General Information | History | Population | Politics and government
Geography | Climate | Economy | Culture | Gastronomy
Population
 Nicaragua is inhabited by 5,2 million people and of those about a third live in the capital city, Managua. It is the least populous country in Central America but is the fastest growing which is starting to become a problem and 1 million of the population has already left the country in favor of mainly Costa Rica and the United States.
By the time of the arrival of the Spanish about 800,000 inhabited the territory that now is known as Nicaragua. Due to unfamiliar diseases, genocide, warfare and slavery this amount was decreased to 60,000.
Because of the European influences most Nicaraguans are a mix of Spanish and indigenous heritage, called Mestizos but other groups are also present.
Europeans brought African slaves to work in their farms and plantations on the Caribbean side in the 16 th century. They mixed with native Indians and became the Zambo people. Later they also bred with the English and Spanish, creating the Creole population that use English as their language and has a culture with both English and African influences.
The Miskito people origin from the Bawihka tribes living in the northeast of the country that mixed with African slaves brought by the English in the 17 th century. The tribe grew stronger and includes nowadays the Prinsu and Kukra tribes as well. Their language is a combination of English and African vocabulary.
 In the 17 th century slaves that escaped from the Jamaican sugar plantations settled down on the Caribbean side. They bred with the native islanders and denied their African inheritance. Later they started to inhabit the Caribbean coast of entire Central America but due to discrimination they are nowadays less frequent in Nicaragua.
The Mayanga tribe is formed by Twahka, Panamka and Ulwa people that inhabited the northern parts of the country but were forced to move by the more aggressive Miskitos and today they live in the Bosawa reservation, 350 kilometers north of Managua.
On the island Rama Cay in the Bay of Bluefields a few hundred people origin from the Rama tribe is still to be found. Their way of living is traditional and depends on fishing but the indigenous language is unfortunately disappearing.
General Information | History | Population | Politics and government
Geography | Climate | Economy | Culture | Gastronomy |
