Geography and Population Climate and Terrain Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America in terms of area (140,621 square kilometers) and contains a tremendous diversity of climatic types and terrain. It is convenient to consider the geography of the country as demarcating three major zones: the drier, fertile Pacific region and Great Rift Valley; the wetter, cooler Central Highlands; and the hot and humid Atlantic Coast region (see fig. 4). These contrasts are also partially responsible for the division of the country into two major ethnic and politicaleconomic sectors: the economic and political heartland of the west, containing the major urban centers (including the capital, Managua) populated by Spanish-speaking mestizos who regard themselves as Nicaraguan citizens and to a greater or lesser degree participate in national life; and the sparsely settled east, which includes a sizable native or indigenous population that traditionally has not identified with or participated in national life. Western Nicaragua is marked by a line of young volcanoes running between the Gulf of Fonseca and Lake Nicaragua, many of which are still active. These highland peaks protrude from a large crustal fracture or structural rift that forms a long, narrow depression passing southeast from the Gulf of Fonseca to the Río San Juan drainage. The rift is occupied in part by the largest freshwater lakes in Central America: Lake Managua (fifty-six kilometers long and twenty-four kilometers wide) and Lake Nicaragua (about 161 kilometers long and seventy-five kilometers wide). These two lakes are joined by the Río Tipitapa. Lake Nicaragua drains into the Río San Juan (the boundary between Nicaragua and Costa Rica), which flows through the southern part of the rift lowland to the Caribbean Sea. The San Juan Valley forms a natural passageway close to sea level across the Nicaraguan isthmus from the Caribbean Sea to Lake Nicaragua and the rift. From the southeast edge of Lake Nicaragua it is then only nineteen kilometers to the Pacific Ocean. This route was considered as a possible transisthmian canal route at various times in the past (see International Rivalry, ch. 1). Surrounding the lakes and extending northwest of them to the Gulf of Fonseca and the Pacific region are fertile lowland plains highly enriched with volcanic ash from nearby volcanoes. These lowlands are densely populated and well cultivated. More directly west of the lake region is a narrow strip of ash-covered hills and uplands (the Diriamba Highlands) that separate the lakes from the Pacific Ocean. The Diriamba Highlands fall away to the northern lowlands and, in the south, to the low-lying Rivas Isthmus, which lies between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific. Given the presence of active volcanoes, western Nicaragua is subject to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Although periodic volcanic eruptions may cause agricultural damage from fumes and ash, earthquakes are mainly destructive to life and property. Hundreds of shocks occur each year, some of which cause severe damage. The capital city of Managua was virtually destroyed in 1931 and again in 1972. The triangular area known as the Central Highlands lies northeast of the lakes, the volcanoes, and the rift depression. This rugged mountain mass is composed of high (900 to 1800 meters) mountain ridges covered by a mixed forest of oak and pine alternating with deep valleys that drain primarily toward the Caribbean Sea. (Very few significant streams flow west to the Pacific; those that do are steep and short, and they flow only intermittently.) Most of the eastern slopes of these highlands are covered with lower montane rain forests and are only lightly populated with pioneer agriculturalists and small communities of Indians. The drier western slopes, protected by the ridges of the highland from the moist winds of the Caribbean, were also settled by pioneer agricultural settlers from the Pacific region since colonial times. These slopes are well settled, as are the more northern portions of the mountains in comparison with those in the south. The eastern sector of Nicaragua is an extensive (about 56 percent of national territory) and still sparsely settled lowland variously called La Mosquitia, the Miskito (Mosquito) Coast, the Caribbean Coast or, most commonly, the Atlantic Coast. The Atlantic Coast region is sometimes considered synonymous with the Department of Zelaya, which alone constitutes about 45 percent of Nicaragua's territory (see fig. 1). It is a hot, humid area that includes coastal plains, the eastern spurs of the Central Highlands, and the lower portion of the Río San Juan basin. The soil is generally leached and infertile. Pine and palm savannas predominate as far south as Pearl Lagoon. Tropical rain forest is characteristic from Pearl Lagoon to the Río San Juan, in the interior west of the savannas, and as gallery forest along rivers through the savannas. The only fertile soils are found along the natural levees and narrow floodplains of the numerous rivers, including the Escondido, the Grande, the Prinzapolka, and the Coco (sometimes known as the Wangki or the Segovia), as well as along many lesser streams that rise in the Central Highlands and cross the region en route to the complex of shallow bays, lagoons, and salt marshes of the Atlantic coast. In the mountainous sections of western and central Nicaragua the complicated terrain is reflected in several altitudinal zones. The tierra caliente, or “hot land,” is characteristic of the foothills and lowlands from sea level to about 750 meters of altitude. Here daytime temperatures of approximately 30°-33°C contrast with cooler night temperatures of 21°-24°C most of the year. The tierra templada, or "temperate land," is characteristic particularly of the Central Highlands, where altitudes range between approximately 750 to 1,600 meters. Here daytime temperatures are mild (24°27°C) and nights are cool (15° to 21°C). Tierra fría, "cold lands," at an altitude of about 1,600 to 1,800 meters, are only found on and near the highest peaks of the Central Highlands. Rainfall varies greatly in Nicaragua. The Atlantic Coast is the wettest section of Central America. It receives from 254 to over 635 centimeters of rain annually. The western slopes of the Central Highlands and the Pacific region receive considerably less annual rainfall, being "shadowed" from moisture-laden Caribbean trade winds by the Central Highlands. Mean annual precipitation for the rift plains and flanking uplands ranges from 100 to 150 centimeters. Rainfall is usually seasonal; May through October is the rainy season, and December through April is the driest period. During the rainy season eastern Nicaragua is subject to heavy flooding along the upper and middle reaches of all major rivers having good-sized catchment basins. Near the coast, where river courses widen and riverbanks and natural levees are low, floodwaters spill over onto the floodplains until large sections of the lowland become continuous sheets of water. Riverbank agricultural plots are often heavily damaged, and savanna animals die in considerable numbers during these floods. The coast is also subject to destructive tropical hurricanes, particularly from July through October. The high winds and floods accompanying these storms also may cause considerable destruction of property. Heavy rains accompanying mid-latitude cyclonic storms (called papagayo storms) may sweep through both eastern and western Nicaragua (particularly the rift lowlands) from the north during November through March. Storms in the Central Highlands, where agriculture has destroyed much natural vegetation, also cause considerable crop damage and soil erosion. Demography and Ethnic Groups Basic data and projections regarding demographic conditions in Nicaragua between 1960 and 2000 reveal a persistently high annual rate of population increase and a rapidly growing urban population, both of which carry distinct implications for future longrange administrative planning. Statistics used here are based on official government censuses taken in 1963 and 1971 and projections of these to the end of the century. These calculations indicate a steady increase in overall population such that the total estimated population for 1980 (2,669,000) is almost an 80 percent increase over that of 1960, and the total for the year 2000 represents another 80 percent increase over the 1980 figure. Population increases have occurred, and will likely continue to occur, at the rate of over 30 percent per decade. Consequently the average annual rate of population increase has remained at 2.8 percent from 1960 to 1980, and it may be expected to remain between approximately 2.7 percent and 3.2 percent between 1980 and 2000 (see table 2). This continual high annual rate of population growth reflects a very high crude birthrate and a steadily declining crude death While crude birthrates are slowly declining and may be expected to continue in this direction, they may well stay above 40 percent until 1990. (Crude birthrates in industrial countries are commonly below 20 percent.) There was a steady decline in the crude death rate and an anticipated continuation of this trend. These figures, however, may be expected to vary according to economic status. Overall life expectancy at birth in the 1970s was estimated at 52.9 years, but members of the elite probably lived about seventy years, and lower class persons probably lived less than fifty years on average (see fig. 5). A high crude birthrate and declining crude death rate simply mean that greater numbers will survive, particularly infants and children, and that a longer life expectancy is likely for the population as a whole. Life expectancy for males was projected to increase from 54.7 to 64.9 years and for females from 58.4 to 68.5 years between 1970 and 2000. Moreover the projected declines in crude birthrate are likely to be partially offset by decreases in the death rate, so that the rate of natural increase will remain high at least to the year 2000. The age structure of the population is likely to remain relatively unchanged; there will continue to be a large proportion of younger people (40 to 50 percent in the zero to fourteen age bracket) indicating, in turn, the likelihood of still further population expansion (see fig.6 ). Nicaragua's population has traditionally been unevenly distributed throughout the country (see table 3, Appendix). The highly fertile soil and plentiful but not excessive rain of the Great Rift Valley and adjacent uplands has made the lowland plains and surrounding hills of the Pacific region highly attractive to settlement, and this area has supported a dense population since preColumbian times (see Pre-Columbian Society, ch.1). In 1980 some 61 percent of Nicaragua's nearly 2.7 million people lived on the fertile plains and adjacent highlands of the Pacific region, where population density ranged from approximatley 113 persons per square kilometer in the Department of Managua to 185 persons per square kilometer in the Department of Masaya. In contrast about 30 percent of the population resided in the Central Highlands in 1980, and the Atlantic Coast region housed about 10 percent of the total population, averaging about two persons per square kilometer. Having a population growth rate of close to 3 percent annually, the sparsely settled Atlantic Coast had also begun to receive a flow of colonists from the overcrowded west. Migration from the Pacific region to the northern Central Highlands took place as well, although a general decline in population in this region was indicated prior to 1980 and was projected to continue to the year 2000. 2 When adjusted for underenumeration the average annual rate of increase for the 1960-70 and 1970-80 periods is 2.82 percent each period. Source: Based on information from Robert W. Fox and Jerrold W. Huguet, Population and Urban Trends in Central America and Panama, Washington, 1977, 36-41, 170. Figure 5. Crude Birth and Death Rates, 1960-2000, With Average Annual Rate of Population Increase Most of Nicaragua's urban centers are clustered in the rift depression of the Pacific region, although another population center is located in the northern part of the Central Highlands around the towns of Estelí, Matagalpa, and Somoto. The capital city, Managua, and its peripheral barrios (see Glossary) contained a popula |