FROM PRE-COLUMBIAN TIMES until the early 1980s Nicaragua has been a country subject to a constant and often violent interplay of internal and external forces. Exploitation, rivalry, and conflict are dominant themes of its history. Nature has contributed to this pattern: violent earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and hurricanes have frequently disrupted labored efforts to achieve national development. There is at least a touch of irony in the fact that Nicaragua's major archaeological site is not the remains of a significant pre-Columbian city but rather the footprints of Indians fleeing a volcanic eruption 2,000 years ago. The state has rarely, if ever, operated in Nicaragua as an instrument working for and responsible to the mass of the population. Instead it has served a variety of interests, both foreign and domestic, devoting the largest part of its energies to perpetuating the rule of whatever faction was currently in power. As a result Nicaraguan history is replete with tragedy and frustration, leaving a heritage of national cynicism concerning government and deep distrust of foreign influences and intentions. As the dominant external influence in Nicaragua for the past 130 years, the United States is the focus of much of this suspicion, and anti-Americanism has frequently served as a rallying point for nationalism. At the same time many Nicaraguans, especially from the middle and upper classes, consciously seek to imitate American life-styles; look to the United States for education, consumer goods and, at times, political refuge; and almost make a fetish out of supporting United States policy in the hemisphere. Neighboring nations have also influenced Nicaraguan history in contradictory ways. The brief period of Central American union in the nineteenth century produced a sentiment for regional unity and cooperation. Dozens of wars, border conflicts, and political disputes, nevertheless, have left a deep heritage of mistrust and potential hostility. Here, as in so many other areas, the heritage of the past handicapped Nicaragua's efforts to develop a better fu ture. Conflict came to a head during the late 1970s with the growth of the effort to overthrow the forty-five-year-old rule of the Somoza family dynasty. The 1979 victory of the Sandinistas was accompanied by widespread hope of permanently altering the course of Nicaraguan history. Pre-Columbian Society Prior to European contact the territory included in the Republic of Nicaragua was part of the larger region known as the Intermediate Area. The phrase refers to the territory of northern South America and lower Central America located between the high culture areas of the Aztec and Maya of Mesoamerica to the north and the Inca Empire to the south in present-day Peru. The preColumbian cultures of the Intermediate Area did not reach the levels of political development achieved by the states of Mesoamerica and Peru, although in some areas centralized, ranked societies (chiefdoms) did evolve. Very little professional archaeology has been conducted in Nicaragua, and as a result very little primary data exist for most of the pre-Columbian era. Hunting and gathering Paleo-Indians undoubtedly settled at least in western Nicaragua at an early time, but except for several sets of human footprints in solidified volcanic mudflows, nothing is known of them. Numerous carved stone statues have been found on the shores of Lake Nicaragua and surrounding areas. Although the chronological position and sequences of the carvings remain vague, they probably attest to the rise of more complex centralized societies. By the time of European contact the evolution of two major culture patterns had been clearly delineated by ethnohistoric materials. West of the Central Highlands native peoples lived in centralized societies composed of two basic social sectors: highranking, elite families who enjoyed certain privileges and who, as rulers, nobles, and priests, directed political and religious affairs; and commoners, who were by far the majority of the populace and carried out basic economic activities. Two major kinds of communities existed. Elaborate elite centers contained the major public structures, i.e., plazas, ritual centers, and marketplaces where cacao beans served as a medium of exchange. Chiefs and other elites lived here in rather elaborate living quarters. Most commoners, however, lived in smaller communities around and between the elite centers, and their settlements lacked marketplaces and ritual centers. Although basic culture patterns can be assumed to have been locally developed, western Nicaraguan chiefdoms showed linguistic and cultural affinities with Mesoamerican societies to the north. It is very likely, for example, that important elite families claimed association with famous Mesoamerican ruling lineages-perhaps to strengthen claims for political legitimacy. The major domestic plants also were part of the Mesoamerican seed complex. Maize, beans, chili peppers, and avocados were staple foods; cotton, cacao, and perhaps coca were also cultivated. (Chocolate, consumed as a beverage possibly having ritual connotations, was reserved for the elite.) Fishing was also common, and turkeys and nonbarking dogs were raised for food. East of the Central Highlands the native population was culturally related to South America rather than to Mesoamerica. Society here appears to have been tribal, rather than centralized in character. It was composed of numerous extended families of more or less independent standing, and government was rather diffuse. Decisionmaking regarding political and religious affairs was probably made by the heads of the numerous extended families. Settlements were small and were situated along the middle and lower courses of major rivers and lagoon shores. At various times of year the population moved to the Caribbean sea coast for fishing, turtling, and saltmaking. Most subsistence needs were met by riverine fishing, hunting, and slash-and-burn agriculture in gallery-forest plots near river banks. Agricultural products were mainly root crops, such as sweet manioc, as well as plantains, and pineapples. This subsistence pattern is typical of tropical lowland South and Middle America. The populace of each river system seems to have spoken a distinct dialect; about ten such kinship and/or linguistic groups have been identified. Although no formal linguistic studies had been made as of mid-1981, the basic coastal language or languages were probably related to the Chibchan linguistic family of northern South America. People were related by far-flung ties of kinship and marriage, and peoples of the separate river systems apparently both traded and feuded with inhabitants of neighboring river systems. Both eastern and western Nicaraguan societies were involved in long-distance contacts with peoples to the north and south. Mayan long-distance traders had contacts in western Nicaragua, and a small Mesoamerican trading post was located at the mouth of the Río San Juan. Gold ornaments and other elite goods reached western and perhaps eastern Nicaragua from Costa Rica and Panama. Similarities in ceramic styles also suggest contacts with both north and south. Contact with Europeans effectively decimated most of the indigenous population of the west, where the Spanish conquistadores settled. In the east, Europeans (primarily the British) did not settle but introduced guns and ammunition and other material goods to one of the local populations (the Bawihka), which resided near Cape Gracias a Dios. This same population group also became mixed with escaped slaves. The resulting zambo (see Glossary) population, having access to superior weapons, began to expand its territory by pushing other indigenous river groups into the interior. The expanding zambo population became known to Europeans as the Miskito Indians, and the displaced survivors of their expansionist activities were known as the Sumo (or Sumu). Colonial Period, 1522-1820 The Conquest The Spanish came to Nicaragua as conquerors in 1522. This was the height of an era of conquests, falling between the taking of the Aztec Empire in Mexico by Hernán Cortes and the plundering of Peru by Francisco Pizarro. The first expedition to Nicaragua was |