Nicaraguans (; also called Nicas) are people inhabiting in, originating or having significant heritage from Nicaragua. Most Nicaraguans live in Nicaragua, although there is also a significant Nicaraguan diaspora, particularly in Costa Rica and the United States with smaller communities in other countries around the world. There are also people living in Nicaragua who are not Nicaraguans because they were not born or raised in Nicaragua nor have they gained citizenship.
Genetic makeup The genetic makeup of Nicaraguans differs from the western half of Nicaragua to the eastern half. DNA studies show that most western Nicaraguans (whites and mestizos) descend from Europeans (mostly Spanish, Italian,Console Campari."Emigrazione in Nicaragua nel 1909" Ministero degli Affari Esteri. Roma, 1909Ministero Affari Esteri, Roma. "Emigrazioni e Colonie. RACCOLTA DI RAPPORTI DEI RR. AGENTI DIPLOMATICI E CONSOLARI" Roma, 1909Favero, Luigi; Tassello, Graziano (1978). "Cent'anni di emigrazione italiana (1876-1976)". Roma: Cser, 2005 and Portuguese), an Indigenous combination of Nahua, Otomanguean, and Chibcha ancestry, and Africans (descending mostly from West Africans forcibly transported to the region as enslaved peoples during colonization and Southern Europeans with North African ancestry). The combined Nahua, Otomanguean, and Chibcha ancestry of western Nicaraguans suggests that instead of a mass displacement of Chibchas by migrating Mesoamerican groups like the Nicaraos and Chorotegas, they assimilated the Chibchas who already inhabited western Nicaragua into their societies and mixed with them, blending North American and South American ancestries. This is further evident in the Chibcha minorities that lived and thrived within the Nahua chiefdoms of Kwawkapolkan, Kakawatan, and Masatepek in modern-day Rivas and Masaya. In addition, the military forces of Kwawkapolkan, Kakawatan, and Masatepek had Chibcha troops serving alongside their Nahua counterparts as military service provided social advancement and assimilation to further integrate into Nahua society.Los Indios precolombinos de Nicaragua y Costa Rica en los siglos XV y XVI, 2009 - Bolaños, EnriqueHistoria de la Gran Nicoya en el sur de Mesoamérica, Jiménez-Santana 1997 Furthermore, the Nicaraos cultivation of potatoes also suggests cultural diffusion between the Nahuas and Chibchas, as the Chibchas introduced potatoes to Nicaragua from South America which did not reach northern Mesoamerica.
Genetic studies show that eastern Nicaraguans mostly descend from shipwrecked enslaved Africans who intermarried and mixed with the Indigenous peoples of Caribbean Nicaragua (creating the Miskito Sambu, an ethnic group of Zambos), and British colonizers who ruled the Caribbean coasts of Nicaragua and Honduras for roughly 225 years.Letter of Benito Garret y Arlovi to King of Spain, 30 November 1711, in Manuel de Peralta, ed., Costa Rica y Costa de Mosquitos. Documentos para la historia de la jurisdicción territorial de Costa Rica y Colombia (Paris, 1898), pp. 57–58 Garret y Arlovi had gotten his information from missionaries near Segovia and Chontales, who reported what the indigenous people said. In addition, he interviewed Juan Ramón, an ancient African (negro). By these sources, Garret y Arlovi dated the shipwreck to 1641. The Black Nicaraguans in the Caribbean coast are mostly of West Indian (Antillean) origin, the descendants of slaves brought mostly from Jamaica when the region was a British protectorate. There is also a smaller number of Garífuna, a people of mixed Carib, Angolan, Congolese and Arawak descent. However, pure Indigenous peoples still exist in the Caribbean coast, such as the Rama, Mayangna, and the Tawira Miskito who're related to the Zambo Miskitos, both groups were rivals and often competed for territory which led to wars between the two, further dividing the two Miskito groups in the 18th century.Offen (2002), Sambu and Tawira Miskitu, pp. 337–40.
Demographics
Population
As of 2023, Nicaragua's total human population reached 7.0 million, with the capital (and most populous) city of Managua containing 1.5 million.
According to the UN, Nicaragua has a population of 7,243,000 (July 1, 2015) with a population growth rate of 1.31% (during the period 2005–2010) and a birth rate of 24.9 / 1,000 population (2005–2010), third highest in the region. The life expectancy for Nicaraguans at birth is (2005–2015) 74.45 years; 70.9 for males and 78.0 for females.
Ethnic groups Data from the CIA World Factbook estimates that Nicaragua's population is around 69% Mestizos, and 17% White, with the majority being of full Spanish descent as well as Italian, German, or French ancestry. Mestizos and White make up the majority of Nicaraguans and mainly reside in the western region of the country, combined they make up 88% and of the total population.
About 5% of Nicaraguans are descending from one or more of the country's Indigenous peoples. Nicaragua's pre-Columbian population consisted of many Indigenous groups such as the Nahua. In the western region, the Nahua people (also known as the Pipil-Nicaraos) were present along with other groups such as Otomangueans and Chibchas. Nicaragua's central region and the Caribbean coast were inhabited by Indigenous peoples who were also Chibcha-related groups that had migrated from South America, primarily what is today Colombia and Venezuela. These groups include the present-day Miskitos, Ramas and Mayangna. In the 19th century, there was a substantial indigenous minority, but this group was also largely assimilated culturally into the mestizo majority. In the mid-1980s, the government divided the department of Zelaya Department into two autonomous regions and granted the Indigenous people of this region limited self-rule.
The remainder 9% of Nicaragua's population is Black, and mainly reside on the country's sparsely populated Caribbean (or Atlantic) coast. The Black population is mostly of West Indian (Antillean) origin, the descendants of indentured laborers brought mostly from Jamaica when the region was a British protectorate. There is also a smaller number of Garífuna, a people of mixed Carib, Angolan, Congolese and Arawak descent.
Immigration
Relative to its overall population, Nicaragua has never experienced any large scale wave of immigrants. The total number of immigrants to Nicaragua, both originating from other Latin American countries and all other countries, never surpassed 1% of its total population prior to 1995. The 2005 census showed the foreign-born population at 1.2%, having risen a mere .06% in 10 years. This is not to say that immigrants were not important to the evolution of Nicaraguan society and the Nicaraguan nation.
In the 19th century Nicaragua experienced a wave of immigration, primarily from Europe. In particular, families from Spain, Germany, Italy, France and Belgium generally moved to Nicaragua to start a new life. They received free land, monetary incentives, and other perks in exchange for populating unsettled territories and working in the new growing coffee industry. In time immigrants were able to set up newspapers, hotels and banks.
There is also a small Middle Eastern-Nicaraguan community of Syrian, Armenian, Palestinian Nicaraguan, Jewish Nicaraguan, and Lebanese people in Nicaragua with a total population of about 30,000. There is also an East Asian community of Chinese. The Chinese Nicaraguan population is estimated at 12,000. The Chinese arrived in the late 19th century but were unsubstantiated until the second census (in 1920) revealed 400 people of the Chinese nationality.
Nicaraguans abroad Nicaragua, as well as other Latin American countries, have a long history of migration to the United States. However, Nicaragua is the only country in its region to have Costa Rica as the primary destination. Estimates on the basis of the Nicaraguan Health Survey indicated that at least 11% of Nicaraguan households have at least 1 person residing abroad.
Smaller numbers of Nicaraguans live in many other countries around the world such as other countries in Latin America, Europe, Canada, China and Taiwan among others.
Nicaraguans in Costa Rica Nicaraguan migration to Costa Rica has occurred since the mid-19th century. Unlike other Latin American countries, Nicaraguan migrants' primary destination is not the United States, it is Costa Rica. An estimate 9% (more than 385,899) of the Costa Rican population is made up of Nicaraguans; some of them migrate for seasonal work opportunities and then return to their country. Costa Rica and Nicaragua signed an agreement regulating seasonal migration in 1998; it allows Nicaraguans with work permits to enter Costa Rica at the western border at Peñas Blancas on the Pan-American Highway. In the northern part of Costa Rica there are 287,766 Nicaraguans and the Catholic Church in this area has an active program to protect the rights of migrant workers.
Nicaraguans in the United States
Abroad, the United States is home to the second largest number of Nicaraguans outside Nicaragua, particularly in the Miami area. The estimated number of Nicaraguan Americans in the United States was 281,167 in 2006, up from 177,684 in 2000.
The earliest documents of immigration from Nicaragua to the United States was combined in total with those of other Central American countries. However, according to the U.S. Census Bureau some 7,500 Nicaraguans legally immigrated from 1967 to 1976. An estimated 28,620 Nicaraguans were living in the U.S. in 1970, 90% of which self-reported as "white" on the 1970 census. Most Nicaraguan immigrants during the late 1960s were women: there were only 60 male Nicaraguan immigrants for every 100 female immigrants during this period. In 1998 more than two million Nicaraguans were left homeless due to hurricane Mitch, as a result many Nicaraguans received permanent residence or temporary protected status (TPS) in the late 1990s.
According to the 1990 U.S. census 168,659 of the total 202,658 documented Nicaraguans in the U.S. were born in Nicaragua. In 1992 approximately 10–12% of the Nicaraguan population had emigrated. These emigrants tended to be disproportionately of working age, better educated, and more often white-collar workers than nonmigrants. In addition, emigrants were more likely to come from larger premigration households and higher income households.
Areas of greatest concentration in the United States The largest concentration of Nicaraguan Americans in the United States, about 79,559, is in Miami, Florida, most notably around the areas of Sweetwater and "Little Managua". Sweetwater has the highest concentration of Nicaraguan American in the United States, in 2000 16.63% of Sweetwater residents identified as being of Nicaraguan heritage. This was the highest percentage of Nicaraguan Americans of any place in the country. As a result, Sweetwater is locally known as "Little Managua" after Managua, the Nicaraguan capital. However, the area of "Little Havana" in Miami is also colloquially called "Little Managua" even though Sweetwater has a higher number of Nicaraguan Americans.
California hosts the second largest concentration, most notably in the metropolitan areas of Los Angeles and San Francisco. The number of Nicaraguan Americans living in California was 51,336 in 2000.
History