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Geography |
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Capital |
Managua (pop. 1 million). |
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Area |
129,494 sq. km. (59,998 sq. mi.); slightly larger than New York
State. |
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Terrain |
Extensive Atlantic coastal plains rising to central
interior mountains; narrow Pacific coastal plain
interrupted by volcanoes. |
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Climate |
Tropical in lowlands; cooler in highlands. |
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People |
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Nationality |
Noun and adjective--Nicaraguan(s). |
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Population |
(2005): 5.4 million. |
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Groups |
Mestizo (mixed European and indigenous) 69%, white
17%, black (Jamaican origin) 9%, indigenous 5%. |
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Religions |
Predominantly Roman Catholic, with rapidly growing percentage of
Evangelical Protestants. |
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Languages |
Spanish (official), English and indigenous languages on
Caribbean coast. |
Most Nicaraguans are of both European and indigenous ancestry, and
the culture of the country reflects the Ibero-European and
indigenous heritage of its people. Only the indigenous of the
eastern half of the country remain ethnically distinct and retain
tribal customs and languages. A large black minority, of Jamaican
origin, is concentrated on the Caribbean coast. In the mid-1980s,
the central government divided the eastern half of the country--the
former department of Zelaya--into two autonomous regions and granted
the people of the region limited self-rule.
Roman Catholicism is the major religion, but Evangelical Protestant
groups have grown recently, and there are strong Anglican and
Moravian communities on the Caribbean coast. Most Nicaraguans live
in the Pacific lowlands and the adjacent interior highlands. The
population is 58% urban. |
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Government &
History |
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Official Name |
Republic of Nicaragua |
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Government |
Republic. |
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Independence |
1821. |
Nicaragua takes its name from Nicarao, chief of the indigenous tribe
that lived around present-day Lake Nicaragua during the late 1400s
and early 1500s. In 1524, Hernandez de Cordoba founded the first
Spanish permanent settlements in the region, including two of
Nicaragua's principal towns: Granada on Lake Nicaragua, and Leon
east of Lake Managua. Nicaragua gained independence from Spain in
1821, briefly becoming a part of the Mexican Empire and then a
member of a federation of independent Central American provinces. In
1838, Nicaragua became an independent republic.
Much of Nicaragua's politics since independence has been
characterized by the rivalry between the Liberal elite of Leon and
the Conservative elite of Granada, which often led to civil war.
Initially invited by the Liberals in 1855 to join their struggle
against the Conservatives, an American named William Walker and his
"filibusters" seized the presidency in 1856. A historic battle
between Walker's troops and Nicaraguan troops was fought in San
Jacinto in September 1856, and is celebrated today as a national
holiday. The Liberals and Conservatives united to drive Walker out
of office in 1857. Three decades of Conservative rule followed.
Taking advantage of divisions within the Conservative ranks, Jose
Santos Zelaya led a Liberal revolt that brought him to power in
1893. Zelaya ended a longstanding dispute with Britain over the
Atlantic Coast in 1894, and reincorporated that region into
Nicaragua.
By 1909, differences had developed over a trans-isthmian canal and
concessions to Americans in Nicaragua; there also was concern about
what was perceived as Nicaragua's destabilizing influence in the
region. In 1909 the United States provided political support to
Conservative-led forces rebelling against President Zelaya and
intervened militarily to protect American lives and property. With
the exception of a 9-month period in 1925-26, the United States
maintained troops in Nicaragua from 1912 until 1933. From 1927 until
1933, U.S. Marines stationed in Nicaragua engaged in a running
battle with rebel forces led by renegade Liberal Gen. Augusto
Sandino, who rejected a 1927 negotiated agreement brokered by the
United States to end the latest round of fighting between Liberals
and Conservatives.
After the departure of U.S. troops, National Guard Commander
Anastasio Somoza Garcia outmaneuvered his political
opponents--including Sandino, who was assassinated by National Guard
officers--and took over the presidency in 1936. Somoza and his two
sons who succeeded him maintained close ties with the United States.
The Somoza dynasty ended in 1979 with a massive uprising led by the
Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which had conducted a
low-scale guerrilla war against the Somoza regime since the early
1960s.
The FSLN established an authoritarian dictatorship soon after taking
power. U.S.-Nicaraguan relations deteriorated rapidly as the regime
nationalized many private industries, confiscated private property,
supported Central American guerrilla movements, and maintained links
to international terrorists, including the Colombian guerrilla group
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The United States
suspended aid to Nicaragua in 1981. The Reagan administration
provided assistance to the Nicaraguan resistance and in 1985 imposed
an embargo on U.S.-Nicaraguan trade.
In response to both domestic and international pressure, the
Sandinista regime entered into negotiations with the Nicaraguan
resistance and agreed to nationwide elections in February 1990. In
these elections, which were proclaimed free and fair by
international observers, Nicaraguans elected as their President the
National Opposition Union candidate, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro,
widow of the slain journalist and editor of the daily newspaper La
Prensa, Pedro Joaquin Chamorro.
During President Chamorro's nearly 7 years in office, her government
achieved major progress toward consolidating democratic
institutions, advancing national reconciliation, stabilizing the
economy, privatizing state-owned enterprises, and reducing human
rights violations. Despite a number of irregularities--which were
due largely to logistical difficulties and a baroquely complicated
electoral law--the October 20, 1996 presidential, legislative, and
mayoral elections were judged free and fair by international
observers and by the groundbreaking national electoral observer
group Etica y Transparencia (Ethics and Transparency). This time
Nicaraguans elected former Managua Mayor Arnoldo Alemán, leader of
the center-right Liberal Alliance. The first transfer of power in
recent Nicaraguan history from one democratically elected president
to another took place on January 10, 1997, when the Alemán
government was inaugurated.
Presidential and legislative elections were held in November 2001.
Enrique Bolaños of the Liberal Constitutional Party was elected to
the Nicaraguan presidency on November 4, 2001, defeating FSLN
candidate Daniel Ortega by 14 percentage points. The elections,
characterized by international observers as free, fair and peaceful,
reflected the maturing of Nicaragua's democratic institutions.
During his campaign, President-elect Bolaños promised to
reinvigorate the economy, create jobs, fight corruption, and support
the war against terrorism. Bolaños was inaugurated on January 10,
2002.
FSLN candidate Daniel Ortega won the presidential elections of
November 5, 2006 with 38% of the vote, defeating a divided
opposition. ALN candidate Eduardo Montealegre garnered 29%; Jose
Rizo of the PLC received 26%; and MRS' Edmundo Jarquin polled fourth
with 6%. Ortega was inaugurated on January 10, 2007.
In early 2008 Eduardo Montealegre left the ALN and formed his own
movement, Vamos con Eduardo (VCE), and ran for mayor of Managua. The
VCE and PLC formed an alliance and will compete under the same
banner in the November 2008 municipal elections. |
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