of South America. The area has a cooler climate than the Pacific lowlands. km, it is the largest country in Central America. However, the administration privately argued against Cruz's participation for fear his involvement would legitimize the elections, and thus weaken the case for American aid to the contras. Cable TV is available in most urban areas.[239]. Nicaraguan cuisine is a mixture of Spanish food and dishes of a pre-Columbian origin. Nicaragua is currently a member of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, which is also known as ALBA. [116] April 24, 2018 marked the day of the greatest march in opposition of the Sandinista party. [131], Fishing boats on the Caribbean side bring shrimp as well as lobsters into processing plants at Puerto Cabezas, Bluefields, and Laguna de Perlas. [209] 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. Most Nicaraguans begin their day with gallo pinto. [148], Nicaragua is a unitary republic. Best in Travel 2021. [80] The contras operated out of camps in the neighboring countries of Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. 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. [131] In September 1980, UNESCO awarded Nicaragua the Soviet Union sponsored Nadezhda Krupskaya award for the literacy campaign. [84] 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. [222] 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. [citation needed] 17%[citation needed] of Nicaragua's population is of unmixed European stock, with the majority of them being of Spanish descent, while others are of German, Italian, English, Turkish, Danish or French ancestry. The lowland area runs from the Gulf of Fonseca to Nicaragua's Pacific border with Costa Rica south of Lake Nicaragua. Regions in Nicaragua . Managua is the country's capital and largest city and is also the third-largest city in Central America, behind Tegucigalpa and Guatemala City. It may be the biggest Central American country, but Nicaragua is comparatively untravelled. There are more than 100 radio stations and several TV networks. Geneva. [159] In 2007, Nicaragua's economy was labelled "62.7% free" by the Heritage Foundation, with high levels of fiscal, government, labor, investment, financial, and trade freedom. Equity, Access to Health Care Services and Expenditures on Health in Nicaragua. [103] 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. [109] Legislative and presidential elections took place on November 5, 2006. 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. 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. [131] 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. He is usually accompanied by a bass fiddle, guitar and guitarrilla (a small guitar like a mandolin). [124][125][126] It ratified this agreement on November 22, 2017.[127]. The Pacific coast has strong folklore, music and religious traditions, deeply influenced by Europeans. Don’t let this put you off: the country’s landscape is breathtaking, from the hot and dry northwest climate to the luxurious jungle in the east and the lush pastures of the central highlands. [21][27]:26–33 The Pipil-Nicarao people were a branch of Nahuas who spoke the Nahuat dialect, and like the Chorotegas, they too had come from Chiapas to Nicaragua in approximately 1200 CE. [153] Remittances account for over 15% of the Nicaraguan GDP. [202] The death rate was 4.7 per 1,000 during the same period according to the United Nations.[203]. The majority of the Nicaraguan Diaspora migrated to the United States and Costa Rica. [197] In 2005, over 5 million people lived in the Pacific, Central and North regions, and 700,000 in the Caribbean region.[198]. The above outline map represents Nicaragua, a country in Central America. Some of the most visited volcanoes include the Masaya Volcano, Momotombo, Mombacho, Cosigüina and Ometepe's Maderas and Concepción. This large rainforest region is irrigated by several large rivers and is sparsely populated. The first is that the name was coined by Spanish colonists based on the name Nicarao,[15] who was the chieftain or cacique of a powerful indigenous tribe encountered by the Spanish conquistador Gil González Dávila during his entry into southwestern Nicaragua in 1522. [181] 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.[182]. The "upper" peasants have sufficient resources to be economically independent. Managua is the country's capital and largest city and is also the third-largest city in Central America, behind Tegucigalpa and Guatemala City. [5] Growth in the maquila sector slowed in the first decade of the 21st century with rising competition from Asian markets, particularly China. Nicaragua's central region and its Caribbean coast were inhabited by Macro-Chibchan language ethnic groups. 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. Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica. 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 by which Sandino would cease his guerrilla activities in return for amnesty, a grant of land for an agricultural colony, and retention of an armed band of 100 men for a year. Search. The two autonomous regions are the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region Some 12,000 species of plants have been classified thus far in Nicaragua, with an estimated 5,000 species not yet classified. Nicaragua is home to a rich variety of plants and animals. These include wildlife refuges and nature reserves that shelter a wide range of ecosystems. Read our Nicaragua guide to get to know the history, logistics, highlights, weather, and culture of this Central American country. Nicaraguan culture has strong folklore, music and religious traditions, deeply influenced by European culture but also including Native American sounds and flavors. Executive power is exercised by the government. The diaspora has seen Nicaraguans settling around in smaller communities in other parts of the world, particularly Western Europe. About 9% of Nicaragua's population is black and mainly resides on the country's Caribbean (or Atlantic) coast. The National Police of Nicaragua are rarely, if ever, labeled as a gendarmerie. [236] Traditional cuisine changes from the Pacific to the Caribbean coast. Nicaragua is in territorial disputes with Colombia over the Archipelago de San Andrés y Providencia and Quita Sueño Bank and with Costa Rica over a boundary dispute involving the San Juan River. Nicaragua has made efforts to become less dependent on fossil fuels, and it expects to acquire 90% of its energy from renewable resources by the year 2020. [56][58][59] Sandino was invited by Sacasa to have dinner and sign a peace treaty at the Presidential House in Managua on the night of February 21, 1934. [221] 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. [15][16][21][22], Paleo-Americans first inhabited what is now known as Nicaragua as far back as 12,000 BCE. The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 3.63/10, ranking it 146th globally out of 172 countries. I had an outdated version and recently purchased their updated version 3.4 and was very impressed by all the improvements done with the roads and many added POI's. [232] 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. [180] The growth in tourism has also positively affected the agricultural, commercial, and finance industries, as well as the construction industry. 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. Canada, Brazil and Argentina host small groups of these communities. Combinations of styles from the Dominican Republic and the United States can be found throughout Nicaragua. Its position has been marked on the map by a yellow triangle. The Nicaraguan Health System. About Central America South Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua play host to a multitude of fantastic set-ups spanning both the Pacific and Caribbean. It is bounded by the Caribbean Sea to the east and by the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. [102] Chamorro was the first woman president of Nicaragua. The defeat shocked the Sandinistas, who had expected to win.[101]. Its culture is similar to that of Caribbean nations that were or are British possessions, such as Jamaica, Belize, the Cayman Islands, etc. [236], For most Nicaraguans radio and TV are the main sources of news. The Civil War forced many Nicaraguans to start lives outside of their country. The population is 58% urban as of 2013[update]. Besides exploring the forest around it, many water sports are practiced in the lagoon, most notably kayaking.[188]. [149], Nicaragua is among the poorest countries in the Americas. Because informal sector earnings are generally very low, few families can subsist on one income. With various influences, the form of salsa dancing varies in Nicaragua. 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. 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