Nicaragua
 

Overview
Country, Central America.

Area: 50,337 sq mi (130,373 sq km). Population (2007 est.): 5,602,000. Capital: Managua. Most of the people are mestizos. Languages: Spanish (official), indigenous languages, English. Religion: Christianity (predominantly Roman Catholic; also Protestant). Currency: córdoba. Nicaragua’s western half consists of thickly forested mountain ranges and fertile valleys. Parallel to the Pacific coast is a belt of 40 dormant and active volcanoes. The eastern coastline along the Caribbean Sea is known as the Mosquito Coast. Earthquakes are common and sometimes severe. Nicaragua has a developing market economy based largely on agriculture, light industries, and trade. It is a republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the president. The area has been inhabited for thousands of years, most notably by the Maya. Christopher Columbus arrived in 1502, and Spanish explorers discovered Lake Nicaragua soon thereafter. Nicaragua was governed by Spain until the early 1820s. It became a part of Mexico (1822–23) and then part of the United Provinces of Central America until 1838, when full independence was achieved. The U.S. intervened in political affairs by maintaining troops there (1912–33). Ruled by the dictatorial Somoza family (1937–79), Nicaragua was taken over by the Sandinista party after a popular revolt. The Sandinistas were then opposed by armed insurgents, the U.S.-backed Contras, from 1981. The Sandinista government nationalized several sectors of the economy but lost national elections in 1990. The new government reprivatized many public enterprises. Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega returned to power after winning the presidential election of 2006.

Profile
Official name República de Nicaragua (Republic of Nicaragua)
Form of government unitary multiparty republic with one legislative house (National Assembly [921])
Head of state and government President
Capital Managua
Official language Spanish
Official religion none
Monetary unit córdoba (C$)
Population estimate (2008) 5,667,000
Total area (sq mi) 50,337
Total area (sq km) 130,373
1Includes the runner-up in the 2006 presidential election and the immediate past president.

Main

country of Central America. It is the largest of the Central American republics. Nicaragua can be characterized by its agricultural economy, its history of autocratic government, and its imbalance of regional development—almost all settlement and economic activity are concentrated in the western half of the country. The country’s name is derived from Nicarao, chief of the indigenous tribe that lived around present-day Lake Nicaragua during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Nicaragua has a unique history in that it was the only country in Latin America to be colonized by both the Spanish and the British. Nicaragua’s population is made up mostly of mestizos (people of mixed European and Indian ancestry). The national capital is Managua, which also is the country’s largest city and home to about one-fifth of the population.

The family of Anastasio Somoza García dominated Nicaragua from 1936 to 1979, when it was toppled by an insurrection led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional; FSLN). The land, economic, and educational reforms initiated by the socialist-oriented Sandinista regime were negated when it became embroiled in guerrilla warfare with a U.S.-backed insurgency beginning in the early 1980s. The Sandinista-dominated government was finally defeated by the U.S.-funded National Opposition Union, a coalition of parties, in the 1990 presidential elections. The election results, which were deemed free and fair by the international community, signaled an end to the armed conflict in Nicaragua. The Sandinistas returned to power after winning a national election in 2006 but promised to uphold many of the economic reforms of their predecessors.

Present-day Nicaragua is still recovering from its legacy of dictatorship and civil war. There are ongoing disputes over land ownership, and Nicaragua continues to be dependent on foreign aid, mainly from the United States. Moreover, the country’s infrastructure was severely damaged in 1998 by Hurricane Mitch, which killed more than 1,800 Nicaraguans and destroyed several villages. On the other hand, the country has been home to many prominent artists, writers, and intellectuals, and it began to attract a significant income from tourism in the early 21st century.

Land
Nicaragua is bounded by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

Relief
The western half of Nicaragua is made up generally of valleys separated by low but rugged mountains and many volcanoes. This intricately dissected region includes the Cordillera Entre Ríos, on the Honduras border; the Cordilleras Isabelia and Dariense, in the north-central area; and the Huapí, Amerrique, and Yolaina mountains, in the southeast. The mountains are highest in the north, and Mogotón Peak (6,900 feet [2,103 metres]), in the Cordillera Entre Ríos, is the highest point in the country.

To the west and south of the central mountain core is a string of 40 volcanoes—some of which are active—that stretches northwest-southeast along the Pacific coast. These volcanoes are surrounded by low plains extending from the Gulf of Fonseca in the north to the Bay of Salinas in the south and are separated from the mountains by the great basin that contains Lakes Nicaragua, Managua, and Masaya. They are divided into two groups: the Cordillera de los Marrabios in the north and the Pueblos Mesas in the south. The highest volcanoes include San Cristóbal (5,840 feet [1,780 metres]), Concepción (5,282 feet [1,610 metres]), and Momotombo (4,199 feet [1,280 metres]).

The eastern half of Nicaragua has low, level plains. Among the widest Caribbean lowlands in Central America, these plains average 60 miles (100 km) in width. The coastline is broken by river mouths and deltas and large coastal lagoons as well as by the coral reefs, islands, cays, and banks that dot Nicaragua’s continental shelf—the widest in Central America.

Drainage
The central mountains form the country’s main watershed. The rivers that flow to the west empty into the Pacific Ocean or Lakes Managua and Nicaragua. They are short and carry a small volume of water; the most important are the Negro and Estero Real rivers, which empty into the Gulf of Fonseca, and the Tamarindo River, which flows into the Pacific.

The eastern rivers are of greater length. The 485-mile- (780-km-) long Coco River flows for 295 miles (475 km) along the Nicaragua-Honduras border and empties into the Caribbean on the extreme northern coast. The Río Grande de Matagalpa flows for 267 miles (430 km) from the Cordillera Dariense eastward across the lowlands to empty into the Caribbean north of Pearl Lagoon on the central coast. In the extreme south the San Juan River flows for 124 miles (200 km) from Lake Nicaragua into the Caribbean in the northern corner of Costa Rica. Other rivers of the Caribbean watershed include the 158-mile- (254-km-) long Prinzapolka River, the 55-mile- (89-km-) long Escondido River, the 60-mile- (97-km-) long Indio River, and the 37-mile- (60-km-) long Maíz River.

The west is a region of lakes. Lake Nicaragua, with an area of 3,149 square miles (8,157 square km), is the largest lake in Central America. Located in the southern isthmus, the lake and its distributary, the San Juan River, have long been discussed as a possible canal route between the Caribbean and the Pacific.

There are six freshwater lakes near the city of Managua. They include Lake Managua, which covers an area of 400 square miles (1,035 square km), Lake Asososca, which acts as the city’s reservoir of drinking water, and Lake Jiloá, which is slightly alkaline and is a favourite bathing resort. Lake Masaya is prized for its swimming and fishing facilities; the sulfurous waters of Lake Nejapa have medicinal properties ascribed to them; and Lake Tiscapa is located in the capital city.

Other lakes in the Pacific watershed include Lake Apoyo, near Lake Masaya; Lake Apoyeque, picturesquely located between two peaks on Chiltepe Point, which juts into Lake Managua; and the artificial Lake Apanás on the Tuma River, which generates much of the electricity consumed in the Pacific zone.

Soils
Soils on the Caribbean coast are varied and include fertile alluvial types along waterways and relatively infertile types in the pine-savanna and rainforest regions. On the Pacific coast the soil is volcanic, and about four-fifths of its area is fertile.

Climate
The climate is slightly cooler and much wetter in the east than in the west. The Pacific side is characterized by a rainy season from May to November and a dry season from December to April. The annual average temperature there is in the low 80s °F (about 27 °C), and annual precipitation averages 75 inches (1,905 mm). On the Caribbean side of the country, the rainy season lasts for about nine months of the year, and a dry season extends from March through May. The annual average temperature is about the same as on the Pacific side, but annual precipitation averages almost 150 inches (3,810 mm). In the northern mountains temperatures are cooler and average about 64 °F (18 °C). Prevailing winds are from the northeast and are cool on the high plateau and warm and humid in the lowlands.

Plant and animal life
Although Nicaragua’s forests suffer from poorly regulated commercial exploitation and the increasing human footprint of the country’s burgeoning population, they are still the largest in Central America. Covering more than one-third of the country, they vary considerably in terms of elevation and rainfall. Nicaragua’s forests contain valuable cedar, mahogany, and pine timber as well as quebracho (axbreaker), guaiacum (a type of ironwood), guapinol (which yields resin), and medlar (which produces a crab-apple-like fruit).

Although rapidly being depleted, Nicaragua’s fauna includes mammals such as pumas, jaguars, ocelots, margays, various monkeys, deer, and peccaries; birds range from eagles to egrets to macaws to pelicans; reptiles include crocodiles, snakes, turtles, and lizards; and a variety of toads, frogs, fishes, mollusks, and insects are also found. Fauna, like the flora, varies considerably from one ecosystem to another.

People
Ethnic groups
More than three-fifths of Nicaraguans are mestizos, persons of mixed European and Indian ancestry. African and European descendants together account for about one-fifth of the population. Indians constitute less than 5 percent of the population. The Indian groups are split into two regions: the west coast has a small number of Monimbó and Subtiava groups, as well as the Matagalpa (whose language is extinct), who live in the west-central city of the same name, while the Miskito, Sumo, and Rama reside on the east coast. Also living in the eastern region are the Garifuna (formerly called Black Caribs), who are descendants of the Carib people and Africans exiled from British colonies in the eastern Caribbean (Lesser Antilles) in the 18th century, and Creoles, English-speaking blacks mainly from Jamaica. Spanish-speaking mestizos constitute the largest single group on the east coast, however.

Languages
The vast majority of Nicaraguans speak Spanish. It is the sole official language in all but the east coast regions where, under the 1987 constitution and the Atlantic Coast Autonomy Law enacted the same year, Miskito, Sumo, Rama, and Creole English have equal status with Spanish. On the west coast, Indian languages have disappeared, even though their influence remains in place-names and many nouns in Nicaraguan Spanish.

Religion
There is no official religion in Nicaragua, but about three-fifths of Nicaraguans adhere to Roman Catholicism. Since the 1980s Evangelical Protestantism has grown considerably, particularly among the poor, and it is the religion of about one-fifth of the population. There are small Moravian and Anglican communities on the Caribbean coast. A very small Jewish community exists in larger cities.

Settlement patterns
The western volcanic mountains and surrounding lowlands and lakes contain the majority of the country’s population, most of its cities, and the bulk of its industry. The valleys of the western central mountains contain a substantial population. In the second half of the 20th century, many former inhabitants of the western region migrated to the large but sparsely populated eastern region to farm, raise cattle, or exploit timber resources. The area remains an agricultural centre, though some light industry has emerged.

Slightly more than half of Nicaragua’s population is urban. By far the largest city is Managua, on the southeastern shore of Lake Managua. Other important urban centres include León, Granada, Masaya, and Chinandega, all in the west. Matalgalpa, Estelí, Juigalpa, and Jinotega are among the largest cities of the central mountains. Bluefields and Puerto Cabezas (Bilwi) are the largest towns on the Caribbean coast.

Demographic trends
Despite the loss of nearly 30,000 people who were killed in the country’s civil war, and the hundreds of thousands who took refuge abroad, Nicaragua’s population increased from 2.5 million to nearly 4 million during Sandinista rule (1979–90). Declining infant mortality and a wartime “baby boom” are possible explanations. The war also spurred internal migration and a rapid expansion of cities. These factors, along with high fertility rates, have left the country with a young population. At the beginning of the 21st century, nearly two-fifths of the population was under age 15. Moreover, a restrictive abortion policy adopted in the mid-2000s, which outlawed the procedure even in cases of rape or a life-threatening pregnancy, was expected to further increase the population.

Economy
Nicaragua is one of Latin America’s poorest countries and suffers from high unemployment rates and a large external debt. Remittances from Nicaraguans living abroad and foreign assistance are the country’s main sources of foreign income, though income from tourism has increased since the 1990s. The majority of Nicaraguans live in poverty.

During the 1980s the cost inflicted by the revolution that overthrew the Somoza dictatorship and by the defense against counterrevolution worsened the country’s plight. The Sandinista policy of developing a mixed economy (about 60 percent private and 40 percent public) resulted in growth from 1980 through 1983; however, public spending on many state enterprises combined with continued price controls and subsidies led to economic problems. A trade embargo declared on Nicaragua by the United States in 1985, along with economic mismanagement by the Sandinista government, brought about economic decline, service shortages, war-driven inflation, and a growing foreign debt that lasted throughout the decade. In the late 1980s the Sandinistas implemented an austerity program featuring some privatization and sharp reductions in public employment.

The post-Sandinista government sought to remove most state control of the economy and accentuated austerity policies introduced by the Sandinistas. Privatization was accelerated, and government spending aimed at the country’s poor majority was curtailed. By the end of the century, with renewed U.S. assistance and aid from international lending agencies, inflation had been brought under control and minor growth was being achieved. However, the government’s implementation of austerity and structural-adjustment programs reduced or eliminated most government welfare and led to further impoverishment of the country’s poorest citizens.

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing engage as much as one-third of the labour force and produce about one-fifth of the total national income. The valleys of the western central mountains yield about one-fourth of the national agricultural production. Major crops for domestic consumption include corn (maize), beans, rice, sorghum, plantains, and cassava (manioc). Various fruits and vegetables also are produced for local consumption.

Cattle are significant as a source of hides, meat, and dairy products in the west and of meat in the east. The cattle industry grew rapidly after World War II until the late 1970s, when internal conflicts and government policy prompted many ranchers to reduce their herds or move them to neighbouring countries. Other livestock include goats, hogs, horses, and sheep.

Much of Nicaragua’s forests have been cleared for ranching and farming, and income from the sale of timber has helped repay outstanding international loans. Since 2000 reforestation programs have attempted to replace the forest cover that had been exploited through illegal logging operations.

Shrimping is the most important marine activity. Almost all of the shrimp, caught in both the Pacific and the Caribbean, are exported; lobsters also are exported in moderate quantities. Nicaragua’s fish resources, however, are relatively unexploited because of lack of investment, and marine fishing remains largely a subsistence activity.

Resources and power
Nicaragua is rich in natural resources, most of which have not been exploited on a large scale because of lack of financing. Mineral resources include known deposits of gold, silver, zinc, copper, iron ore, lead, and gypsum. Of these minerals, only gold has been mined intensively. Nicaragua has traditionally used petroleum sources (mostly imported) for its energy production needs. Since 2000 the government has passed various energy laws requiring the participation of the private sector in the generation and distribution of electricity and promoting the development of hydroelectric and geothermal plants, which together accounted for about one-fifth of energy generation in the early 21st century. In fact, because of its many volcanoes, Nicaragua has the largest geothermal potential in Central America. In addition, some of the country’s largest sugar mills have contracts with the government to supply bioelectricity year-round using bagasse during sugarcane season and fuelwood derived from eucalyptus during the off-season. Eucalyptus plantations have been established for this purpose.

Manufacturing
Nicaragua’s manufacturing sector is in an incipient stage of development and is based on the production of consumer products, many of which require the importation of raw materials. Beginning in the late 20th century, the government actively supported the diversification of production and the use of domestic raw materials by establishing maquiladoras (manufacturing plants that import and assemble duty-free components for export) in free-trade zones and by adopting free-trade agreements. Manufactures include refined petroleum, matches, footwear, soap and vegetable oils, cement, alcoholic beverages, and textiles.

Finance
The Central Bank of Nicaragua, established in 1961, has the sole right of issue of the national currency, the córdoba. The financial system had been dominated by the government-owned Finance Corporation of Nicaragua, an amalgamation of the country’s banks established in 1980, but by the early 21st century, several private banks and microfinance institutions had been established.

Trade
Traditionally dependent on U.S. markets and products, Nicaragua began trading with a wider group of countries—including Cuba and those of eastern Europe—during the Sandinista period. At no point, however, did commerce with those countries predominate. Indeed, when Nicaragua’s major trading partner, the United States, declared an embargo on trade with Nicaragua in 1985, several Western countries sharply increased their imports from Nicaragua. From the 1970s through the mid-1990s, the value of Nicaragua’s imports (most notably petroleum, nonferrous minerals, and industrial products) greatly exceeded that of its exports. After 1990 trade with the United States was resumed. At the beginning of the 21st century, Nicaragua’s main export products were coffee, beef, sugar, and seafood. About one-third of Nicaraguan exports went to the United States, with smaller proportions going to El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Mexico. Imports included nondurable consumer goods, mineral fuels, capital goods for industry, and transport equipment. In 2006 Nicaragua formally entered into the Central America–Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) with the United States.

Services
Nicaragua’s service sector has grown considerably since the 1990s and employs about one-half of the active labour force. Tourism has become one of the country’s leading industries. Tourists are drawn to the country’s Atlantic and Pacific beaches, as well as to its volcanoes, lakes, and cultural life. Especially of note are the hundreds of islands in Lake Nicaragua; the largest and most visited is Ometepe, which was formed by two volcanoes. The second largest island, Zapatera, has many archaeological sites and petroglyphs from pre-Columbian cultures. León, one of Nicaragua’s oldest cities, retains its colonial architecture, and nearby León Viejo, one of the oldest Spanish colonial settlements in the Americas, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000.

Labour and taxation
There are various active labour unions in Nicaragua, which have been generally divided under Sandinista and anti-Sandinista umbrella groups. The Nicaraguan Workers’ Central is an independent labour union.

Most Nicaraguan women work in the informal sector, which includes domestic labour and subsistence farming. Women are the most affected by and least protected from poverty. Many of them are the sole breadwinners for their families and cannot provide adequate food or meet other fundamental material needs. Indeed, at the beginning of the 21st century, the gap between Nicaragua’s national minimum wage and the cost of living increased, making life more difficult for families from lower-income communities. Government income is largely generated through both corporate and individual income taxes, a value-added tax (VAT), and a capital gains tax.

Transportation and telecommunications
Most of the country’s transportation system is confined to the western zone. There is a network of highways, parts of which are impassable during the rainy season. The system includes the 255-mile (410-km) Nicaraguan section of the Inter-American Highway, which runs through the west from Honduras to Costa Rica. An important road runs from the Inter-American Highway, 24 miles (39 km) from Managua eastward to Port Esperanza at Rama. Another road connects Managua with Puerto Cabezas on the Caribbean. In 1998 Hurricane Mitch destroyed large portions of the country’s roads in the Pacific coastal area. While many roads have been rebuilt through international support, subsequent hurricanes have delayed complete reconstruction.

There are several hundred miles of railways. The main line runs from Granada northwest to Corinto, on the Pacific Ocean. A branch line leads north from León to the coffee area of Carazo.

The chief ocean port of Corinto, which handles most foreign trade, and Puerto Sandino and San Juan del Sur serve the Pacific coastal area. The Caribbean ports include Puerto Cabezas and Bluefields, the latter connected to the river landing of Port Esperanza by regular small craft service. The short rivers in the west are navigable for small craft. In the east the Coco River is navigable in its lower course for medium-sized vessels.

The main international airport, 7 miles (11 km) from Managua, has service to North America and Latin America. Another large commercial airport is at Puerto Cabezas. Other airports have scheduled domestic flights. International air service is offered by TACA airlines and several U.S. and other foreign airlines.

Nicaragua’s telecommunications sector is fully privatized. The number of Internet users in the country is lower than that of most other countries in Central America.

Government and society
Constitutional framework
From 1838, when Nicaragua seceded from the United Provinces of Central America, to 1979, when the long dictatorial reign of the Somoza family came to an end, Nicaragua had nine constitutions. The Somoza regime was deposed in 1979 by a junta, led by the Sandinistas, which abrogated the old constitution and suspended the presidency, Congress, and the courts. An elected president and unicameral National Assembly replaced the junta and its appointed council in 1985, and a new constitution (the country’s 10th since 1838) was promulgated in 1987, with reforms in 1995, 2000, and 2005. The president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term; in 2009 the Nicaraguan Supreme Court lifted a constitutional ban on consecutive reelection, allowing the incumbent president to serve an additional term in office. Assembly terms are five years and run concurrently with the presidential term. Power is divided among four governmental branches: executive, legislative, judicial, and electoral. The last mentioned is the Supreme Electoral Council, which is responsible for organizing and holding elections.

Local government
Nicaragua is divided into regiones (regions), which are subdivided into departamentos (departments). Within the departments are municipios (municipalities) of varying sizes. Citizens of the municipalities directly elect a municipal council, which has basic governing authority and also elects the mayor. The municipal councils are responsible for urban development; land use; sanitation; construction and maintenance of roads, parks, and other public spaces; and cultural institutions within their own municipality. There are two autonomous indigenous regions on the Caribbean coast—the North Atlantic Autonomous Region and the South Atlantic Autonomous Region, whose respective capitals are Puerto Cabezas (Bilwi) and Bluefields.

Justice
Nicaragua’s judicial system includes civilian and military courts. The Supreme Court is the country’s highest court. Its justices, who are elected to seven-year terms by the National Assembly, are responsible for nominating judges to the lower courts. Nicaragua’s judicial system has received international assistance through judicial reform projects, but it continues to be plagued by inconsistent decisions, trial delays, and politicization.

Political process
Nicaraguans aged 16 and older have universal suffrage. Nicaraguan politics was historically dominated by a liberal and a conservative party. Leading political parties include the Constitutionalist Liberal Party (Partido Liberal Constitucionalista; PLC), the Conservative Party of Nicaragua (Partido Conservador de Nicaragua; PCN), and the Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional; FSLN). The FSLN was established in the early 1960s as a guerrilla group dedicated to the overthrow of the Somoza family. They governed Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990 and again starting in 2006 when Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega won in the general elections of that year. Presidential candidates must receive at least 40 percent of the vote or have 35 percent of the vote and be at least 5 percentage points ahead of the closet contender to avoid a run-off election. Members of the National Assembly are elected for five-year terms by a proportional representation system and can be reelected. Two seats in the Assembly are reserved, however—one for the immediate past president and one for the runner-up in the immediate preceding presidential election.

Security
Nicaragua has a volunteer army, navy, and air force, in which Nicaraguans can enlist as early as age 17. Nicaragua’s army historically has been tied to political parties. During Sandinista rule the National Guard, linked to the Somoza family, was replaced with the Sandinista People’s Army, which had led the revolution. In 1995 an amendment to the constitution helped stabilize and democratize the army, which was renamed the Army of Nicaragua.

Health and welfare
After decades of neglect by the Somozas, social programs for the poor became a central concern of the Sandinistas. Health measures were taken that significantly reduced infant mortality and increased life expectancies. Welfare and social security programs were expanded. However, these programs suffered in the late 1980s from the impact of war and a collapsing economy. After 1990 they continued to decline as the conservative government implemented public-sector cutbacks. With international aid, Nicaragua experienced improvements in health care access, and child mortality rates declined in the early 21st century.

Education
One of the first acts by the Sandinistas following the revolution of 1979 was to declare a “year of literacy,” whereby the government sent out cadres of former guerrilla fighters to teach reading to the largely illiterate rural populace. This literacy crusade reduced adult illiteracy from more than 50 percent to less than 15 percent. Standard education at all levels was also greatly expanded. At the start of the 21st century, about four-fifths of the population was literate, one-fifth of Nicaraguans had no formal schooling, and only a small percentage of the population had a university degree. Nicaragua’s oldest universities are the National Autonomous University (1812) and the Central American University (1961). Several other universities were founded in the 1980s and ’90s.

Cultural life
Cultural milieu
Nicaragua has rich cultural traditions that reflect long-standing ethnic cleavages. The western part of the country is culturally similar to other Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America. Its folk traditions are expressed in beautiful arts and crafts (ceramics, textiles, and wood and leather handicrafts), religious ceremonies, and country music (corridos). The eastern part of Nicaragua has a more Afro-Caribbean flavour, similar to other former British colonies in the region.

Daily life and social customs
As is the case in much of Central America, Nicaraguan social life is centred on family and fictional kinship. Most children are given godparents, who help organize the child’s baptism and serve as mentors throughout their childhood. Many social events are tied to the Roman Catholic Church, and each Nicaraguan town or city holds an annual celebration to honour its patron saint. The celebration of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary (referred to locally as La Purísima) is the country’s most important holiday, and the nine-day festival includes the building of altars to be placed at the doorways of private homes and the creation of floats to be paraded through town.

Another tradition in Nicaragua is the annual performance of El Güegüense, a satirical drama that depicts resistance to colonial rule. The spectacular is performed in January during the feast of San Sebastián, patron saint of the city of Diriamba, and combines folk music, dance, and theatre. El Güegüense, whose name derives from the Nahuatl term güegüe (“old one”), was a powerful elder in pre-Columbian Nicaragua who was compliant when in the presence of the colonists but ridiculed them behind their backs. The drama was recognized by UNESCO as a “Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” in 2005.

Nicaraguan cuisine is a mixture of indigenous and Creole traditions. The country’s national dish is gallo pinto (fried rice mixed with black beans and other spices). Corn (maize) is the staple of Nicaraguan gastronomy and is used in many foods, such as nacatamal (cornmeal dough stuffed with meat and cooked in plantain leaves), indio viejo (corn tortilla with meat, onions, garlic, sweet pepper, and tomato and cooked in orange juice and broth), and sopa de albóndiga (meatball soup). The traditional drink known as chicha is made with corn, water, and sugar. Appetizers called rosquillas are made with baked corn dough, cheese, and butter. The Caribbean region has its own traditional dishes, such as rondón (turtle meat, fish, or pork combined with various condiments). A drink found only in this region of the country is gaubal (cooked green banana, milk, coconut water, and sugar).

The arts
The drama and emotions of the insurrectionary and revolutionary periods from the late 1970s through 1990 produced a flourishing of artistic expression. Masterly work was exemplified in the paintings of Alejandro Canales, Armando Morales, and Leoncio Sáenz and the theatre of Alan Bolt.

Nicaraguan folk music is popular both locally and throughout Central America and Mexico. Much of this music was made popular by ethnomusicologist and composer Salvador Cardenal Argüello, who traveled throughout the country in the 1930s. Many contemporary Nicaraguan folk artists work from Cardenal’s songbook, remaking songs that were popular in the first half of the 20th century. In the 1970s the “New Song movement,” a form of traditional Latin American folk music mixed with political and social commentary, was led by Nicaraguan brothers Luis Enríque Mejía Godoy and Carlos Mejía Godoy, who continued to perform into the 1990s, often with other artists, including Katia Cardenal and guitarist Eduardo Araica. The English-speaking town of Bluefields, on the Caribbean coast, has emerged as a centre of reggae music. Nicaraguan palo de mayo (“maypole dance”) music is also popular in the region and is easily recognized by its incessant rhythm. Inspired by the British, the annual monthlong Maypole festival in Bluefields is an amalgam of European and Afro-Caribbean traditions centred on a decorated maypole; festivities include parades, costumes, music, and dancing.

Nicaragua prides itself on a long and distinguished literary tradition, which until the late 20th century was familiar within the country only to the educated elite. Among the country’s best-known writers are Rubén Darío, known as the “prince of Spanish-American poetry,” Ernesto Cardenal, who established a literary and visual arts centre that has attracted international writers and artists, the novelist Sergio Ramírez, the essayist Omar Cabezas, and the poet Gioconda Belli.

Cultural institutions
The most notable of the country’s institutions are the National Library and the National Museum (both in Managua) and the Rubén Darío museum (in Ciudad Darío). The last is located in Darío’s childhood home, which became a national historical site and museum in 1943. The Julio Cortázar Museum of Contemporary Art in Managua opened in 1982. The Tenderí Museum in Masaya displays archaeological artifacts from the Chorotega people, as well as coins and medals from the Spanish colonial era. The Sandinistas established the Museum of the Revolution and the Museum of the Literacy Crusade in Managua, the Sandino Museum in Niquinohomo, and others. These subsequently were abandoned or fell into disarray after the change of government in 1990.

State-sponsored cultural production has declined sharply since the 1990s, and the country has relied on independent support of cultural activities, which take place predominantly in the capital, Managua. The Somoza regime valued elite (often imported) culture, while the Sandinistas promoted what they termed “democratizing, national, anti-imperialist” art forms, both professional and amateur. A Ministry of Culture was established under Cardenal, and a Sandinista Association of Cultural Workers was created and led by the poet Rosario Murillo, wife of revolutionary and political leader Daniel Ortega. Both organizations built museums, sponsored professional artists, and created popular workshops.

Sports and recreation
The most popular sport in Nicaragua is baseball, and baseball diamonds can be found throughout the country. Boxing has grown in popularity, largely in response to the success of Nicaraguan fighter Alexis Arguello. Other preferred sports include football (soccer), weightlifting, and swimming. Chess is another popular pastime. During the Sandinista regime the government made a particular effort to promote sports among women. Nicaragua made its first Olympic appearance in 1968 at the Mexico City Games.

Media and publishing
Nicaragua boasts a thriving publishing industry. The country has several daily newspapers, all of which have strong political orientations. A bitter foe of both the Somoza and the Sandinista governments, La Prensa (“The Press”) is staunchly conservative. El Nuevo Diario (“The New Daily”) and Barricada (“Barricade”; once the official FSLN organ) are pro-Sandinista. During the Somoza and Sandinista periods, the two existing television stations were both regime-controlled. Sandinista television attempted to diversify its international programming (previously dominated by U.S. offerings) and to increase domestically produced programs. After 1990, although many new channels appeared, much of the air time was dominated once again by U.S. programming. Throughout the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st, there were a variety of radio stations, most of them privately owned.

Rosendo Arguello
Bernard Nietschmann
Thomas W. Walker
Manuel S. Orozco

History

Early history
This discussion mainly focuses on the history of Nicaragua since the arrival of Columbus in the late 15th century. For treatment of earlier periods and of the country in its regional context, see Central America.

Colonial period
The Spanish soldier Pedro Arias Dávila (known as Pedrarias) led the first expedition to found permanent colonies in what is present-day Nicaragua. In 1519, when Pedrarias became the governor of Panama, he sent kinsman Gil González Dávila to explore northward toward Nicaragua. González Dávila made the first attempt to conquer the region in 1522 but was repulsed by Indians. Pedrarias then dispatched Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, who founded the cities of Granada and León; by 1524 he had established permanent colonization. Jealous of Hernández de Córdoba’s success, Pedrarias had him killed and named himself governor of Nicaragua in 1527. Pedrarias served as governor until his death in 1531.

Overall, the Spanish conquest was a disaster for the indigenous population of Nicaragua’s Pacific region. Within three decades an estimated Indian population of one million plummeted to a few tens of thousands, as approximately half the indigenous people died of contagious Old World diseases, and most of the rest were sold into slavery in other New World Spanish colonies. Few were killed in outright warfare.

After the initial depopulation, Nicaragua became a backwater of the Spanish empire. In this setting, Granada and León emerged as competing poles of power and prestige. The former derived its income from agriculture and trade with Spain via the San Juan River; the latter came to depend on commerce with the Spanish colonies of the Pacific coast. Both tiny outposts were subjected to frequent pirate attacks. Late in the 17th century, Great Britain formed an alliance with the Miskito people of the Caribbean coastal region, where the community of Bluefields had been established. The British settled on the Mosquito Coast, and for a time (1740–86) the region was a British dependency.

Independence
In 1811, inspired by struggles in Mexico and El Salvador, revolutionaries deposed the governing intendant of Nicaragua. León, however, soon returned to the royalist cause, and Granada bore the brunt of the punishment for disobedience. In 1821 León rejected and Granada approved the Guatemalan declaration of independence from Spain. Both accepted union with Mexico (1822–23), but they fought one another until 1826, when Nicaragua took up its role in the United Provinces of Central America. After Nicaragua seceded from the federation in 1838, the rivalry between León, which identified with the Liberal Party, and Granada, the centre of the Conservative Party, continued.

Foreign intervention
After the withdrawal of Spain, relations between the “king” of the Mosquito Coast and the British government strengthened until again there were British officials in Bluefields. In 1848 they seized the small Caribbean port of San Juan del Norte, renaming it Greytown. The discovery of gold in California drew attention to the strategic position of Nicaragua for interoceanic traffic, and Cornelius Vanderbilt’s Accessory Transit Company began a steamship and carriage operation between Greytown and the Pacific. In 1856 William Walker, an American who had been invited to assist the Liberals in warfare (1855), made himself president of the country, but he was routed a year later by the efforts of the five Central American republics and the transit company.

Conservatives ruled from 1857 until 1893, bringing relative peace but little democracy to Nicaragua. As a compromise between Granada and León, Managua was made the capital in 1857. In 1860 a treaty with Great Britain provided for the nominal reincorporation of the east coast with the rest of the country, but as an autonomous reservation. Complete jurisdiction over the Miskito people was not established until the Liberal presidency (1893–1909) of José Santos Zelaya.

Zelaya, though a dictator, was a committed nationalist. He promoted schemes for Central American reunification and refused to grant the United States transisthmian canal-building rights on concessionary terms, thus encouraging the United States to choose Panama for the project. This, plus rumours that Zelaya planned to invite Japan to construct a canal that would have competed with the U.S. waterway, caused the United States to encourage Zelaya’s Conservative opposition to stage a revolt. When two U.S. citizens who participated in the revolt were executed, the United States landed marines in Bluefields and thus blocked a Liberal victory. Although Zelaya resigned, the United States refused to recognize his successor, José Madriz (1909–10). Further civil war led to the presidency of a Conservative, Adolfo Díaz (1911–17), on whose behalf the U.S. Marines intervened in 1912. A 100-man guard at the U.S. embassy symbolized that country’s support also for Conservative presidents Emiliano Chamorro Vargas (1917–21) and his uncle Diego Manuel Chamorro (1921–23). The Bryan-Chamorro Treaty, signed in 1914 and ratified in 1916, gave the United States exclusive canal privileges in Nicaragua (to prevent a competing canal from being built) and the right to establish naval bases.

The U.S. Marine guard’s withdrawal in 1925 led quickly to another crisis, with Chamorro Vargas in rebellion against a new regime. Díaz returned as a compromise president (1926–28), reinforced in 1927 by 2,000 U.S. Marines. Liberal leaders Juan Bautista Sacasa, José María Moncada, and Augusto César Sandino rose in rebellion, but after six months Sacasa and Moncada made peace, and subsequent elections under U.S. auspices brought the presidency to both of them (Moncada, 1928–33, and Sacasa, 1933–36). Sandino, however, fought on as long as the Marines remained in the country.

The Somoza years

The Marines withdrew upon the inauguration of Sacasa, and Sandino submitted to his government. A Nicaraguan National Guard, trained by the U.S. Marines and commanded by Gen. Anastasio Somoza García, was now responsible for maintaining order in the country. In 1934 high-ranking officers led by Somoza met and agreed to the assassination of Sandino. Somoza then deposed Sacasa with the support of factions of both Liberals and Conservatives, and in a rigged election he became president on Jan. 1, 1937.

Somoza (known as Tacho) revised the constitution to facilitate the consolidation of power into his own hands and ruled the country for the next two decades, either as president or as the power behind puppet presidents. Export activities grew from the 1930s onward. However, the Somoza family and their associates, rather than the Nicaraguan people as a whole, were the main beneficiaries of the country’s income.

On Sept. 21, 1956, a day after Somoza’s Nationalist Liberal Party of Nicaragua (Partido Liberal Nacionalista de Nicaragua; PLN) had nominated him for another term, a Liberal poet named Rigoberto López Pérez shot the president, who died eight days later. Congress at once gave Luis Somoza Debayle his father’s position, and in February 1957 he was dubiously elected to his own term (1957–63). Somoza Debayle ruled more gently than his father had. He accepted a settlement in favour of Honduras of a long-standing border dispute between the two countries (1960) and cooperated with the United States in the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba (1961). In 1961 three Marxists, including Carlos Fonseca Amador, founded the guerrilla Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional; FSLN) in opposition to the regime. It was named for Augusto César Sandino, and its members are called Sandinistas.

Following an essentially uncontested election in 1963, two puppet presidents, René Schick Gutiérrez and, upon his death in 1966, Lorenzo Guerrero Gutiérrez, held office with the support of the Somozas. Although the economy grew, mass poverty remained unchanged. Luis Somoza died early in 1967. Months later his brother Anastasio Somoza Debayle (“Tachito”) won yet another rigged presidential election against a token opponent, Fernando Agüero Rocha. In 1970 the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty was abrogated.

On May 1, 1972, constitutionally ineligible to succeed himself, Somoza relinquished the presidency to a triumvirate (composed of Agüero and two leaders of Somoza’s own party). On December 23 an earthquake in the city of Managua left 6,000 persons dead and 300,000 homeless. Somoza (commanding the National Guard) took charge as the head of a National Emergency Committee. Agüero, who protested, found himself replaced (March 1, 1973) on the triumvirate. The population suffered from the destruction as Somoza and his friends profited privately from international aid programs. In March 1974 a new constitution (the country’s eighth since 1838) made it possible for Somoza to be reelected president.

Before the end of the year, two genuine opposition groups attracted wide attention—the Sandinistas and the organization founded by Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, editor and publisher of La Prensa (“The Press”) of Managua, called the Democratic Union of Liberation (Unión Democrática de Liberación; UDEL). In December 1974 the Sandinistas staged a successful kidnapping of Somoza elites, for which ransom and the release of political prisoners were obtained. In response, the regime embarked on a two-and-a-half-year counterinsurgency effort that, in addition to leading to the death of Carlos Fonseca in 1976, took the lives of thousands of peasant noncombatants. In 1977 a group called Los Doce (The Twelve) sought an anti-Somoza alliance to include UDEL, the Sandinistas, and other organizations. Assassins murdered Pedro Joaquín Chamorro on Jan. 10, 1978, and a general strike and violence followed. On August 22 the Sandinistas occupied the national palace, holding more than 1,000 hostages for two days and winning most of their demands. Although the National Guard regained partial control, the insurrection spread, with another general strike and the Sandinistas seizing and holding several major cities. The uprising was eventually quashed, at the cost of several thousand lives. The following June the FSLN staged its final offensive. City after city fell to the insurgents, backed by tens of thousands of local civilian combatants. On July 17 Somoza resigned and fled the country; two days later the Sandinistas entered Managua and accepted the surrender of what was left of his army, ending the long years of Somoza rule.

Franklin D. Parker
Thomas W. Walker



 

The Sandinista government

The new government inherited a devastated country. About 500,000 people were homeless, more than 30,000 had been killed, and the economy was in ruins. In July 1979 the Sandinistas appointed a five-member Government Junta of National Reconstruction. The following May it named a 47-member Council of State, which was to act as an interim national assembly. In 1981 the junta was reduced to three members and the council increased to 51.

In 1979–80 the government expropriated the property held by Anastasio Somoza Debayle, members of his government, and their supporters. Local banks and insurance companies and mineral and forest resources were nationalized, and the import and export of foodstuffs were placed under government control. The Statutes on Rights and Guarantees, which acted as the country’s new constitution, ensured basic individual rights and freedoms. The government disclaimed any responsibility for the assassination of Somoza on Sept. 17, 1980, in Asunción.

The Sandinista revolution represented a hopeful change toward democratization. It attempted to redress the enormous inequality and poverty in the country with a range of programs designed to improve the lives of the poor. Democratization, however, was halted by two key obstacles. First, shortly after taking power, the Sandinista leaders began restricting certain freedoms and confiscating property. Second, the United States interpreted the Sandinista revolution as a possible shift toward communism and suspended economic aid to Nicaragua in the early 1980s. Indeed, the Sandinista government established close relations with Cuba and other Soviet-bloc countries. Throughout the decade the FSLN and the state gradually merged into a single entity that represented the interests of the National Directorate, the FSLN’s leadership structure. All political opposition in the country was weakened. Moreover, the Sandinistas created several organizations that were responsible for indoctrinating Nicaraguans into the party’s belief system regarding the revolution and for reporting critics of the revolution as “counterrevolutionaries.” Typical of the government’s political and ideological reach were Sandinista Defense Committees (Comités de Defensa Sandinista; CDS), which served as the “eyes and ears of the revolution.” In 1981 the administration also enacted the Agrarian Reform Law, which formalized what could be done with Somoza’s property. This included the offer of free land titles to peasants and supporters of the state in exchange for government service or for establishing agricultural cooperatives.

In response to the actions of the Sandinista government, in 1981 U.S. Pres. Ronald Reagan authorized funds for the recruiting, training, and arming of Nicaraguan counterrevolutionaries, who, like others already organized by the Argentine army, would engage in irregular military operations against the Sandinista regime. These insurgents, who came to be called Contras, established bases in the border areas of Honduras and Costa Rica. The Contra army grew to about 15,000 soldiers by the mid-1980s. Eventually, the Nicaraguan government also expanded its military forces, acquired crucial equipment such as assault helicopters, and implemented counterinsurgency strategy and tactics, which enabled it in the late 1980s to contain and demoralize the Contras but not defeat them.

On Nov. 4, 1984, the FSLN and its presidential candidate, Daniel Ortega Saavedra, won 63 percent of the vote in an election that international observer teams deemed fair. Ortega was inaugurated in January 1985, and two years later the new Constituent Assembly produced a constitution that called for regularly held elections, the first for national office to take place in 1990.

The Reagan administration denounced the 1984 election as a sham, and a U.S. trade embargo on Nicaragua was declared in 1985. The embargo and the damage and economic dislocation brought about by the civil war combined with Sandinista economic errors to cause Nicaragua’s economy to plummet from 1985 onward. An annual inflation rate of more than 30,000 percent in 1988 was followed by severe and unpopular austerity measures in 1989. Government programs in health, education, housing, and nutrition were drastically curtailed.

In 1987, after intense international efforts to end the civil war and bring democracy to the country, a regional peace agreement was signed between the Sandinista government and the Contras, who had stopped receiving military aid from the United States. These events gradually moved the focus of the Nicaraguan conflict from combat to politics.

The 1990 general elections were held under careful international observation. Contra activity increased during the electoral period. On Feb. 25, 1990, the U.S.-endorsed and U.S.-financed National Opposition Union (Unión Nacional Opositor; UNO) coalition and its presidential candidate, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, the widow of the martyred newspaper editor, won an upset victory, and a peaceful transfer of administrations took place on April 25.

Nicaragua since 1990

The Chamorro government reversed many Sandinista policies and overall sought national reconciliation, pacification, and reform of the state. Chamorro negotiated the formal demobilization of the Contras in June 1990 and cut the army from more than 80,000 soldiers to fewer than 15,000. In 1994 she was able to obtain the resignation of Gen. Humberto Ortega, brother of Daniel Ortega and chief of the army during the Sandinista regime. His departure not only signified greater civilian control of the military but also increased its stability. In pursuit of national reconciliation, Chamorro eventually found herself in a tacit legislative coalition with the FSLN and a handful of UNO moderates. The coalition, however, failed to achieve a real rapprochement; instead, the ideological polarization that was inherited from the Somoza dictatorship and the civil war continued between Sandinistas and their opponents. For nearly four years the legislative body remained unstable because of these tensions, which were further manifested in civil disobedience and recurring waves of violence. Disgruntled former Contras (who became known as Recontras) took up arms again, complaining of continued violence by the Sandinista-dominated army and criticizing Chamorro’s government for failing to deliver on its promise to redistribute land. Armed civilian Sandinistas, who were known as Recompas, emerged to fight the Recontras.

The Chamorro government managed to disarm most of these combatants by 1995. The conflicts between the Recompas and the Recontras gradually receded, and several constitutional reforms were adopted that shifted power from the president to the National Assembly, ended conscription, guaranteed private property rights, and prevented close relatives of the president from serving in the cabinet or succeeding the president. Chamorro’s administration replaced Sandinista-era textbooks with new ones paid for by the U.S. Agency for International Development. It also reduced the public-sector budget and returned some expropriated property to landowners whose land had been seized by the Sandinista government. Most of the government’s promised land reform was not fulfilled, however, because of ongoing conflict over land titles that had been reallocated under the Sandinistas. In agriculture, emphasis was placed on large-scale farming for export rather than on domestic subsistence. Although politically Chamorro was successful, her government’s use of austerity and structural-adjustment programs reduced or eliminated most government welfare for Nicaragua’s impoverished citizens, which in turn led to an increase in homelessness and crime. Chamorro’s administration did, however, guarantee peaceful elections in 1996 and the transfer of power from one civilian government to another.

Bringing these elections to fruition was a mammoth and tremendously costly task for the Nicaraguan Supreme Electoral Council (CSE). The $50 million administrative bill was paid for largely by foreign donations. Chamorro’s government had refused to allocate funds to run the election. Mariano Fiallos, who had headed the CSE since the 1984 election, resigned in early 1996, charging that his job was untenable, given the CSE’s lack of funding and electoral law changes that encouraged partisan influences.

The FSLN and the newly formed right-wing Liberal Alliance (Alianza Liberal; AL), a coalition of three liberal parties, were the main contenders in the 1996 national elections. Daniel Ortega was the FSLN’s presidential candidate, and his party campaigned for expanded social services and civil liberties, national unity, and, in contrast to its historical stance, reconciliation with the United States. He lost to the AL’s candidate, Arnoldo Alemán Lacayo, a former mayor of Managua and allegedly a sympathizer of former dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle. During Alemán’s tenure (1997–2002) Nicaragua’s economy enjoyed a modest recovery, fueled by foreign aid, debt forgiveness, and remittances from abroad, but his administration was also beset by charges of corruption, even in the allocation of aid following Hurricane Mitch (1998), which killed several thousand Nicaraguans and left hundreds of thousands homeless. Public confidence in Alemán was further eroded by a legislative pact between the FSLN and Alemán’s Constitutionalist Liberal Party (Partido Liberal Constitucionalista; PLC), which allowed the two parties to secure powerful positions and to thwart competition from other political parties in elections.

In 2001 Ortega lost a second time to PLC’s presidential candidate Enrique Bolaños Geyer. Soon after Bolaños’s inauguration in January 2002, he called for a “New Era” and for Alemán to be stripped of his immunity so that he could be prosecuted for allegedly having stolen some $100 million. The National Assembly narrowly voted to revoke Alemán’s immunity, and he was subsequently convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The penalty was later changed from prison time to house arrest.

President Bolaños left the PLC in 2003, and a three-sided political struggle soon broke out between him, his former party, and the FSLN. In 2004 the two parties charged that Bolaños had committed electoral crimes during his presidential campaign. In the same year, the National Assembly (dominated by the PLC and the FSLN) passed reforms that further limited the president’s powers. Bolaños vetoed the reforms in April 2005, but Nicaragua’s Supreme Court of Justice upheld them that August. After intervention by the Organization of American States, the three sides finally agreed that the reforms would not take effect until Bolaños’s term ended in January 2007.

Ortega returned to power after defeating conservative candidate Eduardo Montealegre in the 2006 presidential election. Seeming to have traded the uncompromising Marxism of his past for more-pragmatic politics, Ortega promised to uphold the free-market economic reforms of his predecessors. For its part, the government focused on the difficult task of stamping out official corruption and improving general economic conditions, particularly for poorer Nicaraguans. Nicaragua’s formal entrance into the Central America–Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) with the United States in 2006 helped Nicaragua to attract investment, create jobs, and promote economic development. In 2007 the country’s $1 billion debt with the Inter-American Development Bank was canceled. Nicaragua continued to push for regional stability and peaceful relations with its neighbours. A long-standing maritime dispute with Honduras was settled by the International Court of Justice in 2007. In 2009 the same court settled a longtime conflict with Costa Rica over the use of the San Juan River, which runs along the Nicaragua–Costa Rica border.

In the early 21st century, Nicaragua still faced daunting economic challenges. Large-scale commercial and slash-and-burn agriculture had decimated Nicaragua’s forests and left the land vulnerable to landslides and droughts. Unemployment and underemployment remained stubbornly high; the disparity between rich and poor was wide; and per capita income was among the lowest in Latin America. Many Nicaraguans have migrated to Costa Rica, El Salvador, and the United States, and their remittances have been a significant source of income.

Manuel S. Orozco