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Nicaragua PRECOLONIAL PERIOD
Present-day Nicaragua is located south of the
pre-Columbian
culture areas of the Maya and the Aztec in Mexico and
northern
Central America
(see
fig. 2; Glossary). Although
conventional
wisdom states that the culture of lower Central America
did not
reach the levels of political or cultural development
achieved in
Mexico and northern Central America, recent excavations in
Cuscutlatán, El Salvador may prove that assumption
erroneous.
Two basic culture groups existed in precolonial
Nicaragua. In
the central highlands and Pacific coast regions, the
native
peoples were linguistically and culturally similar to the
Aztec
and the Maya. The oral history of the people of western
Nicaragua
indicates that they had migrated south from Mexico several
centuries before the arrival of the Spanish, a theory
supported
by linguistic research. Most people of central and western
Nicaragua spoke dialects of Pipil, a language closely
related to
Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec. The culture and food
of the
peoples of western Nicaragua also confirmed a link with
the early
inhabitants of Mexico; the staple foods of both
populations were
corn, beans, chili peppers, and avocados, still the most
common
foods in Nicaragua today. Chocolate was drunk at
ceremonial
occasions, and turkeys and dogs were raised for their
meat.
Most of Nicaragua's Caribbean lowlands area was
inhabited by
tribes that migrated north from what is now Colombia. The
various
dialects and languages in this area are related to
Chibcha,
spoken by groups in northern Colombia. Eastern Nicaragua's
population consisted of extended families or tribes. Food
was
obtained by hunting, fishing, and slash-and-burn
agriculture.
Root crops (especially cassava), plantains, and pineapples
were
the staple foods. The people of eastern Nicaragua appear
to have
traded with and been influenced by the native peoples of
the
Caribbean, as round thatched huts and canoes, both typical
of the
Caribbean, were common in eastern Nicaragua.
When the Spanish arrived in western Nicaragua in the
early
1500s, they found three principal tribes, each with a
different
culture and language: the Niquirano, the Chorotegano, and
the
Chontal. Each one of these diverse groups occupied much of
Nicaragua's territory, with independent chieftains
(cacicazgos) who ruled according to each group's
laws and
customs. Their weapons consisted of swords, lances, and
arrows
made out of wood. Monarchy was the form of government of
most
tribes; the supreme ruler was the chief, or
cacique, who,
surrounded by his princes, formed the nobility. Laws and
regulations were disseminated by royal messengers who
visited
each township and assembled the inhabitants to give their
chief's
orders.
The Chontal were culturally less advanced than the
Niquirano
and Chorotegano, who lived in well-established
nation-states. The
differences in the origin and level of civilization of
these
groups led to frequent violent encounters, in which one
group
would displace whole tribes from their territory,
contributing to
multiple divisions within each tribe. Occupying the
territory
between Lago de Nicaragua and the Pacific Coast, the
Niquirano
were governed by chief Nicarao, or Nicaragua, a rich ruler
who
lived in Nicaraocali, now the city of Rivas. The
Chorotegano
lived in the central region of Nicaragua. These two groups
had
intimate contact with the Spanish conquerors, paving the
way for
the racial mix of native and European stock now known as
mestizos. The Chontal (the term means foreigner) occupied
the
central mountain region. This group was smaller than the
other
two, and it is not known when they first settled in
Nicaragua.
In the west and highland areas where the Spanish
settled, the
indigenous population was almost completely wiped out by
the
rapid spread of new diseases, for which the native
population had
no immunity, and the virtual enslavement of the remainder
of the
indigenous people. In the east, where the Europeans did
not
settle, most indigenous groups survived. The English,
however,
did introduce guns and ammunition to one of the local
peoples,
the Bawihka, who lived in northeast Nicaragua. The Bawihka
later
intermarried with runaway slaves from Britain's Caribbean
possessions, and the resulting population, with its access
to
superior weapons, began to expand its territory and push
other
indigenous groups into the interior. This Afro-indigenous
group
became known to the Europeans as Miskito, and the
displaced
survivors of their expansionist activities were called the
Sumu
(see
fig. 2).
Data as of December 1993
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