Portal:Nicaragua

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 7,142,529 as of 2024, 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 shares maritime borders with El Salvador to the west and Colombia to the east. 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 is known as "the breadbasket of Central America" due to having the most fertile soil and arable land in all of Central America. 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. The mixture of cultural traditions has generated substantial diversity in folklore, cuisine, music, and literature, including contributions by Nicaraguan poets and writers such as Rubén Darío. (Full article...)

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The fauna of Nicaragua is characterized by a very high level of biodiversity. Much of Nicaragua's wildlife lives in protected areas. There are currently 78 protected areas in Nicaragua, covering more than 22,000 square kilometers (8,500 sq mi), or about 17% of its landmass.

These protected areas encompass a wide variety of habitats, including rainforests, lakes, mountains, and volcanoes throughout the country. For example, Bosawás Biosphere Reserve in state of Jinotega (border with Honduras), covers 7,300 square kilometers (2,800 sq mi), making it the second largest rainforest in the Americas after the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. (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 view of Ometepe Island
Image 2Trees of Life at night on Avenida Bolívar, Managua, 2016
Image 3Cathedral in Granada, Nicaragua
Image 4A railway tunnel in Nicaragua, built under President José Santos Zelaya (1893-1909)
Image 5Some Nicaraguan cuisine: seafood soup, bread and beer
Image 6Cerro Negro volcano in 2011
Image 7A bus in the city of Granada
Image 8Rotonda Rubén Darío in Managua
Image 9León 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 10U.N. map of Nicaragua
Image 11A view of Telica, 2011

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- High Importance: Culture of Nicaragua, Departments of Nicaragua, Ernesto Cardenal
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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)