Nicaragua

Nicaragua is a republic in Central America. It is the largest Central American nation but the least densely populated. It is bordered on the north by Honduras and on south by Costa Rica. Its western coastline is on the Pacific Ocean, while the east side of the country is on the Caribbean Sea. The country's name is a combination of Nicarao, the most populous indigenous tribe when the Spanish arrived, and the Spanish word Agua, meaning water, after the two large lakes in the west of the country, Lago Managua and Lago Nicaragua.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Nicaragua

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About 69 percent of Nicaraguans are Mestizo (mixed European and Amerindian to varying degrees). People of unmixed European descent consitute about 17 percent of the population, and are the largest minority. They are mostly of Spanish descent, but the 19th century saw several small waves of immigration from other European-Mediterranean countries. In particular the northern cities of Esteli and Matagalpa have significant 4th generation German communities. Most of the Mestizo and European population live in the western regions of the country and especially in the cities of Managua, Leon and Granada.

Related Topics:
Mestizo - European - Spanish - German

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About 9 percent of Nicaragua's population is black or afronicaragüense, with the black population concentrated on the country's eastern coast. The black population is mostly of West Indian (Antillean) origin, the descendents of indentured labourers brought mostly from Jamaica and Haiti when the region was a British protectorate. Nicaragua has the second largest black population in Central America after Panama. There is also a smaller number of Garifuna, a people of mixed Carib, Angolan, Congolese and Arawak descent.

Related Topics:
Black - West Indian - Jamaica - Haiti - Protectorate - Central America - Panama - Garifuna - Carib - Angola - Congo - Arawak

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The remaining 5 percent is comprised of the unmixed descendants of the country's indigenous inhabitants. Nicaragua's pre-Colombian population consisted of the Nahuatl-speaking Nicarao people of the west after whom the country is named, and six other ethnic groups including the Miskitos, Ramas and Sumos along the Caribbean coast. While very few pure-blooded Nicarao people still exist, the Caribbean peoples have remained distinct. In the mid-1980s, the government divided the department of Zelaya - consisting of the eastern half of the country - into two autonomous regions and thus granted the African and indigenous people of this region limited self-rule within the Republic.

Related Topics:
Pre-Colombian - Nahuatl - Miskito - Sumo - Zelaya

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There is also a small Middle Eastern-nicaraguan community of Syrian, Armenian, Palestinian and Lebanese people in Nicaragua with a total population of about 30,000, and an East Asian community of Japanese, Taiwanese and Chinese people of almost 8,000. These minorities speak Spanish and maintain their ancestral languages as well.

Related Topics:
Middle East - Syrian - Armenian - Palestinian - Lebanese - East Asia - Japan - Taiwan - Chinese

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Spanish is spoken by about 90% of Nicaraguans; the Nicaraguan dialect apparently has many similarities to Galician, and they (nicaraguans) think it has similarities to Argentinian Spanish which uses "vos" instead of "tu", along with the "vos" conjugation. The black population of the east coast region has English as its first language. Several indigenous peoples of the east still use their original languages.

Related Topics:
Galician - Argentinian Spanish - Vos - English

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Roman Catholicism is the major religion, but evangelical Protestant groups have grown recently, and there are strong Anglican and Moravian communities on the Caribbean coast.

Related Topics:
Roman Catholicism - Evangelical - Protestant - Anglican - Moravian

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Ninety per cent of Nicaraguans live in the Pacific lowlands and the adjacent interior highlands. The population is 54% urban.

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An estimated 2 million Nicaraguans live outside of Nicaragua, popular destinations are Costa Rica, the United States, Mexico, Germany, and Spain.

Related Topics:
Costa Rica - United States - Mexico - Germany - Spain

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