History of Nicaragua

Nicaragua is a nation in Central America. It is located roughly halfway between Mexico to its north and Colombia to its south and bordered by Honduras to its north and Costa Rica to its south. Nicaragua ranges from the Caribbean Sea on its east coast to the Pacific Ocean on its west coast. Nicaragua also possesses a series of islands and cays located in the Caribbean Sea.

The etymology of Nicaragua is Nicānāhuac, which was the name the Nicaraos, a Nawat-speaking people, gave to western Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica. It means "here lies Anahuac" in Nahuatl and is a combination of the words "Nican" (here), and "Ānāhuac", which in turn is a combination of the words "atl" (water) and "nahuac", a locative meaning "surrounded". Therefore the literal translation of Nicanahuac is "here surrounded by water". It is a geographical endonym that refers to the large bodies of water surrounding the land the Nicaraos inhabited, the Pacific Ocean, lakes Nicaragua and Xolotlan, and the rivers and lagoons. In addition it fits the theory that the etymology references bodies of water inside the country.

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