San Marcos is a town and a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

Carazo Department Carazo () is a department in Nicaragua. It covers an area of 1,081 km2 and has a population of 198,395 (2021 estimate). The capital is Jinotepe. Geography Much of the department consists of a large plain sloping gently down towards the Pac ...

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 ...

. It is located south of the capital

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

. The municipality has a population of 33,147 (2021 estimate). San Marcos' climate enables the production of coffee and a large variety of tropical flowers and fruits.

Religion

San Marcos' inhabitants are a Catholic majority, a heritage of the Spaniard Colonization. They are fervent followers of the Spaniard Catholic Traditions. For example, the most notorious festivity, where many people gather every year, is the celebration of their Patron San Marcos. San Marcos' Catholic Parish Church, in the middle of the town square, is a legacy of the Spaniard influence, as could be seen in its construction and designs.

Education

San Marcos is host to

Keiser University-Latin American Campus Keiser University - Latin American Campus (KU) is a branch campus of Keiser University in Florida, United States. It is located in the small town of San Marcos, Carazo, Nicaragua. It is perhaps one of the only U.S. universities in Central America o ...

, a campus of

Keiser University Keiser University is a private university with its main campus in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and flagship residential campus in West Palm Beach, Florida. Additional branches are located in other parts of Florida and internationally. Keiser provides ...

(headquartered in

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, USA), giving San Marcos the prestige of a University City. Keiser University Latin American Campus is perhaps the only U.S. accredited institution of higher education granting degrees in Nicaragua and most of the region. 20 years and more than 1,200 graduates after its founding (the campus in San Marcos was host to the University of Mobile (1993) and Ave Maria University (until July 2013), alumni from the Latin American Campus have gone on to work and study in graduate programs throughout the Americas, the United States and across the globe. They have set an international standard of professional and academic success. Receiving students from all over Central America and the United States, Keiser University Latin American Campus occupies the building where the famous Normal de Señoritas Salvadora de Somoza was located. This was an institution that educated young girls to become elementary school teachers. It was also the host of students from all over the country and Central America. The campus encompasses over 740,000 square feet including green areas and athletic field. It has 23 classrooms, a library and auditorium, campus dining facilities, modern computer and science laboratories, spacious dormitories, faculty offices, fitness center, administrative buildings, student services building, conference center, and a 300-person chapel, La Purísima.

Notable people from San Marcos

San Marcos is the birthplace of

Clodomiro Picado Twight Clodomiro Picado Twight (April 17, 1887 - May 16, 1944), also known as "Clorito Picado", was a Costa Rican scientist who was internationally recognized for his pioneering research on snake venom and the development of various antivenins. His work ...

(1887–1944), a Pasteur Institute scientist whose work on molds was a precursor to the formal discovery of

penicillin Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' moulds, principally '' P. chrysogenum'' and '' P. rubens''. Most penicillins in clinical use are synthesised by P. chrysogenum using ...

. Anastasio Somoza García (1 February 1896 – 29 September 1956) was the leader of Nicaragua from 1937 until his assassination in 1956. He was only officially the 21st President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1937 to 1 May 1947 and from 21 May 1950 until his assassination on 29 September 1956, ruling for the rest of the time as an unelected military strongman. He was the patriarch of the Somoza family, which ruled Nicaragua as a family dictatorship for 42 years.

Twin towns – sister cities

San Marcos is twinned with: *

Biel/Bienne Biel/Bienne (official bilingual wording; , ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Biel/Bienne (administrative district), Biel/Bienne administrative district in the canton of Bern in Swi ...

, Switzerland *

Helmond Helmond (; called ''Héllemond'' in the local dialect) is a city and municipality in the Metropoolregio Eindhoven of the province of North Brabant in the Southern Netherlands. Helmond is home to several textile and metal companies. The Vlisco fa ...

, Netherlands *

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

, Germany

References

{{Carazo Department Municipalities of the Carazo Department