Nicaragua Photos

Background: The Pacific Coast of Nicaragua was settled as a Spanish colony from Panama 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. Violent opposition to governmental manipulation and corruption spread to all classes by 1978 and resulted in a short-lived civil war that brought the Marxist Sandinista guerrillas to power in 1979. Nicaraguan aid to leftist rebels in El Salvador caused the US to sponsor anti-Sandinista contra guerrillas through much of the 1980s. Free elections in 1990, 1996, and again in 2001 saw the Sandinistas defeated. The country has slowly rebuilt its economy during the 1990s, but was hard hit by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.



Links: Nicaragua Travel Blogs (all) | Nicaragua Travel Photos | Nicaragua Travel Forum | Nicaragua Facts | Map of Nicaragua

Areas in Nicaragua: Bluefields | Boaco | Corn Islands | diriamba | El Trapeche | Estelí | Estelí Nature Reserve | Estero Padre Ramos | Granada | Isla de Ometepe | Jalapa | Laguna de Apoyo | Leon | Majagual | Managua | Masaya | Nueva Esperanza | Nueva Ginea | Parque Nacional Volcan Masaya | Playa Madera | Pochomil | Puerto Cabesas | San Carlos | San Jose de los Remates | San Juan Del Sur | Volcan Mombacho

---