According to areacodesexplorer, Nicaragua is a republic in Central America. The Republic is the largest country in Central America in terms of area, but also has the lowest population density. To the north, Nicaragua shares a border with Honduras and to the south with Costa Rica. To the west is the Pacific Ocean, and to the east is the Caribbean Sea. Its name is a combination of Nicarao, which was the largest Indian tribe by the arrival of the Spanish, and the Spanish word Agua, meaning water, referring to the two large lakes in the country’s west, Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua.
The capital since 1855 is Managua. It is a city that has experienced many disasters, but today it is a rather peculiar city as it has neither street names nor addresses. After the 1972 earthquake, the city grew organically, instead of spending money on setting up expensive street signs. Addresses are written as “two squares after the parked car, my house is painted dark blue”.
TIMELINE:
500 – People settled in the area.
1502 – The land is discovered by Columbus.
1522 – A Spanish explorer, Gil Gonzalez Davila, names the country Nicaragua, after the local chief named Nicarao.
1523-1524 – Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba completes the Spanish conquest of Nicaragua. He founded Granada and Leon in Nicaragua.
1806 – The Spanish king sets boundaries between Honduras and Nicaragua.
1821-1838 – The area passed from Spain in 1821 and until 1838, together with Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica, constituted the United States of America (República Federal de Centroamérica). After a civil war, Nicaragua became independent in 1840.
1855 – American adventurer William Walker and his expeditionary force storm into Granada, making themselves president.
1856 – William Walker is installed as president on July 12, 1856, reintroducing slavery and Americanizing it all.
1860 – William Walker is convicted and executed by the Honduran government on September 12 in Trujillo. His grave is a local tourist attraction at the old cemetery in the city.
1885 – Nicaragua’s capital, Managua, is ravaged by an earthquake.
1893 – General Jose Santos Zelaya takes control of the country, and the year after the Mosquito Coast, which had long been a problem.
1896 – US Marines land in Nicaragua to protect US citizens in the wake of a revolution.
1900 – The United States and Britain sign the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, which allows the United States to establish a canal in Nicaragua but not to fortify it.
1909 – Zelaya government officials execute some captured rebels; two U.S. mercenaries were among them, and the U.S. government declared this as the reason for their diplomatic rift between the countries, which later led to a formal intervention.
In early December, U.S. Navy troops landed at Bluefields, now the capital of the RACS and formerly part of Zelaya’s territory, allegedly to create a neutral zone to protect foreign life and property that also served as an anti-operational base. -Zelayan rebels. On December 17, Zelaya handed over power to José Madriz and fled to Spain.
1910 – Madriz tries to fight the United States, but in vain, and is forced into exile in August. He died on May 14, 1911 in Mexico City.
1912-1925 – US establishes military bases in the country.
1927 – Guerrillas, led by Augusto Cesar Sandino, campaign against the US military presence. Sandino was assassinated by Somoza’s forces in 1936, which secured him power in a military coup.
1931 – On March 31, Managua is devastated by an earthquake that killed 2,000 residents. At least 45,000 became homeless and a damage amount of 35 million. $.
1936-1979 – The country was dictatorially ruled by the Somoza family, first by Anastasio Somoza Garcia, assassinated on September 29, 1956, then by his son Luis Somoza Debayle (died April 13, 1967 of heart attack) as president and Anastasio Somoza Debayle as head of the National Guard. Debayle was assassinated in Paraguay on September 17, 1980.
1949 – Nicaragua and Costa Rica sign a treaty of friendship, ending hostilities across their borders.
1951 – An earthquake on August 2 in Cosiguina kills 1,000 people.
1956 – A magnitude 7.3 earthquake shakes the region of Masachapa on October 24.
1961 – The Sandinister National Liberation Front, popularly known simply as the Sandinistas, is created. They fought the military dictatorship led by Somoza and won. They became a real political party after this, and had the real power in the country from 1979 to 1990, when they lost the election.
1972 – On December 23, between 5,000 and 10,000 people died in an earthquake near Managua. About 20,000 were injured and over 250,000 became homeless.
SPORT: On December 31, 38-year-old professional baseball star Roberto Clemente was killed in a plane crash as he flew relief packages to earthquake victims. But he had rented a Douglas DC-7 transport plane, a type notorious for its mechanical faults and shortcomings, and the plane was overloaded, crashing into the Atlantic off Isla Verde, Puerto Rico, shortly after taking off. Clemente and three others from the crew were never found.
1978 – On January 10, the leader of the Democratic Liberation Union, Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, is killed by three unknown gunmen who drove up next to him in their car and fired their shotguns. About 30,000 people revolted in the streets of Managua. Cars were set on fire, several buildings owned by the Somoza family were attacked. Outside the city, unrest flared up in a number of cities, especially in areas where the National Guard had massacred peasants during the insurgency.
1981 – On November 23, President Reagan signs top secret documents authorizing the CIA to recruit and support a 500-man force of rebels in Nicaragua to fight the country’s sandinist regime. However, this leaked in March, 1982, and the Reagan administration tried to downplay it. Nevertheless, American citizens were outraged by this, and congressional and public criticism of the program drove the Reagan administration to undermine Congress’ ban on supporting the Contra. These actions resulted in what is today known as the Iran-Contra scandal in 1986.
1985-1990 – Daniel Ortega is inaugurated as president on January 10. Ortega was a member of the Five-Man Junta (Sandinisterne), which ruled the country after Somoza was overthrown, and Ortega was the leader in practice. The U.S. Reagan administration declared the election invalid despite statements by several international election observers about honest conduct at the election, and the United States laid mines in Nicaraguan ports. Ortega lost the election to its old junta colleague Violeta Chamarro in 1990. Again in 1996 and 2001, Ortega lostthe elections, in part because of allegations of corruption during his tenure in power. Despite this, Ortega remains the leader of the Sandinist party, which has 43 seats in parliament as the second largest.
1985 – US President Reagan orders Nicaragua embargo. The US House of Representatives approved $ 27 million in support of Nicaraguan counterparties; The US House of Representatives voted to limit the use of combat troops in Nicaragua.
1988 – Hurricane Joan leaves 180,000 homeless. Most of the country was ravaged, 148 dead, 184 mortally wounded, 100 missing and about 23,000 homes destroyed.
1990 – Violeta Chamorro becomes the country’s first female president from April 25, 1990 to January 10, 1997. She never succeeded in creating general economic stability in the country, following the civil war that had raged since 1979. She implemented a series of reforms, which removed the Sandinistas from high positions in the military, police, and other state institutions. However, the country’s relations with the United States improved during the years she was in power.
1992 – An earthquake off the coast of the country occurs on September 2. Injuries were also reported in Costa Rica. About 116 were killed and several were injured. About 16,000 became homeless. The quake created tsunamis that were disproportionate to the magnitude of the surface wave. It was also the first time an earthquake could be detected, followed by tsunamis.
1997 – Arnoldo Alemán becomes the country’s next president, January 10, 1997 to January 10, 2002. He was charged with corruption in December, 2002, and on December 7, 2003, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for a string of crimes, including money laundering, embezzlement and corruption.
1998 – Hurricane Mitch did not enter the country, but its large orbit caused extensive rainfall, affecting about 2 million people. people. Across the country, the rainfall destroyed 17,600 houses and smashed 23,900, leaving 368,300 homeless. 340 schools and 90 health centers were severely damaged or smashed. About 3800 lost their lives, and 2000 of them happened in the cities of El Porvenir and Rolando Rodriguez from the landslide from the Casita volcano. Sewage systems and electricity sectors were severely damaged, and combined with property, the damage was estimated at $ 1 billion.
2000 – On July 6, 7 people were killed in an earthquake, 42 were injured and 357 houses were smashed, 1130 others were damaged in Masaya.
2004 – World Bank eliminates 80% of Nicaragua’s debt; agreement with Russia to write off Nicaragua’s multi-billion-dollar debt from the Soviet era.
2005 – Seven Central American nations ( Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama ) agreed to create some rapid-response forces to combat drug trafficking, terrorism, and other regional threats.
2006 – In the November presidential election, Daniel Ortega is re-elected president and sworn in on January 11, 2007.
2007 – The long-standing territorial dispute between Honduras and Nicaragua is settled by the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
2009 – On January 16, Alemán’s verdict was overturned, sparking controversy and further speculation about bribery or collusion with Daniel Ortega, as Alemán is ranked among the world’s ten most corrupt leaders by Transparency International.
BOXING: On July 1, the 57-year-old Nicaraguan-born boxer from Managua, Alexis Argüello, was found dead from a gunshot wound to the chest. He had been elected mayor last year, but he had to suffer from depression, which resulted in his suicide. Police do not believe this is a crime. Arguella was one of the world’s best boxers in the 1970s and 80s. He was the 6th boxer to become champion in three different weight classes. His last fight, was against Scott Walker, which he lost on points on January 21, 1995. Watch his boxing bio here.
President Ortega announced plans to amend the constitution to allow him another term in office.
