Quality of life in Managua

Managua is the capital and largest city of Nicaragua. A city that saw the death of Sandino, the rise of the Somozas and their fall from power at the hand of the Sandinistas, Managua is full of history and the closest thing to metropolis Nicaragua has. Ever threatened by earthquakes, Managua has mostly lost its historical downtown in a 1972 quake, but is slowly gaining yet another face through urban renewal policies of the current government. While many visitors to Nicaragua try to limit their time in the capital you should not make the same mistake as its theaters, museums, monuments and historical remnants are well worth spending some time, to say nothing of the nightlife.

With a population well beyond a million, Managua is the second biggest metro area in Central America and by far the biggest city and urban center in Nicaragua. Almost every fourth Nicaraguan is a Managuan and the city still grows rapidly through people moving in, making a person "born and raised" in Managua something of a rare sight. Managua is the undisputed commercial, political, cultural and religious center of the country and many new trends originate from here before they affect the rest of the country. The Managua focus of nearly all media (print and TV) is so staggeringly large, that an address without mention of the city is almost always meant to mean Managua by default in news or advertising.

Managua's location between the rival cities of León and Granada made it an ideal compromise site when the capital was relocated in the 1850s. While this decision seemed genius at the time, geology today indicates otherwise, as there is an active fault line right where downtown Managua used to be (before the 1972 earthquake knocked it down, that is). Managua's economy is based mainly on trade. The city is Nicaragua's chief trading center for coffee, cotton, and other crops. It is also an important industrial center. Its chief products for trade include beer, coffee, matches, textiles, and shoes.