Nicaragua

Where the name comes from

Nicaragua is linked to the Indigenous Nicarao people and their homeland between the lakes and the Pacific; its exact Nahuatl origin is disputed.

First people

Nahuatl-speaking communities lived in the west and other peoples on the Caribbean coast.¹

Known for

Nicaragua is known as the land of lakes and volcanoes, and Lake Nicaragua is home to freshwater sharks.²

Outside contact

Spain founded León and Granada in 1524, while Britain protected the Miskito on the Caribbean coast until 1860; the self-governing Mosquito Coast was absorbed in 1894.¹

The modern country

Independence came in 1821. In 1979, the Sandinista revolution overthrew the Somoza dictatorship, and war against the US-backed Contras followed.^3,4