Facts About Nicaragua

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The Pacific coast of Nicaragua was settled as a Spanish colony from Panama in the early 16th century. In 1821 they were declared independent from Spain and the country became an independent republic in 1838. Britain occupied the Caribbean Coast in the first half of the 19th century, but slowly gave up control of the region in following decades. It is a little smaller than the state of New York, and bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. It has a coastline on the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. It has a population of 5,848,641, according to a 2014 survey.

Fact 1:    Natural resources of Nicaragua are gold, silver, copper, tungsten, lead, zinc, timber and fish.

Fact 2:    Natural hazards of Nicaragua are destructive earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and the country is extremely susceptible to hurricanes. Significant volcanic activity; Cerro Negro (elevation of 728 m), it last erupted in 1999, it is one of Nicaragua’s most active volcanoes, the lava and ashes have caused serious damage to farmland and buildings. Other active volcanoes include Concepcion, Cosiguina, Masaya, Las Pilas, Momotombo, San Cristobal, and Telica.

Fact 3:    Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America and it contains the largest freshwater body in Central America, the Lago de Nicaragua.

Fact 4:    Export partners are the United States 25.2%, Venezuela 16%, Canada 13.1%, El Salvador 8.9%, Costa Rica 5% (2013 est.) Main exports commodities are coffee, beef, gold, sugar, peanuts, shrimp and lobster, tobacco, cigars, automobile wiring harnesses, textiles, apparel, and cotton. Nicaragua’s imports partners are Venezuela 18.8% (2013 est,) imported items are consumer goods, machinery and equipment, raw materials, and petroleum products.

Fact 5:    Lake Managua is the only fresh water lake in the world that is home to bull sharks; they have adapted to fresh water environments and can swim up the Rio San Juan to the lake.

Fact 6:    The CIA world fact book ranks Nicaragua at 4th best in the world at generating electricity for a source other than hydroelectric and nuclear. Other sources used to generate electric are geothermal and wind.

Fact 7:    The economy of Nicaragua relies on the production and processing of coffee, shrimp, beef and lobster. Most of the rural citizens rely on farming to make a living, but most of the land they work on is usually owned by one of the country’s richer elites. Higher levels of international debt make continual economic development difficult.

Fact 8:    Plan, which is a United States, based organization works with 30,000 children and their families in Nicaragua, they promote education and health care for children. Plan only provides direct assistance in an emergency, instead they help communities grow and teach them to support themselves.

Fact 9:    Almost 90% of the population lives in the Pacific lowlands, which makes up the western 1/3 of the country. Most Nicaraguans have mixed Amerindian and Spanish ancestry and they speak Spanish, some residents also speak indigenous dialects. Nicaraguans use both of their parent’s surnames, they use their father’s name as the family name and the mother’s last name comes at the end of their full name.

Fact 10:    Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere; it faces low per capital income, widespread underemployment, and a serious outside debt burden. Distribution of income is most likely the most unequal on the globe.  The country has developed toward macroeconomic stability in the past couple years, the GDP annual growth has been way too low to meet the countries needs, this forces the country to rely on international economic assistance to meet the debt and fiscal financing requirements.

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