NICARAGUA

Description: three horizontal bands, blue, white, blue; national coat of arms in the center, which is a triangle encircled by the words República de Nicaragua, América Central; this flag is similar to the flags of Honduras and El Salvador.

NAME: República de Nicaragua; country named for Chief Nicaraoa when Spanish arrived in 1524; or "nicarao" (> name of Náhuatl-speaking tribe living on the shores of Lake Nicaragua; the ending "agua" was possibly added by the Spanish for the water (agua = water) in the region; however, this latter is most likely just a popular etymology.

POPULATION: 4,300,000 (1997); 5,700,000 (2007); 6,500,000 (2014)

ETHNIC GROUPS: Mestizo (69%); white (17%); black (9%); Indian (5%)

CAPITAL: Managua (2,200,000 population–2014)

LANGUAGES: Spanish (official); Indian languages

RELIGION: Roman Catholicism (95%)

LIFE EXPECTANCY: 1997: men (63); women (68); 2007: men, 69; women, 73

LITERACY: 1997: 66%; 2007: 67%

GOVERNMENT: democratic republic

President: Daniel Ortega Saavedra (since 2007)

MILITARY: 12,000 active troops

ECONOMY: oil refining, bananas, cotton, fruit, coffee

MONEY: gold córdoba (NIO); 1997: 8.4 = $1.0 USD; 2007: 17.6 NI) / 1.0 USD

GEOGRAPHY: both Atlantic and Pacific coasts are over 200 miles long; lake Managua; mountain range down middle of country

INTERNET CODE: .ni

HISTORY:

6000 BCE Evidence of native inhabitants

700 BCE – 1425 CE Various tribes, first Maya, then Chibcha (Colombia) inhabit the region of present-day Nicaragua

1425-1524 Part of Aztec Empire

1502 Nicaragua discovered by Columbus

1524-1552 Settled and conquered by Spain

1524-1858 Capital at León; thereafter at Managua

1821 Independence from Spain

1825-1840 Nicaragua part of United Provinces of Central America

1852-1933 US Marines land/invade 14 times

1855-1860 William Walker (American) attempted to establish control over Nicaragua; he reestablished slavery

1909 United States pressure forced President José Santos Zelaya from office

1912 United States marines invade Nicaragua when civil war broke out

1916-1926 Instability under conservative presidents

1926 (May 2) Gen. Agusto César Sandino starts insurrection after Gen. Moncada agrees with U.S. to form Conservative-Liberal coalition to govern Nicaragua; United States invades; Succession of governments; civil war

1933 Sandino killed by Anastasio Somoza's National Guard

1936-1956 Anastasio Somoza (senior) dictator

1956-1967 Luis Somoza dictator (dies of heart attack), brother of Anastasio Somoza Debayle

1967-1979 Anastasio Somoza Debayle (junior), dictator (started as elected president, then “elected” again 1974)

1972 Earthquake kills 13,000 and destroys 80% of buildings in Managua

1972-1979 Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) wages guerrilla war

1978 Pedro Joaquín Chamorro (editor of La Prensa ) assassinated by National Guard (husband to Violeta Barrios de Chamorro)

1979 Dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle overthrown by Sandinistas

Land Reform Law passed; 1979-84, 3,476,627 acres distributed to 54,252 families

1980 Somoza assassinated in Paraguay

1984 CIA mines Nicaraguan ports

Daniel Ortega Saavedra (Sandinista) elected president

1985 Sandinistas sign accord with Miskito Indians

1987 Aug. 7: Signed Treaty with 5 Central American countries in Esquipulas, Honduras

Nov. 6: Appointed Miguel Cardinal Obando y Bravo to mediate peace with Contras ; effort failed

1988 Jan.: Negotiations with contras begin; Feb. U.S. cuts off aid to contras ; effort failed

1989 Feb. 14: Signed new treaty with 5 Central American countries to liberalize press and elections in exchange for dismantling the contras

Mar. 25: Pres. George Bush (USA) signs agreement with USA Congress to stop military agression against Sandinista government and to seek diplomatic solutions

Aug. 4: Agreement between all political parties and Sandinistas to hold elections on Feb. 25, 1990 and to eliminate all foreign support for contras

1990–2006 Feb. 25: Unión Nacional de la Oposición (UNO) wins elections: Violeta Barrios de Chamorro elected president with 55% of vote; takes office April 25, 1990; defeated Daniel Ortega

2007–2017 Daniel Ortega elected president twice

GOVERNMENT: Constitutional Republic, Representative Democracy

PRESIDENT: Daniel Ortega

MAJOR POLITICAL PARTIES AND POWER GROUPS:

Frente Sandinista, leader Daniel Ortega Saavedra

Partido Conservador de Nicaragua

Partido Liberal Constitucionalista

Partido Liberal Independiente, president Virgilio Godoy Reyes

Partido Popular Socialcristiano, president Mauricio Díaz Dávila

Partido Socialcristiano

Partido Socialdemócrata y Comunista de Nicaragua

Roman Catholic Church, Miguel Cardinal Obando y Bravo

Unión Nacional de la Oposición (UNO; coalition of 14 parties opposed to Sandinistas)

PRINCIPAL MEMBERS OF INTELLIGENTSIA:

Rubén Darío (1867-1916), national poet laureat; Modernist: Azul (1888), Prosas profanas (1897), Cantos de vida y esperanza (1903)

Ernesto Cardenal, poet: En Cuba (1972), Homenaje a los indio americanos, Quetzalcóatl (1989)

Sergio Ramírez, short stories, essays, biography, novel: Tiempo de fulgor (1970)

Cristina Chamorro Barrios: editor of La Prensa