Nicaragua

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Nicaragua fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. 🇪🇸 Spanish Empire1522 to 1530

   Gil González Dávila's expedition was welcomed by the chief Nicarao in 1522, but the chief Diriangén attacked the Spanish and was beaten back. Conquest followed in 1524, and thousands of local people were later shipped as slaves to Panama and Peru.

2. 🇬🇧 Kingdom of Great Britain1740 to 1860

   Britain protected the Miskito kingdom and fought Spain for the San Juan River, attacking the fortress of El Castillo in 1762 and taking it in 1780. In 1848 British forces seized San Juan del Norte, renamed Greytown, which Britain gave up by the 1860 Treaty of Managua.

3. 🇨🇷 Costa Rica1824 to 1858

   Nicoya and Guanacaste left Nicaragua for Costa Rica in 1824, a loss Nicaragua long contested. After both countries fought William Walker, the Cañas Jerez Treaty of 1858 confirmed the border along the San Juan River.

4. 🇭🇳 Honduras1907 to 1960

   Zelaya's army defeated Honduras at Namasigüe in 1907 and occupied Tegucigalpa. Nicaragua later rejected the King of Spain's 1906 award on their land border, and troops clashed in 1957 before the world court upheld the award in 1960.

5. 🇺🇸 United States1909 to 1933

   The United States backed the 1909 revolt that toppled Zelaya and kept marines in Nicaragua from 1912 to 1933, with a short break. Sandino's guerrillas fought them from 1927 until they left.

6. 🇨🇴 Colombia1980 to 2023

   In 1980 Nicaragua declared void the 1928 treaty that gave Colombia the San Andrés islands. The world court upheld Colombia's hold on the islands in 2012 but gave Nicaragua wide waters around them, and rejected its further claims in 2023.

7. 🇺🇸 United States1981 to 1990

   The United States armed and funded the Contras against the Sandinista government and mined Nicaragua's harbours in 1984. In 1986 the International Court of Justice ruled that the United States had broken international law.

8. 🇭🇳 Honduras1999 to 2007

   Nicaragua took Honduras to the world court in 1999 over their boundary in the Caribbean Sea. The 2007 judgment drew a new line and gave Honduras four small cays.

9. 🇨🇷 Costa Rica2010 to 2018

   In 2010 Nicaraguan troops and dredging works on Isla Portillos, at the mouth of the San Juan River, set off a new crisis. The world court found in 2015 that the area was Costa Rican and fixed the sea boundaries in 2018.

Today

Nicaragua now

The Pacific coast of Nicaragua was settled as a Spanish colony in the early 16th century. Independence from Spain was declared in 1821, and the country became an independent republic in 1838. Britain occupied the Caribbean Coast in the first half of the 19th century, but gradually ceded control of the region in subsequent decades.

Capital

Managua

Government

presidential republic

Head of government

Daniel Ortega

Languages

Spanish

Area

130,370 km²

Through time

Then and now

• Population6.8 million2023 · 1.3 million in 1950
• Life expectancy74.9 years2023 · 40.6 years in 1950
• GDP per person$5,0922022 · $2,565 in 1950
• Living in cities59%2025 · 35% in 1950
• Literacy87%2014 · 38% in 1950
• Political regimeElectoral autocracy2025 · Electoral autocracy in 1950
• Military alliancesNone of these2024 · Rio Pact in 1950
• Military spending0.6% of GDP2025
• War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.