Nicaragua Independence Day Commemorates on 15th September the independence of the Central American provinces from Spanish rule in 1821.
Since prehistoric times, Nicaragua has been home to a variety of indigenous civilisations. Christopher Columbus became the first European to reach what is now Nicaragua while sailing southeast towards the Isthmus of Panama on his fourth journey in 1502. Columbus toured the Mosquito Coast on Nicaragua's Atlantic side but saw no indigenous people.
It was over two decades before the Spaniards attempted to conquer Nicaragua, beginning with the conqueror Gil González Dávila, who landed in Panama in January 1520. The indigenous repulsed his assault, and in 1524, Francisco Hernández de Córdoba led a fresh expedition that established the Spanish towns of León and Granada.
Nicaragua joined the Kingdom of Guatemala, which encompassed the modern-day countries of Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, as well as the Mexican state of Chiapas.
At the turn of the nineteenth century, Spain had been weakened by its engagement in the Peninsular War in Europe, and local juntas had been formed when local Spanish rose against the authority of King Joseph, Napoleon's brother, who had been placed as ruler of Spain by the French in 1808.
This desire for self-rule lasted when King Ferdinand ascended to the Spanish throne, and the Province of Guatemala declared Central America's independence on September 15, 1821.
Following independence, and despite objections from El Salvador, the areas were part of the Mexican Empire until 1823, when they submitted to form the Federal Republic of Central America.
