Profile
Background and figures as recorded in the CIA World Factbook.
The Pacific coast of Nicaragua was settled as a Spanish colony 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. By 1978, violent opposition to governmental manipulation and corruption resulted in a short-lived civil war that brought a civil-military coalition to power in 1979, spearheaded by Marxist Sandinista guerrillas led by Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra.
- Capital
- Managua
- Government
- presidential republic
- Population
- 6,739,380
- Area
- 130,370 sq km
- Location
- Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Costa Rica and Honduras
- Climate
- tropical in lowlands, cooler in highlands
- Natural resources
- gold; silver; copper; tungsten; lead; zinc…
- Languages
- Spanish (official) 99.5%; Indigenous 0.3%; Portuguese 0.1%; other 0.1%
- Religions
- Roman Catholic 44.9%; Protestant 38.7% (Evangelical 38.2; Adventist 0.5%); other 1.2%…
- Independence
- 15 September 1821 (from Spain)
- Administrative divisions
- 15 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento) and 2 autonomous regions* (regiones autonomistas, singular - reg…
- Currency
- cordobas (NIO)
- Export partners
- USA 51%; Mexico 12%; El Salvador 6%; Canada 6%…
- Import partners
- USA 24%; China 13%; Mexico 9%; Honduras 9%…
Source: CIA World Factbook — a work of the US government, in the public domain