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The Amerrisque Mountains ( es, Serranías de Amerrisque, Cordillera de Amerrisque, links=no) are the central spine of
Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...
and part of the Central American Range which extends throughout central Nicaragua for about from
Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
in the northwest to
Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
in the southwest, just a few miles from the
Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
. The Amerrisques also are known as
Cordillera Chontaleña A cordillera is an extensive chain and/or network system of mountain ranges, such as those in the west coast of the Americas. The term is borrowed from Spanish, where the word comes from , a diminutive of ('rope'). The term is most commonly us ...
at their central range. Its coordinates are 12°12'0" N and 85°19'0" W in DMS (degrees minutes seconds) or 12.2 and -85.3167 (in decimal degrees) and is 329 meters above sea level. ''Amerrique'' is the Mayan name of the mountains between
Juigalpa Juigalpa () is the municipal seat of Juigalpa Municipality and the capital city of the Chontales Department of Nicaragua. It is located within the municipality of Juigalpa, approximately 140 km east of Managua on Carretera Rama, in the centr ...
and Libertad in the
Chontales Department Chontales ( es, Departamento de Chontales) () is a department in Nicaragua. It covers an area of 6,481 km² and has a population of 191,856. The capital is Juigalpa. Some of land overlooks Lake Cocibolca (Lake Nicaragua) on the western sid ...
in Nicaragua; these mountains separate
Lake Nicaragua Lake Nicaragua or Cocibolca or Granada ( es, Lago de Nicaragua, , or ) is a freshwater lake in Nicaragua. Of tectonic origin and with an area of , it is the largest lake in Central America, the 19th largest lake in the world (by area) and the ...
from the
Mosquito Coast The Mosquito Coast, also known as the Mosquitia or Mosquito Shore, historically included the area along the eastern coast of present-day Nicaragua and Honduras. It formed part of the Western Caribbean Zone. It was named after the local Miskit ...
. The
Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...
name ''Amerrique'' signifies "the country of the wind", "the country where the wind blows constantly". The range is named after the Amerrisque tribe, who are fast fading away. It is supposed that the Amerrisques were once powerful, but very little is known concerning them. The decay of their speech went on for a long time before contact with Europeans, and the name by which the people and the mountains are now known is, not improbably, the bare remnant of the original word, which may very well have been something like ''Amerristiquiqque'', shortened successively to ''Amerristique'' and ''Amerrisque''. As Nicaragua's divide, the Amerrisques contain some high peaks such as Pataste (1736 m) in Madriz Region, Quiabuc (1604 m) in Estelí Region, and Chagüite (1345 m) in Matagalpa Region. At the same time, they are the source of many rivers such as the Segovia (775 km), the Siquia-Escondido (207 km), while crisscrossed by rivers born at other ranges such as the Grande (500 km), the Viejo (209 km), etc. The range also separates the Great Lakes Xolotlán and Cocibolca in Western Nicaragua, from the Mosquito Coast in Eastern Nicaragua. The Amerrisques boast a rich flora, due to their latitude and altitude, which ranges from sub-alpine, by Honduras, to tropical, by Costa Rica. Species range from unique regionals such as madroño, espavel, and chilamate to North American species such as pine, oak, sweetgum, and terebinth, and South Americans such as gumtree, mahogany, and rosewood. The fauna includes mountain lions, coyotes, ocelots; deer, guatusas, tapirs; anteaters, armadillos, quetzals; guardabarrancos, toucans, harpy eagles; great owls, roadrunners, rattlesnakes; corals, fer-de-lance, etc. While the northern parts of the range are pine or oak-clad, the central parts sport dry-to-rainy forests and cattle ranching. The southern heights are covered in thick jungles along the San Juan River. Some important cities located at the feet of the Amerrisques include
Estelí Estelí (), officially Villa de San Antonio de Pavia de Estelí is a city and municipality within the Estelí department. It is the 3rd largest city in Nicaragua due to the high urbanization of its municipality, at 83%, with an urban population of ...
(210,000), a cultural and manufacturing center, and
Juigalpa Juigalpa () is the municipal seat of Juigalpa Municipality and the capital city of the Chontales Department of Nicaragua. It is located within the municipality of Juigalpa, approximately 140 km east of Managua on Carretera Rama, in the centr ...
(110,000), a cattle ranching area.


Origin of the name America

In ''
Tradiciones peruanas ''Peruvian Traditions'' ( es, Tradiciones peruanas, link=no) is a compendium of some of the writings of the Peruvian writer Ricardo Palma. Introduction The writings, which are collectively known as the ''Tradiciones'', started appearing in 1863 i ...
'' (1872), the Peruvian writer
Ricardo Palma Manuel Ricardo Palma Soriano (February 7, 1833 – October 6, 1919) was a Peruvian author, scholar, librarian and politician. His magnum opus is the ''Tradiciones peruanas''. Biography According to the official account, Manuel Ricardo Pal ...
mentioned his belief that the etymology of America derived from the mountains of Amerrique. Without citing the source from which he obtained the information, he affirmed that "the name America circulated by oral tradition among the men of Columbus." The English geologist and naturalist
Thomas Belt Thomas Belt (183221 September 1878), an English geologist and naturalist, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1832, and educated in that city. He is remembered for his work on the geology of gold bearing minerals, glacial geology, and for his desc ...
, in his book ''The Naturalist in Nicaragua'' (1874), also suggested that the etymology of America came from the Amerrisque range. The French-American geologist
Jules Marcou Jules Marcou (April 20, 1824 – April 17, 1898) was a French-Swiss-American geologist. Biography He was born at Salins-les-Bains, Salins, in the ''département in France, département'' of Jura (département), Jura, in France. He was educated a ...
, in his work ''Nouvelles Recherches sur l'Origine du Nom d'Amérique'' (first published: Paris, 1875), accepted and supported the thesis on the origin of the name ''America'' by Belt, who had served as engineer to the Compañía Minera de Chontales between 1868 and 1871 in the gold deposits of Santo Domingo, San Benito, and San Antonio. The '' Enciclopedia universal ilustrada europeo-americana'' (Barcelona, 1907), volume 38, page 537, suggests that Columbus may have heard the name ''Amerrisque'' from the
Rama people The Rama are an indigenous people living on the eastern coast of Nicaragua. Since the start of European colonization, the Rama population has declined as a result of disease, conflict, and loss of territory. In recent years, however, the Rama po ...
, who lived near the present-day
Bluefields Bluefields is the capital of the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, South Caribbean Autonomous Region in Nicaragua. It was also the capital of the former Mosquito Coast, Kingdom of Mosquitia, and later the Zelaya Department, which was divid ...
(in
Rama Cay Rama Cay is an island in the Bluefields Lagoon on the eastern coast of Nicaragua. During the 17th or 18th century, the more powerful Miskito awarded the island to the Rama people in recognition of their assistance in fighting off the Terraba Indi ...
), and who had probably originated farther up the Escondido River, perhaps at its sources in Amerrisque. The Nicaraguan archaeologist Jorge Espinosa also expressed that the Amerrisques gave their name to the Western Hemisphere, although he based his thesis, for the University of Louisiana, on historical maps drawn by
John Cabot John Cabot ( it, Giovanni Caboto ; 1450 – 1500) was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest-known European exploration of coastal North ...
in 1497, where the name ''Amerrisque'' already appears five years before
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
set foot in Nicaragua in 1502.Jorge Espinosa, "Amerrisque Christened America." ''
El Nuevo Diario ''El Nuevo Diario'' was a Nicaraguan newspaper, with offices in the capital Managua. History In 1980, the owner of ''La Prensa'' fired the editor Xavier Chamorro Cardenal. Eighty percent of the papers employees left with Chamorro Cardena due to ...
'', October 18, 2008.


References

{{Reflist Mountain ranges of Nicaragua History of North America