Official Name: Republic of Nicaragua.

Capital: Managua, capital and most important commercial center of the country (pop. 1 million).

Major industries:

Coffee, seafood, sugar, meat, bananas, food processing, chemicals, metal products, textiles, clothing, petroleum refining and distribution, beverages, footwear.

Climate:

Nicaragua has only two seasons, the rainy season, or winter, from May to October and the dry season, or summer, from November to April. The hottest months are April and May. September and October are hurricane season and the rainiest months in Nicaragua. The climate is always warm to hot but varies according to altitude and geographical location. For example the dry season is almost unnoticeable on the Atlantic coast where you can expect showers all year round. The temperature during the rainy season is 27-32 degrees Celsius and in the dry season between 30 and 35 degrees Celsius.

Time:

Nicaragua is within time zone GMT-6 that means 6 hours earlier than London. There is no daylight saving time, which means that they don't change the time during the year.

Official Holidays

January 1: New Year's Day

Late March/ ealry April: Semana Santa, including Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter.

May 1: Labor Day

May 30: Mother's Day

July 19: National Liberation Day

August 1: Fiesta Day

September 14: Battle of San Jacinto

September 15: Independence Day

November 2: All Soul's Day

December 8: La Purisima (Immaculate Conception)

December 25: Christmas Day

People and population:

Nicaragua is inhabited by approximately 5,2 million people, of which a third of the population is living in Managua. According to its size Nicaragua is the least populated in Central America but is growing at about 3% annually. Additionally, it is estimated that one million have left the country, mainly in favor of Costa Rica and United States.

At the first arrival of the Spanish, the Pacific region in Nicaragua inhabited about 800 000 people but after centuries of colonization and due to war, slavery, genocide and unfamiliar diseases, this number was diminished to 60 000.

Because of the great amount of Spanish arriving in the country, a majority of the Nicaraguan people is nowadays a mix of native people and Spanish, so called mestizos, but there are as well other groups to be found. The Europeans started to import African slaves to their farms and plantations on the Atlantic side, during the 16 th century. Those mixed with the native Miskito Indians, which created the tribe of the Zambo people, and later even with the English and Spanish, resulting in the Creole population. Their language is English and the culture influenced by both English and African elements.

The Miskitos origins from the native American Bawihka tribes that lived in the northeast of the country, mixing with African slaves during the 17 th century and with the English during the British occupation. This tribe grew stronger and absorbed other indigenous tribes, such as Prinsu and Kukra. Their language is a combination of native speaking and English and African vocabulary.

During the 17 th century, slaves that escaped from the Caribbean and Jamaican sugar plantations found a new home on the Caribbean island Saint Vincent. This people of African origin bred with the islanders and soon they denied their African inheritance. They were first oppressed by the English in the 18 th century and then by "the Contras" in 1980. Nowadays the Garifunas (or Black Caribs) inhabits the entire Central American Caribbean coast but is less frequented in Nicaragua.

The Mayanga tribe consists of various indigenous tribes, such as Twahka, Panamka and Ulwa. Originally they inhabited a territory extending from the northern part of the Pacific to the area at the same level on the Atlantic coast but were being forced to move by the more aggressive Moskitos and nowadays they live in the region of Bosawas, a massive forest reservation, 350 kilometers north of Managua.

The indigenous tribe of Rama consists of only a few hundred people, living on the island Rama Cay in the Bay of Bluefields. Their way of living is traditional and depends on fishing but the indigenous language is unfortunately disappearing.