Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
feats, and as he fell back to his old capital city, he set it afire and left in its ashes the in-
famous placard: 'Here was Granada.'
PIRATES OF LAKE NICARAGUA!
The sacking of Central America's crown jewel, Granada, was one of the most daring exploits in
pirate history, a career coup for dashing up-and-coming buccaneer Henry Morgan and his band of
rum-soaked merry men.
It couldn't have been done in a full-sized sailing vessel - if you follow Morgan's path up the
Río San Juan you'll see how those rapids would tear a regular ship apart. But this crafty band of
quick thinkers appropriated six 12m wooden canoes (after their regular pirate ships were impoun-
ded by Spanish authorities) following an equally spectacular sacking of Villahermosa, Mexico.
The atypical craft proved more than adequate for further pillaging along the Caribbean coast,
which gave the 30-year-old Morgan an idea.
The crew battled the currents of the Río San Juan at night and hid their canoes during the day,
then made their way across the great lake. The June 1665 attack caught complacent
granadinos
completely off guard: the pirates occupied the city for 16 hours - just like the Disney ride, but
more violent - then stole all the ammunition, sank all the boats and sailed off to a warm welcome
as heroes and legends in Port Royal, Jamaica... Eat your heart out Jack Sparrow.
Between 1665 and 1670, Granada was sacked three times, even as Morgan took more pirate
canoes up the Río Coco, where he made powerful allies of the Miskitos. With their help, pirates
sacked Ciudad Antigua and Estelí, where Morgan himself stayed for a while, and founded several
of the surrounding towns.
Pirates actually founded more cities in Nicaragua than they ever sacked, including Pueblo
Viejo and several surrounding towns in the Segovias; Bilwi, on the Caribbean coast; and, most
famously, Bluefields, named for founder Abraham Blewfeldt, a Dutch pirate who worked the wa-
ters from Rhode Island to Panama.
Although the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick guaranteed that England, Spain, France and Holland
would respect each other's property in the New World, the pirates continued to try for Granada.
In 1769, 17-year-old Rafaela Herrera commanded Spanish forces at El Castillo against pirates
trying to sack Granada yet again. She won, signalling the beginning of the end for the pirates of
the Caribbean.
The city rebuilt - again. And while its power has waned, its importance as a tourist cen-
ter and quick escape from bustling Managua keeps Granada the city vibrant.
Sights
Convento y Museo San Francisco
CHURCH
