Area: 129,494 sq. km. (59,998 sq. mi.); slightly larger than New York State.
Cities: Capital--Managua (pop. 1 million). Other cities--Leon, Granada, Jinotega, Matagalpa, Chinandega, Masaya.

Terrain: Extensive Atlantic coastal plains rising to central interior mountains; narrow Pacific coastal plain interrupted by volcanoes.

Nicaragua, the largest of the Central American countries, has an area of 129,494 sq km (49,998 sq mi), which includes the area covered by the waters of Lake Nicaragua (about 8,000 sq km/3,089 sq mi) and Lake Managua (about 1,025 sq km/396 sq mi). Comparatively, the area occupied by Nicaragua is slightly smaller than the state of New York. The country has a length of 472 km (293 mi) N–S and a width of 478 km (297 mi) W–E. Bounded on the N by Honduras, on the E by the Caribbean Sea, on the S by Costa Rica, and on the W by the Pacific Ocean, Nicaragua has a total boundary length of 2,141 km (1,330 mi), of which 910 km (565 mi) is coastline. Major Cities (pop. est.); Managua 973,800, Leon 172,000, Masaya 101,900, Chinandega 101,600, Matagalpa 95,300, Granada 91,900 (1992). Land Use; forested 27%, pastures 46%, agricultural-cultivated 11%, other 16% (1993).

In 1980, Nicaragua unilaterally abrogated its 1928 treaty with Colombia, confirming that nation's sovereignty over the Caribbean archipelago of San Andrés and Providencia, about 190 km (120 mi) off the Nicaraguan coast. Nicaragua also disputes the Treaty of Quita Sueño, ratified by the US Senate in July 1981, according to which Colombia received the uninhabited islands of Quita Sueño Bank, Roncador Cay, and Serrana Bank

Bordered by Costa Rica on the South and Honduras on the North, Nicaragua is the largest Central American republic. The vast Pacific Ocean forms her western border, the balmy Caribbean Sea the east. Is a warm and friendly land of lakes and mountains; rivers and volcanoes, sea and sun. The country is divided into three geographic regions: the Pacific Lowlands on the west, the mountainous Central Region and the Atlantic Lowlands on the east.

The Pacific Lowlands:
This lowland area runs from the Gulf of Fonseca, on Nicaragua's Pacific border with Costa Rica south of Lake Nicaragua. From this lowland strip, the Maribios mountain range, with its 25 volcanic cones, towers overs some of the most beautiful and impressive beaches found anywhere else in Central America.

This region is the most populated. About 27 percent of the nation's entire population lives in and around Managua, the capital city, on the southern shores of Lake Managua. Few Latin American capital cities share Managua's picturesque location. Being on an open plain, it does not suffer the pollution of other capitals trapped in mountain valleys.

In addition to its beach and resort communities, the Pacific Lowlands is also the repository for much of Nicaragua's Spanish colonial heritage. Cities such as Granada and Leon abound in Spanish colonial architecture and artifacts.

The Pacific lowlands extend about 75 kilometers inland from the Pacific coast. Most of the area is flat, except for a line of young volcanoes, many of which are still active, running between the Golfo de Fonseca and Lago de Nicaragua. These peaks lie just west of a large crustal fracture or structural rift that forms a long, narrow depression passing southeast across the isthmus from the Golfo de Fonseca to the Río San Juan. The rift is occupied in part by the largest freshwater lakes in Central America: Lago de Managua (56 kilometers long and 24 kilometers wide) and Lago de Nicaragua (about 160 kilometers long and 75 kilometers wide). These two lakes are joined by the Río Tipitapa, which flows south into Lago de Nicaragua. Lago de Nicaragua in turn drains into the Río San Juan (the boundary between Nicaragua and Costa Rica), which flows through the southern part of the rift lowlands to the Caribbean Sea. The valley of the Río San Juan forms a natural passageway close to sea level across the Nicaraguan isthmus from the Caribbean Sea to Lago de Nicaragua and the rift. From the southwest edge of Lago de Nicaragua, it is only nineteen kilometers to the Pacific Ocean. This route was considered as a possible alternative to the Panama Canal at various times in the past.

Surrounding the lakes and extending northwest of them along the rift valley to the Golfo de Fonseca are fertile lowland plains highly enriched with volcanic ash from nearby volcanoes. These lowlands are densely populated and well cultivated. More directly west of the lake region is a narrow line of ash-covered hills and volcanoes that separate the lakes from the Pacific Ocean. This line is highest in the central portion near León and Managua.

Because Western Nicaragua is located where two major tectonic plates collide, it is subject to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Although periodic volcanic eruptions have caused agricultural damage from fumes and ash, earthquakes have been by far more destructive to life and property. Hundreds of shocks occur each year, some of which cause severe damage. The capital city of Managua was virtually destroyed in 1931 and again in 1972.