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The Nicaragua Portal

Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest country in Central America, comprising 130,370 km² (50,340 sq mi). With a population of 6,850,540 as of 2021, it is the third-most populous country in Central America after Guatemala and Honduras. Nicaragua is bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean and a shared maritime border with El Salvador to the west. The country's largest city and national capital is Managua, the fourth-largest city in Central America with a population of 1,055,247 as of 2020. Nicaragua's multiethnic population includes people of mestizo, indigenous, European, and African heritage. The country's most spoken language is Spanish, though indigenous tribes on the Mosquito Coast speak their own languages and English.

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. (Full article...)

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Palo de Mayo (English: Maypole; or ¡M

ayo Ya!) is a type of Afro-Caribbean dance with sensual movements that forms part of the culture of several communities in the RAAS region in Nicaragua, as well as Belize, the Bay Islands of Honduras and Bocas del Toro in Panama. It is also the name given to the month-long May Day festival celebrated on the Caribbean coast. Both the festival and dance are an Afro-Nicaraguan tradition which originated in Bluefields, Nicaragua in the 17th century. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

...that the first woman to be popularly elected as President of a Latin American nation was Violeta Chamorro who served her term from 1990-1997 in Nicaragua. As of 2007 she is the only woman to have served in the role?
...that in 1972, nearly 90% of the capital city of Managua was destroyed in an earthquake?
...that Lake Nicaragua is the largest freshwater lake in Central America (19th largest in the world) and is home to the world's only freshwater sharks?
...that Nicaragua's Bosawas Biosphere Reserve protects 1,800,000 acres (7,300 km²) of Mosquitia forest - almost seven percent of the country's area - making it the second largest Biosphere reserve in the world after the Amazon in Brazil?
...that most Nicaraguans begin and end every day with Gallo pinto, a meal of rice and beans cooked separately and then fried together, and that on the Atlantic coast it is common to add coconut oil to the dish?
...that one of the world's finest rums, Ron Flor de Caña, is produced in Nicaragua?
...that in the 19th century the United States had plans to build a waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the country. The Nicaragua Canal concept was abandoned after the U.S. opted to back the construction of the Panama Canal instead?

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Image 1A railway tunnel in Nicaragua, built under President José Santos Zelaya (1893-1909)
Image 2U.N. map of Nicaragua
Image 3Cerro Negro volcano in 2011
Image 4A bus in the city of Granada
Image 5A view of Telica, 2011
Image 6León Cathedral is a significantly important and historic landmark in Nicaragua that was awarded World Heritage Site status with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Image 7Rotonda Rubén Darío in Managua
Image 8A view of Ometepe Island
Image 9Cathedral in Granada, Nicaragua
Image 10Some Nicaraguan cuisine: seafood soup, bread and beer
Image 11Trees of Life at night on Avenida Bolívar, Managua, 2016

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- High Importance: Culture of Nicaragua, Departments of Nicaragua, Ernesto Cardenal
- Top Importance: History of Nicaragua, FSLN, Iran–Contra affair, Daniel Ortega
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Departments

Nicaragua is a unitary republic. For administrative purposes it is divided into 15 departments (departamentos) and two self-governing regions (autonomous regions).

(Department capitals in parentheses)