Corinto is a town, with a population of 18,552 (2021 estimate), on the northwest Pacific coast 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 ...

in the province of

Chinandega Chinandega () is a city and the departmental seat of Chinandega department in Nicaragua. It is also the administrative centre of the surrounding municipality of the same name. It is Nicaragua's 2nd most important city (economy) and 6th largest c ...

. The municipality was founded in 1863.

History

Early years

The town of Corinto was founded in 1849. It first came into prominence as a port in 1863, due to its spacious and sheltered harbour. It superseded

El Realejo El Realejo is a municipality in the Chinandega department of Nicaragua. History The town of El Realejo was constructed in 1532, during the first years of Spanish colonization. During this period it served as Nicaragua's principal port, and rema ...

, which was from 1550 to 1850 the principal seaport of Nicaragua but became partly filled with

sandbanks Sandbanks is an affluent neighbourhood of Poole, Dorset, on the south coast of England, situated on a narrow spit of around 1 km2 or 0.39 sq mi extending into the mouth of Poole Harbour. It is known for its high property prices and for it ...

British occupation

When Nicaragua refused to pay Britain an indemnity for the annexation of the Mosquito Reserve, the British responded by occupying the Nicaraguan Pacific port of Corinto on 27 April 1895. Eventually the British left after being paid indemnities by the Nicaraguan government.

United States intervention

Corinto, Nicaragua, Memories of Nicaragua (front of postcard)

On May 2, 1896, U.S. Marines landed in Corinto to protect American interests during political unrest. In 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed the African-American writer

James Weldon Johnson James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871June 26, 1938) was an American writer and civil rights activist. He was married to civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson. Johnson was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peop ...

U.S. Consul to Corinto. On January 25, 1922, the USS ''Galveston'' landed a detachment of

U.S. Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary warfare, exped ...

at Corinto, to reinforce the

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicara ...

legation guard during a period of political tension. While supporting the

Contra Contra may refer to: Places * Contra, Virginia * Contra Costa Canal, an aqueduct in the U.S. state of California * Contra Costa County, California * Tenero-Contra, a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland ...

war against the

Sandinista The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a Socialism, socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after ...

government in the 1980s, U.S. Forces mined the Port of Corinto. On October 10, 1983, an attack destroyed of fuel. It is believed that this attack was directed by the CIA and carried out by U.S.

Navy Seals The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy, U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command, Naval Special Wa ...

Economy

Corinto was a railroad terminus and is

's largest and only Pacific port for the import and export of goods. It has a

container terminal A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example train ...

and is able to manage a wide variety of

cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...

: liquid, bulk, containers, cars, etc.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Corinto is twinned with: *

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, Germany *

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, Germany *

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, United Kingdom *

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, United States

References

External links

* http://corinto.sozac.com/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20120313061011/http://corintounido.com/ * https://web.archive.org/web/20061021232053/http://www.epn.com.ni/corinto.php * http://www.portalcorinto.com (informational site in Spanish).
Corinto Photos
* https://www.facebook.com/groups/CorintoChinandegaOfficial/
Picture of Isla El Cardon Lighthouse
{{Lighthouse identifiers , qid2=Q60220118 Municipalities of the Chinandega Department Lighthouses in Nicaragua