The history of Nicaragua had been a struggle of the people for self-determination, starting with the independence from Spain in 1821 and becoming a republic in 1838. Although the British occupied the territory during the first half of the 19th century, it ceded control of the region in subsequent decades.
What followed was 42years of family dictatorship perpetrated by Anastasio Somoza, the country suffered and violent opposition to government manipulation and corruption spread to all walks of society that eventually led to a short lived civil-war (eight years) in 1978. The Marxist Sandinista guerilla came to power in 1979 and a ruling junta was installed.
The system imposed by the Sandinista government was not popular with the people, thus a new wave of struggle erupted anew this time with the Contras. The aid of the Nicaraguan government to the leftist rebels in El Salvador, forced the United States to back the anti Sandinista Contra's through much of the 80's. The first free election under a democratic system was held in 1990, paving the way for the rebuilding of Nicaragua.
Nicaragua is now a representative democratic republic it is also densely populated with a demographic almost similar in size to its smaller neighbors. To the north of the country is Honduras and it shares border with Costa Rica in the south, the Pacific Ocean is to the west, while facing the Caribbean Sea to the east.
The
National Flag of Nicaragua is described as a horizontal band of equal sizes of cobalt blue (top and bottom) with white at the center. A coat of arms is strategically at the center of the white band, a replica of the seal of the Office of the President of Nicaragua.
by:
The Flagman
