Nicaragua, a state of Central America, stretching right across the isthmus north of Costa Rica, and confederated since 1895 with Honduras, San Salvador, and Guatemala to form the Central American Republic. An irregular square, the east (Caribbean) coast measuring 290 miles and the west coast 185, Nicaragua has an area of about 50,000 sq. m. The Central American Cordilleras form the backbone of the country; they run north-west and south-east at a distance of 12 to 30 miles from the Pacific, and attain elevations of 4000 and 5000 feet above sea-level. On the west the surface sinks rapidly to a longitudinal depression (110 feet), the southern two-thirds of which are filled by the large lakes of Nicaragua (115 miles long, 45 broad, and 140 feet deep in most parts) and Managua (35 miles long, 20 broad, 30 feet deep), the latter lying north of the former and 25 feet higher. This depression is studded with a chain of volcanic cones, standing on islands in the lakes (Ometepe and Madera, 4190 feet), and clustering thickly between the northern end of Lake Managua and the Gulf of Fonseca at the north-western extremity of the country, as Coseguina (3835 feet, which was the scene of a tremendous outbreak, lasting over four days, in 1835), Viejo (6267), Telica (4200), Momotombo (6890), Mombacho (4600), and several others. Though most of these are quiescent, some of them burst forth in eruption from time to time; Ometepe poured out its lavas during seven days in 1883. Another low range separates this depression from the Pacific. The districts west of the central backbone are the chief seats of the population. There stand the towns Managua (the capital), Leon, Granada, Chinandega, Rivas. On the western coast there are three harbours—the Gulf of Fonseca in the north, Salinas Bay in the south, and the port of Corinto towards the north. The only port on the east side is Greytown, at the mouth of the river San Juan.
East of the Cordilleras the surface falls away gradually; the spurs that break off from the main ridge sink into the low alluvial plains that face the Caribbean Sea. Thick forests clothe extensive areas on this side. Several rivers carry off the surplus water eastward, a few being of good length, such as the Coco or Wanks (350 miles long), which serves as the conventional northern boundary; the San Juan (125 miles), which drains Lake Nicaragua and separates the state of Nicaragua from Costa Rica on the south; the Bluefields and the Rio Grande (230 miles). The low coast-belt, called the Mosquito Territory (q.v.), is lined with salt lagoons—Pearl lagoon having an area of 200 sq. m., and Bluefields lagoon half as much. The mountain-spurs east of the main chain are rich in minerals; gold is mined in the neighbourhood of Libertad on to Matagalpa, in the heart of the country, and silver near the sources of the Coco in the north; coal, copper, tin, iron, lead, zinc, antimony, quicksilver, marble, &c. exist, but are not worked. As a rule the climate varies between 70° and 90° F., and there is a dry season lasting from about December to May. The natural products of the soil are accordingly tropical. The forest trees include mahogany, rosewood, logwood, fustic, sandalwood, india-rubber, and numerous others that yield fancy woods, medicinal plants, gums, and dye-woods. Large herds of cattle are bred and reared on the extensive plains of the centre and east. The rich soil of the cultivated western region yields maize (the staple food of the people), coffee, cocoa, sugar, cotton, rice, tobacco, indigo, and a great variety of tropical fruits. The exports—chiefly coffee, india-rubber, bananas, hides, metals, gums, woods—average £304,000; the imports, mostly manufactured goods, £429,000. The animal life is similar to that of Guatemala (q.v.). The population in 1895 was 420,000—about 1500 persons, of European descent, Indians, mulattoes, and negroes. The state religion is the Roman Catholic, but all creeds are tolerated. The educational standard is low, in spite of two universities (so called), at Leon and Granada, with about 350 students in all. The country is governed by a president (elected for four years), a legislative assembly of eleven members, and a senate of ten; both these bodies are elected by the people, the former for four, the latter for six years. There are 100 miles of railway, connecting the chief towns with Corinto. The public revenue (£152,600) is derived chiefly from monopolies on spirits, tobacco, and gunpowder, and from import dues. The national debt amounts to £603,000.
Nicaragua, like the states north of it, was a centre of Aztec civilisation; but the Aztecs were preceded by another race, likewise civilised, who have left stone sculptures and monumental remains. The Aztec influence survives in archaeological ruins and relics and in the Indian dialects. Columbus sailed along the Mosquito coast in 1502. Twenty years later the country was overrun by the Spaniards under Gil Gonzalez D'Avila, and in 1524 the city of Granada was founded. This town soon developed as the head of a stream of commerce that flowed up and down the San Juan River. In 1610 was founded Leon, the democratic rival of the aristocratic Granada. During the Spanish supremacy (after 1550) Nicaragua was a province of Guatemala. In 1821 it asserted its independence, and two years later joined the federation of the Central American states, a connection that lasted sixteen years. The history of the country after the severance from Spain until 1865 is a record of war and dissension, war with Costa Rica, with Guatemala, and with Great Britain (1848), which had asserted a protectorate over the Mosquito Coast since 1655. This region was given up to Nicaragua in 1860. Between 1855 and 1860 the aristocratic and the democratic party were fighting tooth and nail, the latter being assisted by the adventurer William Walker (q.v.). Since then Nicaragua has made laudable efforts to develop her resources and to advance along the path of civilisation, and she now compares most favourably with her sister states in Central America.
See Squier, Nicaragua (1852); Belt, Naturalist in Nicaragua (1873); Bodham-Whetham, Across Central
America (1877); Leoy, Notas Geograficas y Economicas sobre Nicaragua (Paris, 1873); Bancroft, History of Pacific States: Central America (1882); and Bonvallius, Nicaraguan Antiquities (Stockholm, 1886).