Nicaragua

Nicaragua Background

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 US to sponsor anti-Sandinista contra guerrillas through much of the 1980s. Free elections in 1990, 1996, and again in 2001 saw the Sandinistas defeated. The country has slowly rebuilt its economy during the 1990s, but was hard hit by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

Nicaragua Information

• Population: 5,359,759 (July 2004 est.)
• Nationality: noun: Nicaraguan(s) adjective: Nicaraguan
• Location:: Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Costa Rica and Honduras
• Religions:: Roman Catholic 85%, Protestant
• Ethnic Groups:: mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 69%, white 17%, black 9%, Amerindian 5%
• Land Boundaries:: total: 1,231 km border countries: Costa Rica 309 km, Honduras 922 km
• Area: total: 129,494 sq km water: 9,240 sq km land: 120,254 sq km
• Coast Line: 910 km
• Climate: tropical in lowlands, cooler in highlands
• Terrain: extensive Atlantic coastal plains rising to central interior mountains; narrow Pacific coastal plain interrupted by volcanoes
• Maritime Claims: territorial sea: 200 nm continental shelf: natural prolongation
• Land Use: arable land: 15.94% permanent crops: 1.94% other: 82.12% (2001)
• Environmental Issues: deforestation; soil erosion; water pollution
• Natural Resources: gold, silver, copper, tungsten, lead, zinc, timber, fish
• Highways: total: 19,032 km paved: 2,094 km unpaved: 16,938 km (2000)
• Railways: total: 6 km narrow gauge: 6 km 1.067-m gauge (2003)
• Ports & Harbours: Bluefields, Corinto, El Bluff, Puerto Cabezas, Puerto Sandino, Rama, San Juan del Sur
• Airports: 176 (2003 est.)