The Geographical Features of Nicaragua

Nicaragua is located on the continent of Central America which covers 119,990 square kilometers of land and 10,380 square kilometers of water. Nicaragua borders the Caribbean Sea which is also known as the Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Costa Rica and Honduras, and it shares maritime borders with Colombia and El Salvador. Nicaragua is the 98th largest nation in the world with a total area of 130,370 square kilometers. It is a lot smaller than the United States in size and population. The United States is 3,746,662 square miles greater than Nicaragua. Nicaragua’s capital is Managua and it is located 12.13 latitude and -86.25 longitudes. It is situated at elevation 108 meters above sea level.

Nicaragua’s weather has an average of 80 F. Nicaragua has two seasons, a rainy season and a dry one. The rainy season is from mid-May until mid-November. In Nicaragua, October is the wettest month. The weather is usually around 80 F to 90 F during October. Usually, around the rainy season surfers like to come because the swells come from the southern hemisphere and the surfing is better. The dry season lasts from mid-November to the end of May. May is the hottest and driest month in Nicaragua. There is usually no rain during the dry season but it tends to get very windy and sometimes dusty. The best months to visit Nicaragua would probably be December, January, July, and August. During these months Nicaragua looks very beautiful, with trees full of leaves and flowers cascading over fences and decorating patios everywhere.

Nicaragua’s population currently is around 6.2 million people. In Nicaragua, there are a lot of different ethnic groups such as mestizos, white people, and black people. Most people in Nicaragua speak only Spanish. Around 73% of Nicaraguans believe in the Roman Catholic religion and the other 15% believe in the evangelical churches. Nicaragua has many sports in the country but the most popular are football(Soccer), baseball, and boxing. The most favorite sport in Nicaragua would be baseball. They have their own baseball league in Nicaragua that has four teams.

In pre-Columbian times the people who originated from Nicaragua were part of the Intermediate Area. The Intermediate Area was in between the Mesoamerican and Andean cultural regions. That was where the Mesoamerican and South American indigenous cultures met. Archaeologists confirmed that that was where they met by the ancient footprints of Acahualinca. The Pipil moved to Nicaragua from central Mexico after 500 B.C.E. At the end of the fifteenth century, western Nicaragua was inhabited by many indigenous peoples related by culture to the Mesoamerican civilizations of the Maya and Aztec, and by language to the Mesoamerican Linguistic Area. They were mainly farmers who lived in towns, organized into small kingdoms.

Meanwhile, the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua was inhabited by other peoples, mostly Chibcha language groups. They had mixed together in Central America and moved also to present-day northern Colombia and close areas. They lived a life based primarily on gathering and hunting. The people of eastern Nicaragua traded with water and were inspired by other natives of the Caribbean. Round thatched huts and canoes were usually crafted and used in eastern Nicaragua. In the west and highland country, occupying the dominion between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean Coast, the Niquirano were governed by head Nicarao or Nicaragua. The wealthy ruler lived in Nicaraocali, site of the present-day city of Rivas. The Chorotega lived in the exchange region of Nicaragua. Without women in their parties, the Spanish vanquisher took Niquirano and Chorotega wives and partners, beginning the multi-ethnic premix of native and European stock now known as mestizo which constitutes the great majority of the population in western Nicaragua.

Within three-decade after European contact, what had been an estimated American-Indian language population of one million went down. Scientists and historians estimate approximately half of the native people in western Nicaragua died from the rapid spread of many different diseases carried by the Spaniards, such as measles and smallpox, to which the Indians had no protection. The native people of the Caribbean coast escaped the epidemics due to the danger of their area. Their societies continued more culturally intact as a result.