Managua Department

Nicaragua's Managua department is pronounced [maʈna.ɣwa] in Spanish. With a population of 1,559,774 (2021 estimate) and an area of 3,465 km2, it is the most populated department in the nation.

Managua serves as both the capital and the capital of Nicaragua. The department does not border Lake Nicaragua, but it does have two coastlines: one on Lake Managua and one on the Pacific Ocean.

The department of Managua was home to the Nahua chiefdom of Tekwantepet. Spanish historian and conquistador Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés claims that Tekwantepet was one of the last chiefdoms in modern-day Nicaragua to be overrun by the conquistadors and their allies in central Mexico.[2][3] [4] The translation of Tekwantepet is "hill of jaguars" or "jaguar hill" since the chiefdom's name is a mix of the Nawat terms tēkwani (jaguar)[5] and tepet (hill)[6]. This chiefdom is perhaps the source of the department's Ticuantepe municipality's name. The Nahuas and Chorotegas are Managua's indigenous people.

Municipalities

• Ciudad Sandino


• El Crucero


• Managua


• Mateare


• San Francisco Libre


• San Rafael del Sur


• Ticuantepe


• Tipitapa


• Villa Carlos Fonseca