Nicaragua and its people had and still
surviving earth quakes and volcanoes in their history. The country itself with
its tropical forests, teeming lakes and lush lowland is absolutely beautiful.
Before Columbus or the Spaniards
conquered Nicaragua the indigenous people were part of the Intermediate Area.
This is between Mesoamerican and Andean cultural regions. There also came an
influence from the Isthmo-Colombian area. It was an area where Mesoamerican and
South-American native culture met.
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6000 YEARS' OLD
FOOD PRINT
|
The confirmation of the knowledge comes from
the ancient footprint (see photo) and as well as other archaeological evidence
of ceramic and statues made from volcanic stone. They were also from an island
of Zapatenra and petroglyples which were found on the Ometepe island.
In the west of Nicaragua several
indigenous people belonging to the Mesoamerican were still living by the end of
the 15th century. These people were farmers and lived in small kingdoms.
The
Chibcha lived in the coastal area and arrive from an area which is now known as
Colombia. They were hunters/gatherers. The native people living on the eastern
side of Nicaragua have traded and adopted the Caribbean lifestyle such as round
thatched huts and canoes. The Chorojega lived in the centre. The two groups
were first overran by the Spaniards and mixed with them. The result was mestizos;
a race with mixed blood.
However, the Indian population
reduced drastically in the next three decades. It was due to the diseases from
the Spaniards and ill treatment.
Since the independence from the Spain
in 1821, Nicaragua suffered many corrupt rulers which were often back by the US
Government.
The Soviet Union supported the Sandinista revolutionaries and with
that they won a vicious war in 1979. The new government was a socialist and was
backed by the Soviet Union. They distributed the land to the peasants.
The
Contras, which were backed by the US, fought against them in 1980. As a matter
of fact this was the last battle of the Cold War. In 1989 a ceasefire was
declared and in the next election in 1990 the Sandinista lost. The Contras
handed in their arms.
Violence still flaring up and
Nicaragua still faces all the problems. The unemployment is very high and in
the agriculture the output is very low; The country depends on Foreign Aids.
Nicaragua is between Costa Rica in
the south and Honduras in the north. The country has a volcanic mountain range
and two huge lakes, Managua and Nicaragua , the low-lying tropical forests on
the Caribbean coast and the Savannah land on the Pacific side.
The weather is wet and sultry. Most
of the country is covered by tropical forest with hardwood trees like mahogany,
rosewood and cedar.
The people are mestizos which means
they are of mixed blood, Indians and Spanish. A small English-speaking
community lives on the remote east-coast and forest dwelling Miskito Indians.
Nicaragua has plenty of fertile land.
Farmers grow coffee, sugar cane, cotton. and cattle. These are very important
for export which is the country main economy. Due all these wars the land and
the economy has suffered badly.
