NICARAGUA 



422S 



NICARAGUA CANAL 



During the year 1914 it became necessary on 

 ral occasions to land American marines in 

 Nicaragua to protect American interests. In 

 1916 Nicaragua and the Tinted States entered 

 into a treaty whereby the latter gained the 

 perpetual right to build a canal over any de- 

 sired route in the country; this was a revival 

 of the old proposal for a Nicaragua Canal, but 

 at present simply to hold the charter against 

 any attempt by other nations to develop such 

 an enterprise. In 1917 Nicaragua, as an act of 

 sympathy towards the United States, severed 

 diplomatic relations with Germany. See AY \i; 

 OP THE NATION- M.S. 



Consult Palmer's Central America and Its 

 Problems; Walker's Ocean to Ocean. 



Related Subjects. The following articles in 

 these volumes will be found helpful by the reader 

 interested in Nicaragua : 

 Banana Mahogany 



Bluefields Nicaragua, Lake 



Cattle Nicaragua Canal 



Central America Panama Canal 



Cocoanut Sugar Cane 



Coffee Walker, William 



Leon 



NICARAGUA, LAKE, a body of water in the 

 republic of Nicaragua, in Central America. It 

 is nearly equal in size to Delaware and Rhode 

 Island combined, and has an area of over 3,000 

 square miles, is 110 miles long and forty-five 

 miles wide, and is thus the largest lake between 

 Titicaca, in Peru, and Lake Michigan, one of 

 the North American Great Lakes. Lake Nica- 

 ragua is a part of the proposed Nicaraguan water- 

 way connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific 

 oceans (see NICARAGUA CANAL). The lake, 

 which is twelve miles from the Pacific, is 106 

 feet above sea level, varies from fifty to 200 

 feet in depth, and contains a number of islands; 

 the largest is Ometepe, on which are two active 

 volcanoes. On the north the Tipitapa River 

 connects Lake Nicaragua with Lake Managua, 

 while the San Juan flows out of it on the south- 

 east and empties into the Caribbean Sea. Ages 

 ago Nicaragua and Managua were one body of 

 water. 



NICARAGUA CANAL, a ship canal projected 

 across the Isthmus of Nicaragua in Central 

 America, which had for its purpose the open-- 

 ing of a waterway for commerce between the 

 two oceans bordering America. This object 

 was finally accomplished by the completion of 

 the Panama Canal, in August, 1914, and the 

 Nicaragua plan was abandoned. According to 

 the original survey of 1849, the Nicaragua 

 Canal was to extend from Greytown v San Juan, 



on the Caribbean Sea, to Brito, on the Pacific 

 Ocean, and have a length of 183.86 miles, of 

 which a section 70.51 miles in length was to be 

 through the San Juan River and Lake Nica- 

 ragua. A concession was granted for the con- 



PROPOSED ROUTE 

 or THE 



NICARAGUA CANAL 



THE ABANDONED ROUTE 

 The United States has renewed its option, and 

 a canal may some day be built. 



struction of the canal in 1849, Cornelius Van- 

 derbilt becoming head of the company. 



After the signing of the Clayton-Bulwer 

 Treaty between the United States and Great 

 Britain in 1850, the project was held in abey- 

 ance for nearly forty years, but work on the 

 canal was begun in 1889 at Greytown. The 

 constructing company, however, found the bur- 

 den .greater than had been anticipated, and 

 after spending $4,000,000 sought about $100,- 

 000,000 from Congress, with arrangements for 

 government supervision. The work ceased after 

 this request was denied, and the concession 

 from the Nicaraguan government lapsed. The 

 Federal government appointed a commission to 

 survey a route for a canal in 1897, and in 1903 

 the Panama route was adopted, the United 

 States purchasing the properties of the French 

 company at Panama for $40,000,000. See 

 PANAMA CANAL; CLAYTON-BULWER TREATY. 



That the idea of a canal across Nicaragua 

 has not been abandoned is indicated by the 

 ratification of a treaty between Nicaragua and 

 the United States, in February, 1916. Accord- 

 ing to its terms the United States agreed to pay 

 $3,000,000 for a ninety-nine years' lease of two 

 islands in Fonseca Bay, with the privilege of 

 maintaining a naval base on the shore of the 

 bay. Nicaragua also conceded to the United 

 States the perpetual right to build (without 

 taxation or other charges) a canal over any 

 desired route in Nicaragua. Even though a 

 canal is never constructed, the treaty will pre- 

 vent any attempt to build such a waterway on 

 the part of any foreign power. 



