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. After losing free and fair elections in 1990, 1996, and 2001, former Sandinista President Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra was elected president in 2006. The 2008 municipal elections were marred by widespread irregularities. Nicaragua's infrastructure and economy - hard hit by the earlier civil war and by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 - are slowly being rebuilt, but democratic institutions have been weakened under the ORTEGA administration.

Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Costa Rica and Honduras

slightly smaller than New York state

tropical in lowlands, cooler in highlands

extensive Atlantic coastal plains rising to central interior mountains; narrow Pacific coastal plain interrupted by volcanoes

gold, silver, copper, tungsten, lead, zinc, timber, fish

destructive earthquakes; volcanoes; landslides; extremely susceptible to hurricanes

deforestation; soil erosion; water pollution

largest country in Central America; contains the largest freshwater body in Central America, Lago de Nicaragua

5,666,301 (July 2011 est.)

19.46 births/1,000 population (2011 est.)

5.03 deaths/1,000 population (July 2011 est.)

-3.54 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2011 est.)

MANAGUA (capital) 934,000 (2009)

2.12 children born/woman (2011 est.)

fewer than 500 (2009 est.)

urban: 98% of population

rural: 68% of population

total: 85% of population

urban: 2% of population

rural: 32% of population

total: 15% of population (2008)

urban: 63% of population

rural: 37% of population

total: 52% of population

urban: 37% of population

rural: 63% of population

total: 48% of population (2008)

mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 69%, white 17%, black 9%, Amerindian 5%

Roman Catholic 58.5%, Evangelical 21.6%, Moravian 1.6%, Jehovah's Witnesses 0.9%, other 1.7%, none 15.7% (2005 census)

Spanish (official) 97.5%, Miskito 1.7%, other 0.8% (1995 census)

15 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento) and 2 autonomous regions* (regiones autonomistas, singular - region autonoma); Atlantico Norte*, Atlantico Sur*, Boaco, Carazo, Chinandega, Chontales, Esteli, Granada, Jinotega, Leon, Madriz, Managua, Masaya, Matagalpa, Nueva Segovia, Rio San Juan, Rivas

15 September 1821 (from Spain)

Independence Day, 15 September (1821)

9 January 1987; revised in 1995, 2000, and 2005

civil law system; Supreme Court may review administrative acts

accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; non-party state to the ICCt

16 years of age; universal

unicameral National Assembly or Asamblea Nacional (92 seats; 90 members elected by proportional representation and party lists to serve five-year terms; 1 seat for the previous president, 1 seat for the runner-up in previous presidential election)

Supreme Court or Corte Suprema de Justicia (16 judges elected for five-year terms by the National Assembly); note - in 2010, President Ortega directly replaced seven justices on the Supreme Court

Conservative Party or PC [Alejandro BOLANOS Davis]; Independent Liberal Party or PLI [Indalecio RODRIGUEZ]; Liberal Constitutionalist Party or PLC [Jorge CASTILLO Quant]; Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance or ALN [Alejandro MEJIA Ferreti]; Sandinista National Liberation Front or FSLN [Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra]; Sandinista Renovation Movement or MRS [Enrique SAENZ-NAVARRETE]

National Workers Front or FNT (a Sandinista umbrella group of eight labor unions including: Farm Workers Association or ATC, Health Workers Federation or FETASALUD, Heroes and Martyrs Confederation of Professional Associations or CONAPRO, National Association of Educators of Nicaragua or ANDEN, National Union of Employees or UNE, National Union of Farmers and Ranchers or UNAG, Sandinista Workers Central or CST, and Union of Journalists of Nicaragua or UPN); Permanent Congress of Workers or CPT (an umbrella group of four non-Sandinista labor unions including: Autonomous Nicaraguan Workers Central or CTN-A, Confederation of Labor Unification or CUS, Independent General Confederation of Labor or CGT-I, and Labor Action and Unity Central or CAUS); Nicaraguan Workers' Central or CTN (an independent labor union); Superior Council of Private Enterprise or COSEP (a confederation of business groups)

BCIE, CACM, FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAES, LAIA (observer), MIGA, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, PetroCaribe, RG, SICA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), white, and blue with the national coat of arms centered in the white band; the coat of arms features a triangle encircled by the words REPUBLICA DE NICARAGUA on the top and AMERICA CENTRAL on the bottom; the banner is based on the former blue-white-blue flag of the Federal Republic of Central America; the blue bands symbolize the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, while the white band represents the land between the two bodies of water

Nicaragua, the poorest country in Central America and the second poorest in the Hemisphere, has widespread underemployment and poverty. The US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) has been in effect since April 2006 and has expanded export opportunities for many agricultural and manufactured goods. Textiles and apparel account for nearly 60% of Nicaragua's exports, but increases in the minimum wage during the ORTEGA administration will likely erode its comparative advantage in this industry. ORTEGA's promotion of mixed business initiatives, owned by the Nicaraguan and Venezuelan state oil firms, together with the weak rule of law, could undermine the investment climate for domestic and international private firms in the near-term. Nicaragua relies on international economic assistance to meet internal- and external-debt financing obligations. Foreign donors have curtailed this funding, however, in response to November 2008 electoral fraud. Managua has an IMF extended Credit Facility program, which could help keep the government's fiscal deficit on target during the 2011 election year and encourage transparency in the use of Venezuelan off-budget loans and assistance. In early 2004, Nicaragua secured some $4.5 billion in foreign debt reduction under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, however, Managua still struggles with a high public debt burden. Nicaragua is gradually recovering from the global economic crisis as increased exports drove positive growth in 2010. The economy is expected to grow at a rate of about 3% in 2011.

$17.71 billion (2010 est.)

$16.95 billion (2009 est.)

$17.2 billion (2008 est.)

$6.551 billion (2010 est.)

2.343 million (2010 est.)

22.8% of GDP (2010 est.)

78% of GDP (2010 est.)

63% of GDP (2009 est.)

NA% (31 December 2009)

NA% (31 December 2008)

14.04% (31 December 2009 est.)

13.17% (31 December 2008 est.)

$1.273 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$989.5 million (31 December 2009 est.)

$2.9 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$2.586 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$4.083 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$4.161 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

coffee, bananas, sugarcane, cotton, rice, corn, tobacco, sesame, soya, beans; beef, veal, pork, poultry, dairy products; shrimp, lobsters

food processing, chemicals, machinery and metal products, knit and woven apparel, petroleum refining and distribution, beverages, footwear, wood

3.286 billion kWh (2007 est.)

2.569 billion kWh (2007 est.)

63.95 million kWh (2007 est.)

0 bbl/day (2008 est.)

29,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)

212.5 bbl/day (2007 est.)

29,570 bbl/day (2007 est.)

0 bbl (1 January 2010 est.)

0 cu m (1 January 2010 est.)

$-819 million (2010 est.)

$-841.1 million (2009 est.)

$3.182 billion (2010 est.)

$2.593 billion (2009 est.)

coffee, beef, shrimp and lobster, tobacco, sugar, gold, peanuts; textiles and apparel

US 61.98%, El Salvador 7.74%, Costa Rica 3.67% (2009)

$4.7 billion (2010 est.)

$3.481 billion (2009 est.)

consumer goods, machinery and equipment, raw materials, petroleum products

US 22.63%, Venezuela 12.27%, Mexico 9.05%, Costa Rica 8.66%, China 7.16%, Guatemala 6.59%, El Salvador 5.63% (2009)

$1.58 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$1.573 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$4.03 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$3.633 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

cordobas (NIO) per US dollar -

3.204 million (2009)

multiple privately-owned terrestrial television networks, supplemented by cable TV in most urban areas; of more than 100 radio broadcast stations, nearly all are privately owned; Radio Nicaragua is government-owned and Radio Sandino is controlled by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) (2007)

2,220 km (navigable waterways as well as the use of the large Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua; rivers serve only the sparsely populated eastern part of the country) (2010)

National Army of Nicaragua (Ejercito Nacional de Nicaragua, ENN; includes Navy, Air Force) (2010)

17 years of age for voluntary military service; tour of duty 18-36 months (2008)

memorials and countermemorials were filed by the parties in Nicaragua's 1999 and 2001 proceedings against Honduras and Colombia at the ICJ over the maritime boundary and territorial claims in the western Caribbean Sea, final public hearings are scheduled for 2007; the 1992 ICJ ruling for El Salvador and Honduras advised a tripartite resolution to establish a maritime boundary in the Gulf of Fonseca, which considers Honduran access to the Pacific; legal dispute over navigational rights of San Juan River on border with Costa Rica

transshipment point for cocaine destined for the US and transshipment point for arms-for-drugs dealing