City (pop., 1995: 123,865), western Nicaragua.
The second largest city in Nicaragua, it is the country's political and intellectual centre. It was founded by the Spanish on the edge of Lake Managua in 1524; it was later destroyed by an earthquake and rebuilt in 1610 near the Pacific coast, northwest of Managua . León was the capital of Nicaragua until 1855. It has had a long political and commercial rivalry with the city of Granada . It is the burial place of poet and diplomat Rubén Darío and the seat of the University of León.