| Geography: Lying at the heart of Central America and 12 degrees north of the equator and approximately the size of England, it is the largest country in Central America. The country covers a total area of 129,494 square kilometers (120,254 square kilometers of which are land area) and contains a diversity of climates and terrains. The country's physical geography divides it into three major zones: Pacific lowlands, the wetter, cooler central highlands, and the Caribbean lowlands. For a detailed description of Nicaragua's geography try Wikipedia | 
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History: The precolumbian period of
Nicaraguan history came to an end with the arrival of Columbus in
1502. Nicaragua gained independence from Spain in 1821, along with
the rest of Central America. In
1934, General Somoza, head of the US-trained National Guard, engineered
the assassination of liberal opposition rebel Augusto C Sandino and,
after fraudulent elections, became president in 1937. The rule of his
dynasty came to an end in 1979 with the Triumph of the Revolution. The
Sandinista period in power was characterised by repeated intervention
by the US. In 1990 the sandinistas lost power in the parliamentary and
and presidential elections. For a more detailed description see: Wikipedia history
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| Nicaragua - politics, since 1990:
Violetta Barrios de Chamorro, owner of the opposition paper La Prensa,
led an anti-Sandinista coalition to victory in the 1990 elections, ending
11 years of Sandinista rule. Enthusiasm for Chamorro gradually faded. Business
groups were dissatisfied with the pace of reforms; some Sandinistas, upset with what
they regarded as the dismantling of their earlier achievements, threatened to
take up arms again; and many people were disillusioned over governmental
corruption. Former Managua mayor and Conservative candidate Arnoldo Alemán won the 1996
election with Daniel Ortega as runner up.
In 1998, Hurricane Mitch killed more than 9,000 people, left 2
million people homeless, and caused $10 billion in
damages. Nicaragua remains one of the poorest countries in the
Western Hemisphere. In the Nov. 2001 presidential elections,
Enrique Bolaños, the ruling Liberal Party leader, defeated
Ortega, who was attempting a comeback. In August 2002, former
president Arnoldo Alemán was charged with fraud and
embezzlement, and in 2003 he was sent to prison for 20 years.
Elections in November 2006 resulted in the FSLN getting the
largest number of seats and forming the government. Daniel ortega
Saavedra became president of the republic in February 2007.
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