In 1529 the connection of the lakes with the Caribbean sea was discovered, and during the last half of the eighteenth century a considerable commerce was carried on by this route between Granada on Lake Nicaragua and the cities of Nombre de Dios, Cartagena, Havana and Cadiz.
In 1821 Nicaragua threw off the rule of the mother country and in 1823 formed with her sister Spanish colonies, a confederation. This confederation was dissolved in 1838, and since then Nicaragua has conducted her own affairs. In point of advancement, financial solidity and stability of government she stands today nearly, if not quite, at the head of the Central American republics.
Nicaragua extends over a little more than four degrees each of latitude and longitude, from about N. 11° to N. 15° and from 83° 20' W. to 87° 40′ W.
Its longest, side is the northern border from the Gulf of Fonseca northeasterly to Cape Gracias á Dios, two hundred and ninety miles. From that cape south to the mouth of the Rio San Juan, the Caribbean coast line, is two hundred and fifty miles. Nearly due west across the Isthmus to Salinas Bay on the Pacific, is one hundred and twenty miles. The Pacific coast line extends thence northwest one hundred and sixty miles.
In point of size Nicaragua stands first among the Central American republics having an area of 51,600 square miles. It is larger than either the State of New York or Pennsylvania, about the size of Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland combined, and is one-fourth as large as France or Germany. Its population numbers about 300,000.
The Gulf of Fonseca, at the northern, and Salinas Bay at the southern extremity of the coast line are two of the finest and largest harbors on the Pacific coast of Central America. About midway between them is the fine harbor of Corinto, and there are also several other ports along the coast, at San Juan del Sur, Brito and Tamarindito. On the Caribbean coast no harbors suitable for large vessels exist, but numerous lagoons and bights afford the best of shelter for coasting vessels.
The central portion of Nicaragua is traversed, from north to south, by the main cordillera of the isthmus, which, here greatly reduced in altitude, consists merely of a confused mass of peaks and ridges with an average elevation scarcely exceeding 1,000 feet.
