Global InformationNicarao people information
 Nahua community in Rivas, Nicaragua. | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 20,000+ | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Western Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica | |
 Nicaragua | Estimated 20,000[1][2] |
 Costa Rica | ~1000 |
| Languages | |
| Nawat, Nicaraguan Spanish | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Roman Catholic | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Nahuas, Pipil people, Mexica | |
The Nicarao are a Nahua people who live in western Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica.[3][4][5][6][7][8] They spoke the Nahuat language before it went extinct in both countries.[9][10]
The Nicarao are descended from Toltecs who migrated from North America and central and southern Mexico over the course of several centuries from approximately 700 CE onwards.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] There is some evidence to suggest this branch of the Nahua originated in Chiapas and the Yucatan.[20][21][22][23] Around 1200 CE, the Nicarao split from the Pipil people and moved into what is now Nicaragua.[24] The migration of the Nicarao has been linked to the collapse of the important central-Mexican cities of Teotihuacan and Tula, as well as the Classic Maya collapse. The Nicarao settled throughout western Nicaragua, such as Rivas, Jinotega, Chinandega, Nueva Segovia, Tiger Lagoon, Lake Xolotlan, Lake Nicaragua, Ometepe Island, Zapatera Island, Matagalpa, Esteli, and parts of Leon, Granada and Managua.[25][26][27][28][29][30] The Nicarao also settled in Bagaces, Costa Rica after displacing the Huetar people who were already there, resulting in tribal warfare between the Nahuas and the Huetares which lasted until Spanish arrival.[31][32] As a Mesoamerican group, the Nicarao shared many blended cultural traits with both indigenous North American and Mexican belief systems as well as their Toltec parent tribe, including an identical Toltec calendar, similar organizational treaties, the use of screenfold books, the worship of the Great Spirit and closely related sky deities, Nagual mysticism, the practice of animal and Tonal spirituality, and expertise in medical practice.[33][34][35][36][37]
- ^ "Indigenous peoples in Nicaragua".
- ^ Nicaragua. https://minorityrights.org/country/nicaragua/
- ^ Newson, Linda A.; Bonilla, Adolfo (2021). Las culturas indígenas y su medioambiente. Uol Insti for the Study of the Americas. pp. 21–54. ISBN 978-1-908857-87-3. JSTOR j.ctv1qr6sk7.7.
- ^ "Central American Nahua".
- ^ "The Kingdom of this world".
- ^ Peralta, De; M, Manuel (1901). "The Aboriginals of Costa Rica". Journal de la Société des Américanistes. 3 (2): 125–139. doi:10.3406/jsa.1901.3365.
- ^ "Do you know the origin of the word Guanacaste". 25 July 2018.
- ^ "Guanacaste is a practically autonomous ethnolinguistic area and different from the rest of the country". 22 July 2020.
- ^ Mc Callister, Rick (2013). "Náwat – y no náhuatl. El náwat centroamericano y sus sabores: Náwat pipil y náwat nicarao". Revista Caratula.
- ^ Constenla Umaña, Adolfo (1994). "Las lenguas de la Gran Nicoya". Revista Vínculos. 18–19. Museo Nacional de Costa Rica: 191–208.
- ^ "Nicarao".
- ^ "Migraciones de lengua Náhuatl hacia Centroamérica".
- ^ Brinton, Daniel G. (1887). "Were the Toltecs an Historic Nationality". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 24 (126): 229–241. JSTOR 983071.
- ^ "Las migraciones nahuas de México a Nicaragua según las fuentes históricas". 29 April 2006.
- ^ "The pre-Hispanic Indigenous cultures of Nicaragua and Costa Rica" (PDF).
- ^ "The pre-Hispanic World of Nicaragua" (PDF).
- ^ "Ensayos Nicaragüenses" (PDF).
- ^ "National Autonomous University of Nicaragua" (PDF).
- ^ "The Toltecs".
- ^ Campbell, Lyle (January 1, 1985). The Pipil Language of El Salvador. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 10–12. ISBN 978-3-11-088199-8.
- ^ Macri, Martha J.; Looper, Matthew G. (2003). "NAHUA IN ANCIENT MESOAMERICA: Evidence from Maya inscriptions". Ancient Mesoamerica. 14 (2): 285–297. doi:10.1017/S0956536103142046. JSTOR 26308175. S2CID 162601312.
- ^ "Chichen Itza: The Tollan of the Yucatan".
- ^ "Toltec".
- ^ Fowler 1985, p. 37.
- ^ "National Autonomous University of Nicaragua" (PDF).
- ^ "Nahoas. Territorio indígena y gobernanza".
- ^ "Laguna de Asososca: The Ultimate Guide to This Hidden Gem". 20 April 2022.
- ^ "Laguna de Asososca o Laguna del Tigre".
- ^ "Nicaraguan Anthropology". 31 March 2007. Archived from the original on 2016-08-09.
- ^ "Culture of Esteli". 26 August 2020.
- ^ Brinton, Daniel G. (1897). "The Ethnic Affinities of the Guetares of Costa Rica". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 36 (156): 496–498. JSTOR 983406.
- ^ Rojas, Eugenia Ibarra (2011). "The Nicarao, The Voto Indians and the Huetares In Conflict". Cuadernos de Antropología. 21.
- ^ Eagle, Obsidian (2020-11-25). "Who Were The Toltecs?". Medium. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ^ Manion, Jessica (2016). "Remembering the Ancestors: Mortuary Practices and Social Memory in Pacific Nicaragua" (PDF). University of Calgary. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
- ^ Frost, Melissa June (August 10, 2017). "Herbs That Madden, Herbs That Cure: A History of Hallucinogenic Plant Use in Colonial Mexico" (PDF). University of Virginia. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
- ^ Fowler, William R. (1989-01-01). "The Cultural Evolution of Ancient Nahua Civilizations The Pipil Nicarao of Central America". The Cultural Evolution of Ancient Nahua Civilizations the Pipil Nicarao of Central America.
- ^ De Burgos, Hugo (2014). "Contemporary Transformations of Indigenous Medicine and Ethnic Identity". Anthropologica. 56 (2): 399–413. JSTOR 24467313.