History: The Pacific coast of Nicaragua was settled as a Spanish colony from Panama in the early 16th century. Independence from Spain was declared in 1821 and the country became an independent republic in 1838. Britain occupied the Caribbean Coast in the first half of the 19th century, but gradually ceded control of the region in subsequent decades. Violent opposition to governmental manipulation and corruption spread to all classes by 1978 and resulted in a short-lived civil war that brought the Marxist Sandinista guerrillas to power in 1979. Nicaraguan aid to leftist rebels in El Salvador caused the U.S. to sponsor anti-Sandinista contra guerrillas through much of the 1980s.
After losing free and fair elections in 1990, 1996, and 2001, former Sandinista President Daniel OrtegaSaavedra was elected president in 2006. The 2008 municipal elections were marred by widespread irregularities.
Nicaragua’s infrastructure and economy—hard hit by the earlier civil war and by Hurricane Mitch in 1998—are slowly being rebuilt.
Location: Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Costa Rica and Honduras.
Area: 50,336 square miles (130,370 square kilometers).Slightly smaller than New York state.
Population: 5,666,301 (July 2011 est.)
Capital: Managua
Geography: Largest country in Central America; contains the largest freshwater body in Central America, Lago de Nicaragua.
Climate: Tropical in lowlands, cooler in highlands.
Government: Republic
Head of State& Government: President Daniel OrtegaSaavedra (since 10 January 2007)
Language: Spanish (official) 97.5%, Miskito 1.7%, other 0.8% (1995 census)
Note: English and indigenous languages found on the Atlantic coast.
Religion: Roman Catholic 58.5%, Evangelical 21.6%, Moravian 1.6%, Jehovah’s Witness 0.9%, other 1.7%, none 15.7% (2005 census)
Time Zone: UTC-6 (1 hour behind Washington, DC during Standard Time)
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