León is the second largest city in Nicaragua, after Managua. Founded by the Spanish as Santiago de los Caballeros de León, it is the capital and largest city of León Department. As of 2022, the municipality of León has an estimated population of 213,718.
Granada is a city in western Nicaragua and the capital of the Granada Department. With an estimated population of 105,862 (2022), it is Nicaragua's ninth most populous city. Granada is historically one of Nicaragua's most important cities, economically and politically. It has a rich colonial heritage, seen in its architecture and structure.
Guanacaste is a province of Costa Rica located in the northwestern region of the country, along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Alajuela Province to the east, and Puntarenas Province to the southeast. It is the most sparsely populated of all the provinces of Costa Rica. The province covers an area of 10,141 square kilometres (3,915 sq mi) and as of 2010, had a population of 354,154, with annual revenue of $2 billion.
Masaya is a department in Nicaragua. It is the country's smallest department by area (611 km2) and has a population of 397,632. The capital is the city of Masaya. It is famous among Nicaraguan people for its nickname, "La Cuna Del Folklore" which translates to. It is also the site of the Masaya Volcano, an active 635m volcano which last erupted in 2016. The Indigenous inhabitants of Masaya are the Nahuas and the Chorotegas, and was the location of the pre-Columbian Nahua chiefdom of Masatepet. The Nahuas dominate the cultivation and production of cocoa beans in the municipality of Masatepe.
Concepción is one of two volcanoes that form the island of Ometepe, which is situated in Lake Nicaragua in Nicaragua, Central America.
Masaya is a caldera located in Masaya, Nicaragua, 20 km (12 mi) south of the capital Managua. It is Nicaragua's first and largest national park, and one of 78 protected areas of Nicaragua. The complex volcano is composed of a nested set of calderas and craters, the largest of which is Las Sierras shield volcano and caldera. Within this caldera lies a sub-vent, which is Masaya Volcano sensu stricto. The vent is a shield type composed of basaltic lavas and tephras and includes a summit crater. This hosts Masaya caldera, formed 2,500 years ago by an 8 km3 (1.9 cu mi) basaltic ignimbrite eruption. Inside this caldera a new basaltic complex has grown from eruptions mainly on a semi-circular set of vents that include the Masaya and Nindiri cones. The latter host the pit craters of Masaya, Santiago, Nindiri and San Pedro. Observations in the walls of the pit craters indicate that there have been several episodes of cone and pit crater formation.
Diria is a municipality in the Granada department of Nicaragua.
Masaya is the capital city of Masaya Department in Nicaragua. It is situated approximately 14 km west of Granada and 31 km southeast of Managua. It is located just east of the Masaya Volcano, an active volcano from which the city takes its name. With an estimated population of 138,657 (2022), it is Nicaragua's fourth most populous city, and is culturally known as the City of Flowers.
A complex volcano, also called a compound volcano or a volcanic complex, is a mixed landform consisting of related volcanic centers and their associated lava flows and pyroclastic rock. They may form due to changes in eruptive habit or in the location of the principal vent area on a particular volcano. Stratovolcanoes can also form a large caldera that gets filled in by a lava dome, or else multiple small cinder cones, lava domes and craters may develop on the caldera's rim.
Cosigüina is a stratovolcano located in the western part of Nicaragua. It forms a large peninsula extending into the Gulf of Fonseca. The summit is truncated by a large caldera, 2 x 2.4 km in diameter and 500 m deep, holding a substantial crater lake. This cone has grown within an earlier caldera, forming a somma volcano. The earlier caldera rim is still exposed on the north side, but has been buried by the younger cone elsewhere.
Las Lajas is a shield volcano located in the central part of Nicaragua, 22 kilometres (14 mi) north of Lake Nicaragua. Comarca las Lajas is among a number of communities lying within the volcano's caldera.
Poneloya is a town on the west coast of Nicaragua bordering the Pacific Ocean. It lies within the León Department and borders Las Peñitas, Nicaragua. Poneloya is about 21 kilometers (13 mi) from the city of León. The town is a vacation home area for wealthy Nicaraguans, while local residents are mostly fishermen, caretakers, or those who commute to León for work..
Las Peñitas is a fishing village and tourist beach community on the North Western coast of Nicaragua. It lies within the León, Nicaragua municipality and the department of León and is next to Poneloya, Nicaragua. It is becoming a more and more popular tourist destination and has recently (2009) received a new road courtesy of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. foreign aid agency created by the U.S. Congress in 2004 to disburse the war reparation settlement won by Nicaragua at the World Court in the Hague. There are many hotel beach bars catering to backpackers, surfers, foreign aid project workers, religious groups, and expats. Next to Las Peñitas is the Juan Venado Island Natural Reserve, popular with visitors for the wildlife and turtle migrations.
The protected areas of Nicaragua are areas that have natural beauty or significance and are protected by Nicaragua. Nicaragua has 78 protected areas that cover 22,422 km2, about 17.3% of the nations landmass. The National System of Protected Areas (SINAP) is administered by the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA).
The following is an alphabetical list of topics related to Nicaragua.
Tepesomoto–Pataste Nature Reserve is a nature reserve in Nicaragua. It is one of the 78 reserves that are under official protection in the country.
Volcán Pilas El Hoyo Natural Reserve is a nature reserve in Nicaragua. It is one of the 78 reserves that are under official protection in the country.
The geology of Nicaragua includes Paleozoic crystalline basement rocks, Mesozoic intrusive igneous rocks and sedimentary rocks spanning the Cretaceous to the Pleistocene. Volcanoes erupted in the Paleogene and within the last 2.5 million years of the Quaternary, due to the subduction of the Cocos Plate, which drives melting and magma creation. Many of these volcanoes are in the Nicaraguan Depression paralleled by the northwest-trending Middle America Trench which marks the Caribbean-Cocos plate boundary. Almost all the rocks in Nicaragua originated as dominantly felsic continental crust, unlike other areas in the region which include stranded sections of mafic oceanic crust. Structural geologists have grouped all the rock units as the Chortis Block.
