Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/439

 NICARAGUA 425 with 56 students, and an intermediate course with 102 students ; and that of Granada, which had a faculty of law, and an intermediate course with 162 students. In the same year there were in the republic 92 male primary schools, with 3,871 pupils, and 9 female pri- mary schools, with 532 pupils. Education is wholly secular, the supreme direction being in the hands of the executive. Instruction is gra- tuitous, and teachers are paid from the public funds. There is no public library in the coun- try, no museum, and no newspaper. According to the constitution, the religion of the state is the Roman Catholic, and the republic is eccle- siastically a suffragan bishopric subordinate to the archbishop of Guatemala. There are 117" parishes, of which about 100 have incumbents. There are no religious orders, all convents Laving been suppressed in 1829. Freedom of worship is guaranteed to other sects by treaties with friendly nations. The Moravians have a church and a mission school at Bluefields, and several schools at other places on the Mosquito coast; in all eight schools, with about 500 pupils of both sexes. There is no other Prot- estant church in Nicaragua. The earliest in- habitants of Nicaragua were probably Toltecs, who entered the country from Mexico and extended their dominion over the region com- prised in it and Costa Rica. They were fol- lowed at a much later date by the Aztecs, who established themselves on the lakes and coun- try between them and the Pacific. In 1502 Columbus sailed down the coast. In 1521 Gil Gonzales de Avila entered the country from the south with a small force, and penetrated as far as the site of Granada, but, encounter- ing large bodies of natives, prudently retraced his steps. He found on the borders of the great lake a cacique named Nicarao, and he called the lake after him Nicarao agua, a name afterward applied to the whole region. Pedrarias Davila, governor of Panama, de- sirous of anticipating the expected results of this expedition, sent in 1523 a large force into the country under Francisco Fernandez de Cordova, who founded Granada and Leon. Pedrarias became the first governor, and was succeeded by his son-in-law Rodrigo de Con- treras. Nicaragua was first included in the audiencia of Santo Domingo, and then in that of Panama, but in 1541 with the rest of Cen- tral America was erected into a separate gov- ernment. In 1549 Hernando and Pedro de Contreras, sons of Rodrigo, rebelled against the authority of the crown and proclaimed the independence of Spanish America. They re- duced Panama, but while on their way to cap- ture Nombre de Dios met with misfortunes which resulted in their death in 1550. Nica- ragua, then attached to the audiencia of Guate- mala, maintained a general state of peace, dis- turbed by occasional irruptions of the bucca- neers,- until the revolution of 1821, which re- sulted in- its independence, together with that of the other provinces of the audiencia. Shortly after all Central America became a part of the empire of Mexico; but in 1823, on the fall of Iturbide, independence was again de- clared, and Nicaragua became one of the states of the united provinces of Central America. After various changes, this union was finally dissolved in 1839, since which time Nicaragua has had a separate existence. A constitution was adopted in the same year. In 1847-'8 it became involved in a dispute with Great Brit- ain in regard to the Mosquito territory. Great Britain had retained a foothold in this terri- tory since 1740, notwithstanding various treaty stipulations with Spain. In 1825 one of the native chiefs was formally crowned at Balize "king of the Mosquito nation," and at his death he appointed as regent the British agent at Balize, who was recognized by his govern- ment as acting in its behalf. Thenceforth Great Britain claimed a protectorate over the kingdom, and in 1848 seized the port of San Juan and made an attempt to extend the pro- tectorate over all the adjacent coast. This led to a diplomatic quarrel with the United States, which joined the Central American republics in refusing to acknowledge the claims of Great Britain. The acquisition of California had made the question of practical importance, as San Juan was regarded as the probable Atlan- tic terminus of the interoceanic canal. The occupation of San Juan by Americans engaged in opening the transit line to California at length led to a settlement through the Clayton- Bui wer convention of July 4, 1850. By the convention of Managua in 1860, between Nica- ragua and Great Britain, San Juan was consti- tuted a free port, and Nicaragua assumed the protectorate over the Mosquitos on the with- drawal of the English, with the understanding that they should recognize the sovereignty of the republic, the king and his successors to ex- ercise a purely administrative authority. The- king was to receive from Nicaragua annually $5,000 for ten years, from 1860 to 1870 ; but he died in 1864, and the republic refused to recognize his successor, and stopped the pay- ment of the subvention. In 1855 a civil war broke out, and the country was divided into two governments, with capitals respectively at Leon and Granada. The liberals called in the aid of Col. William Walker of California, who, at first successful, was finally overthrown by a coalition of the other Central American states. (See WALKER, WILLIAM.) After his expulsion the government was reestablished, and in 1858 a new constitution was adopted. Nicaragua took an active part in the struggle between Guatemala and San Salvador, which resulted in .the shooting of President Barrios and the death of Carrera in 1865. Since then the country has been comparatively quiet. P. Cha- morra was elected president in 1875. NICARAGUA, Lake, a body of fresh water in the republic of Nicaragua, lying between lat. 10 57' and 12 9' N., and Ion. 84 42' and 85 53' W. It is about 110 m. long, and 46 m. broad