Information AboutMatagalpa |
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| settlements established in 1554 | |
| cities in nicaragua | |
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Matagalpa was an Indian town founded by the Spaniards when they were looking the passage to the North Sea in 1554. Matagalpa Indians had their own language, extinct since 1875, a document with 97 words from the Matagalpa language can be found in the Daniel G. Brinton section of the American Philosophical Library in Philadelphia. According to the Matagalpan linguist father Guillermo Kiene (Catholic missioner priest 1898-1959, he was son of a German immigrant) the word Matagalpa comes from the Sumo language meaning "Lets go where the rocks are”. Gold was discovered at the mines of Matagalpa by 1850, that attracted some foreigners like the Englishman Richard Painter (1851), Germans like Ludwig Elster (1852) and Leopold Wassmer (1854), Bavarian Captain Hans Fischer, Americans like Mr.Williams, Elijah Rupert Macy (1858), doctor James Sigo (1852), and Frenchmen like Georges Choiseul Praslin (1852, Charles Leclaire (1875). Ludwig Elster (from Hannover) and his wife Katharina Braun (from the Black Forest) planted the first coffee trees in the area, beans which soon found good market in Germany. Coffee business attracted more foreign immigrants, up to 120, most of them married to Matagalpan women. Their descendants still live in the area, there can be found lastnames like: Smith, Haslam, Richardson, Weimer, Alm, Vogl, Kühl, Uebersezig, Hayn, McEwan, Stultzer, Kollerbohn, Hawkins, Rourk, Haar, Travers, Kraudy, Vita, Zeyss,Frauenberger, etc. Matagalpa is known for its good quality coffee, same as cattle, milk products, vegetables, flowers and mountains for ecotourism. It has been the center for historical mountain tourist resorts like Aranjuez, Santa Maria de Ostuma, and Selva Negra Mountain Resort. Matagalpa was the city of refuge of Nicaraguan patriots when the Tennessean filibuster William Walker took over most of the country in 1856. The patriots organized in Matagalpa the so-called "Ejercito del Septentrion" which won the Battle in San Jacinto September 14th 1856, helpin to end Walker dominion in Nicaragua. Matagalpa was the cradle place of Nazario Vega, Governor and Constructor of the Cathedral; Bartolome Martinez, President of Nicaragua, 1923-24, and Carlos Fonseca Amador, founder of the Sandinista Front in 1961. Up to now Matagalpa is the second most populated Province of Nicaragua ( second only to the Capital Managua) And the most diversified in production. Eddy Kühl, selvanegra@cablenet.com.ni |