NICARAGUA, LAKE

Spanish Lago De Nicaragua, the largest of several freshwater lakes in southwestern Nicaragua and the dominant physical feature of the country; it is also the largest lake in Central America. Its aboriginal name was Cocibolca, meaning sweet sea; the Spanish called it Mar Dulce; its present name is said to have been derived from that of Nicarao, an Indian chief whose people lived on the lake shores. Oval in shape, the lake has an area of 3,149 square miles (8,157 square km), is 110 miles (177 km) in length, and has an average width of 36 miles (58 km). About 60 feet (18 m) deep in the centre, its waters reach a depth of 200 feet (60 m) to the southeast of its largest island, Ometepe. Its surface is 95 feet (29 m) above sea level. It is believed that Lake Nicaragua, together with Lake Managua to the northwest, originally formed part of an ocean bay that, as a result of volcanic eruption, became an inland basin containing the two lakes, which are linked by the Tipitapa River. The ocean fish thus trapped adapted themselves as the water gradually turned from saltwater to freshwater. Lake Nicaragua is the only freshwater lake containing oceanic animal life, including sharks, swordfish, and tarpon. More than 40 rivers drain into the lake, the largest being the Tipitapa River. The San Juan River (Ro San Juan) drains out of the lake, following a 112-mile course that runs from the southeastern shore of the lake through a densely forested region to empty into the Caribbean Sea. For part of its course, the San Juan forms the boundary between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. To the southwest, the lake is separated from the Pacific Ocean by a narrow land corridorthe Rivas Isthmuswhich is 12 mi wide. Contrary to popular belief, the lake is tideless, although there is a daily fluctuation in the water level caused by east winds blowing up the San Juan Valley. The water level also falls during the dry season, December to April, and rises during the rainy season, May to October. There are several currents in the lake; the principal one runs from southeast to northeast on the surface, while beneath it a deeper current flows in the opposite direction. Surface water temperature usually remains at 75 F (24 C), and bottom temperature at 60 F (16 C). Due to the chemical composition of the volcanic rocks forming parts of the lake's bed and shores, the lake waters contain high proportions of dissolved magnesium and potassium salts. There are over 400 islands in the lake, of which 300 are within 5 mi of the city of Granada on the northwest lake shore. Most of the islands are covered with a rich growth of vegetation, which includes tropical fruit trees. Some of the islands are inhabited. Ometepe, which, as mentioned, is the largest island, is 16 mi long and 8 mi wide. It is formed of what originally were two separate volcanoesConcepcin, which is 5,282 ft high and last erupted in 1983, and Madera, which is 4,015 ft high. Lava from bygone eruptions forms a bridge between them, called the Tistian Isthmus. (A third volcano associated with the lake is Mombacho, 4,413 ft high, which stands on the western shore.) Ometepe Island is the preeminent site in Nicaragua for pre-Columbian examples of statuary, ceramics, and other archaeological remains, some of which, it is believed, represent vestiges of ancient South American, as well as North American, civilizations. Coffee, cacao, corn (maize), bananas, and fruit are grown on the island as well as a little cotton and tobacco. The lake is a traditional means of communication between the cities of the west coast of Nicaragua and those in the south and east of the country. Steamships have operated on the lake since the early 1850s. Lake steamers based at Granada visit small lakeside towns, such as San Jorge and La Virgen on the west shore; Crdenas and San Carlos on the southern shore; San Ubaldo, Puerto Daz, San Miguelito, and El Morrito on the eastern shore. In previous centuries, piratical raids from the Caribbean were sometimes made on the lakeside towns, until the building of fortifications in the 17th century on the San Juan River blocked the pirates' ingress. From the time of the ending of Spanish rule in the 1820s, the possibility of constructing a transoceanic canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific, which would run up the San Juan River, cross the lake, and be completed by a channel dug through the Rivas Isthmus, has been mooted. After the discovery of gold in California in 1848, Cornelius Vanderbilt, the New York millionaire, developed the Vanderbilt Roada route over which gold prospectors from New York were transported up the river and over the lake, completing the final few miles to the Pacific by stage coach in order to take ship for San Francisco in California. The arrangement revived interestwhich lasted for many yearsin the possibilities of a transoceanic canal. After the completion of the Panama Canal in 1914, interest in the project once more subsided. Since 1916, however, by the provisions of the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty concluded between Nicaragua and the United States, the United States has had the exclusive right to build such a canal. The economy Although Nicaragua historically has been one of Latin America's poorest countries, the cost inflicted by anti-Somoza and Contra wars, the United States' program of economic strangulation throughout most of the 1980s, and various errors committed by the Sandinistas and their conservative successors worsened the country's plight. The Sandinista policy of developing a mixed economy (about 60 percent private and 40 percent public) resulted in growth from 1980 through 1983. However, a sharp economic decline, shortages, war-driven inflation, and a growing foreign debt soon followed. In the late 1980s the Sandinistas implemented a harsh austerity program featuring some privatization and sharp reductions in public employment. The conservative government accentuated these austerity policies in the 1990s. Privatization was accelerated, and government spending to help the country's poor majority was curtailed. With renewed U.S. assistance and aid from international lending agencies, inflation was brought under control. Nonetheless, poverty increased and the economy stagnated. Resources Nicaragua is rich in natural resources, most of which have not been exploited on a large scale. The economy is basically agricultural, and industry is in an incipient stage of development. Mineral resources include known deposits of gold, silver, zinc, copper, iron ore, lead, and gypsum. The forests are a vast resource of hardwoods and softwoods, and the inland and coastal waters contain abundant food fishes. Nicaragua has significant hydroelectric resources. The land Relief The western half of the country is made up generally of valleys separated by low but rugged mountains and many volcanoes. This intricately dissected region includes the Cordillera Entre Ros, on the Honduras border, the Cordilleras Isabelia and Dariense, in the north-central area, and the Huap, Amerrique, and Yolaina mountains, in the southeast. The mountains are highest in the north, and Mogotn Peak (6,900 feet [2,103 metres]), in the Cordillera Entre Ros, is the highest point in the country. Momotombo Volcano (left) and Momotombito Island, viewed across Lake Managua, Nicaragua. To the west and south of the central mountain core is a string of about 40 volcanoessome of which are activethat stretches northwest-southeast along the Pacific coast. They are surrounded by low plains extending from the Gulf of Fonseca in the north to the Bay of Salinas in the south and are separated from the mountains by the great basin that contains Lakes Nicaragua, Managua, and Masaya. They are divided into two groups: the Cordillera de los Marrabios in the north and the Pueblos Mesas in the south. The highest volcanoes include San Cristbal (5,840 feet), Concepcin (5,108 feet), and Momotombo (4,462 feet; see photograph). The eastern half of Nicaragua has low, level plains. Among the widest Caribbean lowlands in Central America, these plains average 60 miles (100 kilometres) in width. The coastline is broken by river mouths and deltas and large coastal lagoons as well as by the coral reefs, islands, cays, and banks that dot Central America's largest continental shelf. Drainage and soils The central mountains form the country's main watershed. The rivers that flow to the west empty into the Pacific Ocean or Lakes Managua and Nicaragua. They are short and carry a small volume of water; the most important are the Negro and Estero Real rivers, which empty into the Gulf of Fonseca, and the Tamarindo River, which flows into the Pacific. The eastern rivers are of greater length. The 485-mile-long Coco River flows for 295 miles along the Nicaragua-Honduras border and empties into the Caribbean on the extreme northern coast. The Ro Grande de Matagalpa flows for 267 miles from the Cordillera Dariense eastward across the lowlands to empty into the Caribbean north of Pearl Lagoon (Laguna de Perlas) on the central coast. In the extreme south the San Juan River flows for 124 miles from Lake Nicaragua into the Caribbean in the northern corner of Costa Rica. Other rivers of the Caribbean watershed include the 158-mile-long Prinzapolka River, the 55-mile-long Escondido River, the 60-mile-long Indio River, and the 37-mile-long Maz River. The west is a region of lakes. Lake Nicaragua, with an area of 3,156 square miles (8,157 square kilometres), is the largest lake in Central America. Located in the southern isthmus, the lake and its distributary, the San Juan River, have long been discussed as a possible canal route between the Caribbean and the Pacific. There are six freshwater lakes near the city of Managua. They include Lake Managua, which covers an area of 400 square miles; Lake Asososca, which acts as the city's reservoir of drinking water; and Lake Jilo, which is slightly alkaline and is a favourite bathing resort. Lake Masaya is prized for its swimming and fishing facilities; the sulfurous waters of Lake Nejapa have medicinal properties ascribed to them; and Lake Tiscapa is located in the capital city. Other lakes in the Pacific watershed include Lake Apoyo, near Lake Masaya; Lake Apoyeque, picturesquely located between two peaks on Chiltepe Point, which juts into Lake Managua; and the artificial Apans Reservoir on the Tuma River, which generates much of the electricity consumed in the Pacific zone. Soils on the Caribbean coast are varied and include fertile alluvial types along waterways and relatively infertile types in the pine-savanna and rain forest regions. On the Pacific coast the soil is volcanic, and about 85 percent of its area is fertile. The people Most Nicaraguans are mestizos, persons of mixed European and American Indian ancestry. Blacks and whites are about equal in number, together making up roughly one-fifth of the population. American Indians constitute less than 5 percent of the population. The west coast has a small number of Monimb and Subtiava Indians. Although Spanish-speaking mestizos now constitute the largest single group even on the east coast, the population of that region also includes Miskito, Sumo, and Rama Indians as well as Black Caribs, also known as Garifuna (descendants of African slaves and Carib Indians), and Creoles (English-speaking blacks). The vast majority of Nicaraguans speak Spanish. It is the sole official language in all but the east coast regions where, under the 1987 constitution and the Atlantic Coast Autonomy Law enacted the same year, Miskito, Sumo, Rama, and Creole English have equal status with Spanish. On the west coast, Indian languages have disappeared, even though their influence remains in place-names and many nouns in Nicaraguan Spanish. There is no official religion in Nicaragua, but Roman Catholicism is predominant. In the 1980s Protestantism grew considerably, primarily owing to proselytism by conservative fundamentalists. A very small Jewish community also exists in larger cities. Despite the loss of nearly 31,000 who were killed in the Contra war and the hundreds of thousands who took refuge abroad, Nicaragua's population exploded from 2.5 million to nearly 4 million during Sandinista rule (197990). Declining infant mortality and a wartime baby boom are possible explanations. The war also spurred internal migration and a rapid expansion of cities.