Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Colonial Settlement
The main Spanish colonizing force arrived the next year, founding the cities of León and
Granada. Both were established near indigenous settlements, whose inhabitants were put to
work.
The gold that had attracted the Spaniards soon gave out, but Granada and León re-
mained. Granada became a comparatively rich colonial city, its wealth due to surrounding
agriculture and its importance as a trading center. It was also a center for the Conservative
Party, favoring traditional values of monarchy and ecclesiastical authority. Originally foun-
ded on Lago de Managua, León was destroyed by volcanic eruptions in 1610 and a new
city established some 30km northwest. León in time became the center for radical clerics
and intellectuals, who formed the Liberal Party and supported the unification of Central
America and reforms based on the French and American Revolutions.
The difference in wealth between the two cities, and the political supremacy of León, led
to conflicts that raged into the 1850s, at times erupting into civil war. The animosity
stopped only when the capital was moved to the neutral location of Managua.
