if that citizen had managed to escape he would have alerted the enemy As seen at Sklar 1988 p 179 US Policy Economic Embargo The War Goes On Envio Central American University UCA Retrieved 21 August 2007 Moore John Norton 1987 The Secret War in Central America University Publications of America p 143 ISBN 978 0890939611 Miranda Roger and Ratliff William 1993 The Civil War in Nicaragua Transaction p 193 ISBN 9781412819688 OAS Study Says Miskito Indians Suffered Abuse From Sandinistas The Washington Post Retrieved 21 July 2021 Annual Report 1992 1993 Inter American Commission on Human Rights 12 March 1993 Retrieved 30 March 2009 NICARAGUAN VOTE FREE FAIR HOTLY CONTESTED The New York Times 16 November 1984 p 30 1984 Sandinistas claim election victory BBC News 5 November 1984 Taubman Philip 21 October 1984 KEY AIDES DISPUTE U S ROLE IN NICARAGUAN VOTE The New York Times p 12 Kriele Martin 1986 Power and Human Rights in Nicaragua Nicaragua Das blutende Herz Amerikas Piper pp 56 57 63 67 Leiken Robert S December 5 1985 The Nicaraguan Tangle New York Review of Books The Nicaraguan Tangle Another Exchange New York Review of Books June 26 1986 Cuzan Alfred G Summer 1994 Letter Commentary December 1985 and The Latin American Studies Association vs the United States Academic Questions Baker D 5 March 2007 The United States since 1980 The World Since 1980 Cambridge UK Cambridge University Press p 101 ISBN 978 0 521 86017 8 Case concerning military and paramilitary activities in and against Nicaragua Nicaragua v United States of America International Court of Justice Order of 26 september 1991 PDF Archived from the original PDF on 24 September 2015 The PRIO Battle Deaths Dataset 1946 2008 Version 3 0 Documentation of Coding Decisions by Bethany Lacina O Grady M Ortega s Comeback Schemes Roil Nicaragua Retrieved 9 May 2007 dead link Was February 25 a triumph National Review v 42 Tulane University Archived from the original on 1 September 2006 Retrieved 9 May 2007 El Sandinista Daniel Ortega se convierte de nuevo en presidente de Nicaragua El Mundo in Spanish 8 November 2006 Retrieved 9 May 2007 Dennis G December 1993 Social conditions of Nicaragua The Library of Congress Retrieved 9 May 2007 Nicaragua Political profile Retrieved 9 May 2007 Thompson G 6 April 2005 U S fears comeback of an old foe in Nicaragua International Herald Tribune p 3 Archived from the original on 6 June 2008 Retrieved 9 May 2007 Nicaragua creeping coup warning BBC News 30 September 2005 Retrieved 9 May 2007 Frazier JB 18 November 2006 Nicaraguan President Signs Abortion Ban The Washington Post Retrieved 25 May 2007 Boseley S 11 June 2010 Nicaragua refuses to lift abortion ban The Guardian Bolanos Will Move To The National Assembly After All Envio Magazine 2006 Retrieved 9 May 2007 Gibney James 30 January 2014 Nicaragua s Revolution Heads Toward Dictatorship Bloomberg Retrieved 4 February 2014 Geoff Thale As Nicaragua s Election Draws Near Concerns Grow Over Abuse of Power WOLA Retrieved 13 January 2018 OAS Mission in Nicaragua Recommends Integral Electoral Reform Organization of American States 7 November 2016 Retrieved 13 January 2018 Nicaragua s Ortega re elected president BBC News 7 November 2016 Retrieved 12 September 2017 Cerda Arlen 22 April 2018 Los muertos de la represion que Daniel Ortega oculta Confidencial in Spanish Retrieved 25 April 2018 Kahn Carrie 23 April 2018 Nicaragua Withdraws Social Security Changes That Sparked Unrest NPR Retrieved 31 May 2018 Garvin Glenn 2 May 2018 In Nicaragua the political battle is moving from the streets to the negotiating table Miami Herald Retrieved 2 May 2018 CIDH condena nuevos hechos de violencia en Nicaragua www oas org in Spanish Organization of American States Inter American Commission on Human Rights 25 May 2018 Retrieved 26 May 2018 Nicaraguan protesters call on Ortega to go BBC News BBC 27 May 2018 Retrieved 27 May 2018 a b Why isn t Nicaragua in the Paris agreement BBC News 3 June 2017 Retrieved 27 October 2017 Nicaragua a renewable energy paradise in Central America World Bank 25 October 2013 Retrieved 27 October 2017 Nussbaum Alex Krukowska Ewa Carr Mathew 8 December 2015 Carbon Markets Are Making a Slow But Steady Comeback Bloomberg com Retrieved 17 February 2016 INDCs as communicated by Parties unfccc int Nicaragua to join Paris climate accord leaving US and Syria isolated The Guardian 23 October 2017 Retrieved 4 December 2017 Stack Liam 24 October 2017 Only U S and Syria Now Oppose Paris Climate Deal as Nicaragua Joins The New York Times Retrieved 4 December 2017 Noack Rick 24 October 2017 Being outside the Paris climate deal Something now only the U S and Syria agree on The Washington Post Retrieved 4 December 2017 Paris Agreement Status of Ratification United Nations Retrieved 13 January 2018 Grantham H S et al 2020 Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40 of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity Supplementary Material Nature Communications 11 1 5978 Bibcode 2020NatCo 11 5978G doi 10 1038 s41467 020 19493 3 ISSN 2041 1723 PMC 7723057 PMID 33293507 Large Lakes of the World factmonster com Retrieved 25 May 2007 The Nature Conservancy in Nicaragua nature org Archived from the original on 5 April 2007 Retrieved 25 May 2007 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Nicaragua permanent dead link Encyclopedia Americana Grolier Online 200 11 20 date missing 1 permanent dead link subscription required TED CASE Nicaragua Canal Proposal american edu Archived from the original on 11 January 2012 Retrieved 16 July 2011 Munoz Nefer 2001 An Eco Canal across Nicaragua Accents Granada Nicaragua Tierramerica Archived from the original on 10 May 2011 Retrieved 20 July 2011 Proyecto Construccion del Puerto Monkey Point Proyectos in Spanish Managua Empresa Portuaria Nacional 2009 Archived from the original on 11 May 2011 Retrieved 20 July 2011 Alvarez Gustavo 18 February 2008 Empresas de seis paises interesadas en Monkey Point elnuevodiario com ni in Spanish Managua El Nuevo Diario Archived from the original on 13 July 2010 Retrieved 20 July 2011 Alvarez Hidalgo Wendy 7 July 2010 Haran puerto Monkey Point laprensa co ni in Spanish Managua La Prensa Archived from the original on 13 August 2011 Retrieved 20 July 2011 White RL 24 August 2004 Pittsburghers find once war ravaged country is a good place to invest Post Gazette Retrieved 9 May 2007 Bosawas Bioreserve Nicaragua Retrieved 25 May 2007 Trudgill Peter Watts Richard J eds 2002 Alternative Histories of English Routledge p 35 ISBN 9780415233569 English speaking protestants formed the majority of the population until about 1900 indigenous anglophones still form about 85 per cent of the population which also includes non anglophone Black Caribs At least at the level of arolectal Whites the accent is rhotic though obviously Caribbean England established a protectorate over the local Miskito Indians who the region is named after and the area was a British dependency from 1740 to 1786 In Nicaragua the British founded the principal Miskito coast city of Bluefields There are about 30 000 native speakers of English in this area of Nicaragua who look to Bluefields as their centre The English of the anglophone Corn Islands is also typically Caribbean Nicaraguan Animal Guide Vianica Retrieved 17 August 2018 Rogers Tim 15 May 2013 In Latin America s Second Largest Rainforest an Indigenous Tribe Fights for Its Land Time Retrieved 3 August 2017 Connor Liz 17 November 2016 10 reasons why you should visit Nicaragua Evening Standard Retrieved 3 August 2017 National Parks and Protected Areas of Nicaragua Archived from the original on 2 August 2017 Retrieved 17 February 2016 Nicaragua The Nature Conservancy Archived from the original on 5 April 2007 Retrieved 17 February 2016 Nicaragua bans freshwater shark fishing amid dwindling population numbers UnderwaterTimes com Retrieved 17 February 2016 Sesin Carmen 8 November 2021 Rigged Criticism mounts of Nicaragua s sham elections under Ortega NBC News Retrieved 7 May 2022 Blinken Anthony New Sanctions Following Sham Elections in Nicaragua White House Retrieved 7 May 2022 Freedom in the World 2022 Nicaragua Freedom House Retrieved 7 May 2022 Chapter XXVI Disarmament No 9 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons United Nations Treaty Collection 7 July 2017 a b Nicaragua United States Department of State Retrieved 22 June 2020 Johnson Stephen Kareff Samuel and Asvapromtada Siremorn July 10 2012 Nicaragua Lessons from a Country with a Low Crime Rate csis org Background and socio economic context PDF p 9 Archived from the original PDF on 15 October 2006 Retrieved 9 May 2007 Nicaragua Country Brief web worldbank org Rank Order GDP per capita PPP CIA World Factbook Archived from the original on 24 April 2013 Retrieved 9 May 2007 Social indicators Per capita GDP United Nations Retrieved 9 May 2007 Field Listing GDP composition by sector of origin The World Factbook Central Intelligence Agency www cia gov Archived from the original on 11 November 2020 Retrieved 5 May 2019 Migration Information Source Remittance Trends in Central America Migrationinformation org April 2006 Retrieved 26 June 2010 Nicaragua Economic Outline Nordea 2020 Archived from the original on 25 June 2020 Retrieved 22 June 2020 Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo Noticias La pobreza se arraiga en el pais Pnud org ni Archived from the original on 11 May 2011 Retrieved 26 June 2010 Human Development Report 2009 Countries shares of total stock of migrants in Africa Hdrstats undp org Archived from the original on 21 February 2009 Retrieved 26 June 2010 Silva JA NICARAGUA Name and Identity for Thousands of Indigenous Children IPS Archived from the original on 11 September 2008 Retrieved 12 September 2008 Economy Rankings Doing Business World Bank Archived from the original on 10 December 2020 Retrieved 4 January 2014 Index Of Economic Freedom Nicaragua Heritage org Archived from the original on 26 October 2007 Retrieved 2 November 2007 Poland forgives nearly 31 million dollars of debt owed by Nicaragua People s Daily Online 21 March 2007 Retrieved 9 May 2007 Nicaragua Economy U S State Department Retrieved 2 November 2007 General Information Nicaragua Economy Archived from the original on 28 August 2011 Retrieved 4 January 2014 Tobacco Sector Exceeds Expectations CentralAmericaData The Regional Business Portal www centralamericadata com Sanchez E 29 March 2010 Nicaragua Plans to Sell Over 200 Million to Venezuela CentralAmericaData The Regional Business Portal CentralAmericaData Retrieved 26 June 2010 Dan Oancea Mining In Central America Archived January 16 2013 at the Wayback Machine Tartter JR The Nicaraguan Resistance Country Studies Library of Congress Retrieved 2 November 2007 Nicaragua completes Bluefields Nueva Guinea highway Bnamericas 2 May 2019 Retrieved 20 August 2021 PBS Now Politics CAFTA PDF Retrieved on 2012 05 02 Raphaelidis Leia Sewing Discontent in Nicaragua The Harsh Regime of Asian Garment Companies in Nicaragua Multinational Monitor September 1 1997 Sarah Anderson Walmart Pay Gap wakeupwalmart com April 15 2005 Dean ANU College of Asia amp the Pacific Home PDF ANU College of Asia amp the Pacific Archived from the original on 5 July 2010 Nicaragua SOCIETY Mongabay com Menlo Park CA USA Mongabay Retrieved 3 May 2014 CITATION Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress The Country Studies Series Published 1988 1999 Original source Merrill Tim 1994 Nicaragua lcweb2 loc gov Country Studies Washington DC Federal Research Division U S Library of Congress ISBN 978 0 8444 0831 6 OCLC 30623751 Retrieved 3 May 2014 Primera prueba del sucre en enero LA PRENSA EL Diario de los Nicaraguenses Laprensa com ni 16 June 2010 Archived from the original on 16 January 2010 Retrieved 26 June 2010 Nicaragua canal construction will not begin until 2015 BBC News bbc co uk 4 January 2014 Retrieved 4 January 2014 Howard Brian Clark 22 February 2014 Nicaraguan Canal Could Wreck Environment Scientists Say National Geographic National Geographic Society Retrieved 26 May 2018 Nicaragua Chinese tycoon say canal work to start in 2014 The Nation 13 January 2014 Retrieved 14 January 2014 Four Years Later China Backed Nicaragua Canal Struggles to Take Off the Ground PanAm Post 8 May 2017 Archived from the original on 23 August 2017 Retrieved 24 December 2017 Travel And Tourism in Nicaragua Euromonitor International Retrieved 9 May 2007 a b Aleman G Turismo en Nicaragua aportes y desafios parte I Canal 2 in Spanish Archived from the original on 17 July 2007 Retrieved 29 July 2007 A Dynamic Economy Dynamic Sectors of the Economy Tourism ProNicaragua Archived from the original on 27 September 2007 Retrieved 1 August 2007 Carroll Rory 7 January 2007 Ortega banks on tourism to beat poverty Guardian Unlimited London Archived from the original on 7 June 2007 Retrieved 12 August 2007 Nicaragua exceeds one mn foreign tourists for first time Sify Archived from the original on 17 October 2018 Retrieved 18 January 2019 Background Note Nicaragua Economy U S State Department Retrieved 9 May 2007 Ministry of Tourism of Nicaragua INTUR Archived from the original on 13 May 2007 Retrieved 9 May 2007 Acan Efe 27 March 2009 Foreign investment Increases by 79 1 in Nicaragua CentralAmericaData The Regional Business Portal CentralAmericaData Retrieved 26 June 2010 Parker Nick 1 August 2012 Can Nicaragua deliver on huge potential CNN Travel Retrieved 27 October 2017 Volcanoes in Nicaragua Apoyo Volcano ViaNica Retrieved 12 August 2007 Activities in and around the Apoyo Lagoon ViaNica Retrieved 12 August 2007 Nicaraguan Ecotourism Nicaragua com Retrieved 12 August 2007 Nicaragua Travel Guide Overview World Travel Guide Archived from the original on 7 August 2007 Retrieved 12 August 2007 Ometepe Island Information Everything About Traveling To Ometepe Island In One Place ometepeislandinfo com Archived from the original on 6 March 2017 Retrieved 5 March 2017 World Population Prospects 2022 population un org United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division Retrieved 17 July 2022 World Population Prospects 2022 Demographic indicators by region subregion and country annually for 1950 2100 XSLX population un org Total Population as of 1 July thousands United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division Retrieved 17 July 2022 Mauro Salzano Francisco Sans Monica 2014 Interethnic admixture and the evolution of Latin American populations Genetics and Molecular Biology 37 1 suppl 151 170 doi 10 1590 s1415 47572014000200003 PMC 3983580 PMID 24764751 Genomic Components in America s demography Retrieved 8 January 2018 Urban population of total World Bank Retrieved 26 June 2015 Anuario Estadistico 2015 PDF Report INIDE February 2016 p 52 Archived from the original PDF on 15 December 2017 Retrieved 1 December 2017 a b VIII Censo de Poblacion y IV de Vivienda PDF Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Censos in Spanish October 2005 Archived from the original PDF on 24 August 2007 Retrieved 7 July 2007 Expatriates of Nicaragua Nicaragua com Retrieved 30 July 2007 Migration Information Source El Salvador Despite End to Civil War Emigration Continues Migrationinformation org Retrieved on 2011 04 29 Population growth annual World Bank Retrieved 26 June 2015 Nicaragua Birth rate Demographics www indexmundi com Crude death rate the United Nations UNData Archived from the original on 27 June 2015 Retrieved 26 June 2015 Nicaragua People and Society The World Factbook Central Intelligence Agency Retrieved 20 August 2021 Baracco L 2005 From Acquiescence to Ethnic Militancy Costeno Responses to Sandinista Anti Imperialist Nationalism Nicaragua The Imagining of a Nation From Nineteenth Century Liberals to Twentieth Century Sandinistas New York Algora Publishing Zuniga Alejandro 11 January 2008 Vestiges of Ancient Indigenous Language Still Found Today in Matagalpa s Northern Highlands The Tico Times Retrieved 20 August 2021 Urban Matthias La Costa Pacifica de America Central y America del sur Como Zona de Difusion Lexical Primeras Aproximaciones PDF ALFAL 2014 Retrieved 20 August 2021 Indigenous peoples in Nicaragua IWGIA Retrieved 20 August 2021 Garifuna World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples Minority Rights Group International 19 June 2015 Retrieved 20 August 2021 Nicaraguan Americans History Indigenous Societies Colonial Period Independence Modern Era Everyculture com Retrieved on 2012 05 02 Aqui Nicaragua Documentary Program by Carlos Fernando Chamorro Programa Inaugural de Aqui Nicaragua Idiosincracia Nicaraguense in Spanish YouTube com Archived from the original on 28 October 2021 Retrieved 26 June 2010 LADR About NSL www columbia edu Retrieved 24 April 2022 Evolution Library Birth of a Language www pbs org Retrieved 24 April 2022 Kocab Annemarie Senghas Ann Snedeker Jesse November 2016 The emergence of temporal language in Nicaraguan Sign Language Cognition 156 147 163 doi 10 1016 j cognition 2016 08 005 PMC 5027136 PMID 27591549 Turkulka Retrieved 23 April 2015 Languages of Nicaragua Ethnologue Retrieved 9 May 2007 ACN 24 May 2022 Nicaragua bishop on hunger strike to protest police harassment ACN International Retrieved 21 November 2022 a b Dennis G Nicaragua Religion Country Studies Library of Congress Retrieved 30 October 2007 Nicaragua Facts and Statistics Mormon Newsroom Retrieved 26 May 2017 Con Todo el Poder de la Informmacion El Nuevo Diario Managua Nicaragua Archived 2011 05 13 at the Wayback Machine Archivo elnuevodiario com ni Retrieved on 2011 04 29 Dolsten Josefin 2 August 2017 Tiny Nicaraguan Community Doubles in Size as 112 Convert Times of Israel Retrieved 30 December 2021 International Religious Freedom 2007 Archived 24 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine Released October 2007 covers period of June 2006 to May 2007 Nicaragua People groups Joshua Project Retrieved 26 March 2007 The Nicaragua case M Orozco2 REV doc PDF Archived from the original PDF on 11 May 2011 Retrieved 26 June 2010 El Salvador inicia plan para regularizar a nicaraguenses residentes El Nuevo Diario 18 May 2011 Archived from the original on 6 July 2012 Retrieved 19 February 2012 Lazo Flor 28 August 2011 Nicaraguenses se acogen a programa La Prensa Grafica Archived from the original on 27 April 2014 Retrieved 19 February 2012 a b Angel Urdinola D Cortez R Tanabe K 2008 Equity Access to Health Care Services and Expenditures on Health in Nicaragua Health Nutrition and Population of the World Bank Sequeira M Espinoza H Amador JJ Domingo G Quintanilla M and de los Santos T 2011 The Nicaraguan Health System PATH Birn AE Zimmerman S Garfield R 2000 To decentralize or not to decentralize is that the question Nicaraguan health policy under structural adjustment in the 1990s International Journal of Health Services 30 111 28 National adult literacy rates 15 youth literacy rates 15 24 and elderly literacy rates 65 UNESCO Institute for Statistics Archived from the original on 29 October 2013 Retrieved 22 July 2013 Liu D 6 December 2006 Nicaragua s new gov t to enforce free education CHINA VIEW Archived from the original on 28 December 2006 Retrieved 9 May 2007 Gilbert D Nicaragua Education Country Studies Library of Congress Retrieved 2 July 2007 Hanemann U Nicaragua s Literacy Campaign UNESCO Archived from the original on 3 July 2007 Retrieved 2 July 2007 Historical Background of Nicaragua Stanford University Archived from the original on 22 April 2017 Retrieved 9 May 2007 Nicaragua Pre election Delegation Report Global Exchange Archived from the original on 30 September 2006 Retrieved 9 May 2007 Arrien JB Literacy in Nicaragua PDF UNESCO Retrieved 1 August 2007 a b Piper Alan T May 2018 An investigation into the reported closing of the Nicaraguan gender gap Mpra Paper Global Gender Gap Report PDF Geneva World Economic Forum 2020 p 9 Retrieved 20 August 2021 Americas and the Caribbean UN Women Retrieved 27 November 2018 Nicaragua s rainbow revolutionaries Washington Blade Gay News Politics LGBT Rights 18 December 2018 Archived from the original on 26 June 2020 Retrieved 22 June 2020 Human development indices and indicators 2018 statistical update PDF 19 September 2018 doi 10 18356 9a42b856 en S2CID 240203402 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Traditional Nicaraguan Costumes Mestizaje Costume ViaNica com Retrieved 21 November 2007 a b Showcasing Nicaragua s Folkloric Masterpiece El Gueguense and Other Performing and Visual Arts Encyclopedia com Archived from the original on 16 December 2007 Retrieved 3 August 2007 Nicaragua Eternal Land of Poets Elcomercio pe Retrieved 26 June 2010 Native Theatre El Gueguense Smithsonian Institution Archived from the original on 6 December 2007 Retrieved 3 August 2007 El Gueguense o Macho Raton ViaNica Retrieved 3 August 2007 a b c Try the culinary delights of Nicaragua cuisine Nicaragua com Retrieved 8 May 2006 Gleeson Bridget 15 April 2016 How to eat like a Nicaraguan Lonely Planet Retrieved 27 May 2018 Gritzner Charles F 2010 Nicaragua Infobase Publishing ISBN 9781604136197 Country profile Nicaragua BBC News 2 September 2009 Retrieved 20 May 2010 a b Villa B LA HISTORIA DEL BEISBOL EN LATINOAMERICA Nicaragua Latino Baseball in Spanish Archived from the original on 2 July 2007 Retrieved 29 July 2007 Washburn G El Presidente happy in new job Major League Baseball Archived from the original on 12 October 2007 Retrieved 21 August 2007 Baseball s Perfect Games Dennis Martinez Montreal Expos Also Everth Cabrera who MLB debut was in 2009 season with San Diego Padres The BASEBALL Page com Archived from the original on 13 November 2006 Retrieved 21 August 2007 Salon de la Fama Deportes en Nicaragua in Spanish Retrieved 30 July 2007 Building for tomorrow in Belize and Nicaragua FIFA Archived from the original on 24 June 2011 Retrieved 4 January 2014 Panama win men s basketball gold at Central American Games in Managua Michael Pavitt insidethegames biz 7 December 2017 Accessed 14 August 2020 Continental Cup Finals start in Africa FIVB 22 June 2021 Retrieved 7 August 2021 Additional sources Edit This article incorporates public domain material from U S Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets United States Department of State External links EditNicaragua at Wikipedia s sister projects a, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
