The Nicarao are an Indigenous Nahua people living in western Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica. They are the southernmost Nahua group located in southern Mesoamerica. They spoke the Nahuat language before it became endangered after the Spanish conquest of Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
The Nicarao are a subgroup of the Pipil people, both of which are descended from the Toltecs, who migrated from Aridoamerica over the course of several centuries starting about 700 CE, the late Mesoamerican Classic period. This branch of the Nahua people originated in Chiapas, which was inhabited by Nawat-speaking Toltecs for hundreds of years before they migrated further into Central America.
Around 1200 CE, a group of Pipils that would eventually become the Nicarao migrated further south and settled in the Greater Nicoya region of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, seized most of the fertile lands in the region, and eventually separated and formed their own chiefdoms.Historia general y natural de las Indias, islas y tierra-firme del mar océano; por el Capitán Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés; Primer Cronista del Nuevo Mundo; publícala la Real Academia de la Historia. Tomo IV. Libro XLII. Capitulo XIII.Fowler 1985, p. 37. The migration of the Nicarao has been linked to the collapse of the important central Mexican cities of Teotihuacan and Tula, as well as the Classic Maya collapse. The Nicarao settled throughout western Nicaragua, inhabiting Rivas, Jinotega, Chinandega, Nueva Segovia, Masaya, Carazo, Madriz, Matagalpa, Esteli, Leon, Granada and Managua. In addition the Nicarao controlled Tiger Lagoon, Lake Managua, Lake Cocibolca, and the islands of Ometepe and Zapatera in Lake Nicaragua. Both Ometepe and Zapatera were sacred to the Nicarao.
The Nicarao also settled in Bagaces, Costa Rica after displacing the Huetar people, Chibchan speakers already living in the region, resulting in conflict between Nahuas and Huetares that lasted until Spanish arrival.
The Nicarao referred to western Nicaragua as Nicānāhuac, which means "here lies Anahuac" in Nahuat and is a combination of the words Nican (here), and Ānāhuac, which in turn is a combination of the words atl "water" and nahuac, a locative meaning "surrounded". Therefore, the literal translation of Nicanahuac is "here surrounded by water". This was a geographical endonym that referred to the large bodies of water that surrounded the land the Nicarao inhabited: the Pacific Ocean, lakes Nicaragua and Xolotlan, and the many rivers and lagoons. Similarly, the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan was also surrounded by water, which they referred to as Cemanahuac.Schroeder, Susan; Wood, Stephanie; Haskett, Robert Stephen. Indian Women of Early Mexico This establishes a linguistic, ethnic, and cultural connection between pre-Columbian Mexico and Nicaragua.
As a Mesoamerican people, the Nicarao shared many blended cultural traits with other Indigenous belief systems and maintained the Toltec version of the Mesoamerican calendar, similar pottery and effigies, similar organizational treaties, the use of screenfold books, the worship of a high god and closely-related sky gods, nagual mysticism, the practice of animal and tonal spirituality, and expertise in medical practice.
History
According to tradition, the Nicaraos migrated from their ancestral homeland, which they referred to as Nahuatlan, meaning "land of Nahuas" or "place of intelligible speech". After Nahuatlan collapsed, they were commanded by Tloquenahuaque to travel south until they found a lake with two volcanoes rising out of the water. After the Nicarao split from the Pipils and migrated further south, they stopped when they reached Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America, which contains two volcanoes on Ometepe.Los Indios precolombinos de Nicaragua y Costa Rica en los siglos XV y XVI, 2009 - Bolaños, EnriqueHistoria de la Gran Nicoya en el sur de Mesoamérica, Jiménez-Santana 1997
After the Nicarao arrived into what is now western Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica, they seized most of the fertile lands in the area through warfare, and displaced many neighboring peoples, most of which were cultures belonging to the Isthmo-Colombian Area, including the Cacaoperas, and Huetares, but also Mesoamerican peoples, including the Chorotegas, who are Otomanguean. The Nahua chiefdoms of Kwawkapolkan and Kakawatan sent their armies as far north as Carazo during their wars against the Chorotegas, and as far south as the Nicoya Peninsula and southern Guanacaste during their military campaigns against the Kingdom of Nicoya and the Huetares.Ibarra Rojas, 1994
Furthermore, the chiefdom of Tekwantepek invaded Matagalpa and Boaco to pillage, enslave, and displace the Cacaoperas and Mayangnas from their lands. Tekwantepek also performed human sacrifice on Cacaopera and Mayangna prisoners of war in addition to selling their women as slaves and prostitutes for 100 cacao beans and five cacao beans, respectively.Historia general y natural de las Indias, islas y tierra-firme del mar océano; por el Capitán Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés; Primer Cronista del Nuevo Mundo; publícala la Real Academia de la Historia.- Tomo IV. Libro XLII. Capitulo XIII.Ibarra Rojas, 1994, p. 236
Although the Nicarao displaced rival peoples through warfare, they also developed trade relations with smaller peoples, maintaining hegemony over western Nicaragua through military superiority, cultural dominance, their large population, and commerce. Despite their lack of political unity, the armies of the Nicarao chiefdoms shared a warrior tradition and shared a pattern of standard military equipment. Nicarao warriors were equipped with long and thick padded cotton armor that extended down to their thighs and knees, protective headgear, medium to large shields, spears, atlatls, bow and arrows, clubs edged with stone blades, knives and daggers with obsidian blades, and macanas, a wooden sword edged with obsidian blades similar to the Aztec macuahuitl. Furthermore, Nicarao troops were rationed cacao, which could be added to water, a policy providing extra sustainability. Cacao water kept warriors vigilant, focused, and energetic due to its caffeine content, which gave them an advantage in battle.Indios precolombinos de Nicaragua y Costa Rica en los siglos XV y XVI, 2009 - Bolaños, Enrique
In addition, non-Nahua minorities lived and thrived within several Nahua chiefdoms alongside the Nahua majority, such as the Chibchan-speaking minorities in Kwawkapolkan and Kakawatan, and the Chibcha and Otomanguean-speaking minorities in Masatepek. The military forces of Kwawkapolkan and Kakawatan were also unifying entities under a somewhat diverse population of Nahuas and Chibchas. Military service provided social advancement and assimilation, which resulted in Chibchan troops serving alongside their Nahua counterparts in the chiefdoms armed forces to further integrate into Nahua society. The Nicarao cultivation of potatoes also suggests cultural diffusion from the Chibchans, as the latter introduced potatoes from South America. Furthermore, many Chibchan peoples across the Intermediate Area were heavily influenced by the Nicaraos, such as their adoption of the Nahua pantheon, and their ability to speak Nawat, which was documented by Conquistadores. This shows that despite being divided into multiple polities and being surrounded by peoples of the Isthmo-Colombian Area, the Nicarao shared great cultural, economic, religious, and political influence across southern Mesoamerica and the Isthmo-Colombian regions.
In 1501, after Ahuitzotl, tlahtoāni of Tenochtitlan, sent pochtecas to explore and establish relations with other peoples of Central America, trade relations developed between the Mexica and the Nicarao. Commercial exchange between Tenochtitlan and the chiefdoms of Nicanahuac continued to flourish after Moctezuma II ascended to the throne of Tenochtitlan as Mexica merchants traded and thrived within Nicarao territory.
Language and etymology Although they are Nahuas, they're erroneously known by the exonym "Nicarao", which was not what the Nahuas of Nicaragua called themselves as it was a term imposed on them by the conquistadors, in addition to the fact that the letter "r" does not exist in the Nawat language. They are sometimes referred to as Nicanahuacanos (people of Nicanahuac) by Nicaraguan historians. The etymology of the term "Nicarao" most likely originated as a shortened and hispanicized form of "Nicānāhuac", the name used by the Nicaraos to refer to western Nicaragua. This is evident in the Spaniards use of the root Nica in "Nicarao" which derives from Nahuatl Nican.
Out of all the Central American dialects of Nawat, the dialect spoken by the Nicarao was found to be the most similar to central-Mexican Nahuatl. Furthermore, both Salvadoran and Nicaraguan Nawat were found to be closely related to Nawat from Chiapas. It is also evident that the Nicarao were able to understand Nahuatl, as the Spaniards were able to communicate with Nicaraos they encountered in Nahuatl through their Tlaxcallan translators. Nahuatl was used as a lingua franca at that time because many Indigenous groups in Mesoamerica could speak Nahuatl. This culminated an environment where different Indigenous groups with unintelligible languages could communicate with each other.
The Nawat language went extinct in Nicaragua in the late 1800s, and was last spoken on Ometepe Island and in the departments of Rivas and Masaya.
Chiefdoms and political organization Nicarao society was subdivided into social classes of nobles, commoners, slaves, and war captives. Nicarao government structures consisted of caciques (teyte or calachuni), councils (nonexico) of elders (guegue), and captains general who were local rulers subordinate to the cacique, responsible for collecting tribute and enforcing the orders of the cacique. There were military captains called tapaligue.
According to Spanish conquistadors Gil González Dávila and Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, who was also a historian, the Nicarao had multiple chiefdoms that were independent from one another.Vida de González Dávila, Gil. Ávila, c. 1480 – 21.IV.1526. Descubridor y conquistador. et al., 2012 In addition, although these chiefdoms shared the same language, culture, and ethnicity, they were never unified under a single political entity as Kuskatan was in present-day El Salvador. Kwawkapolkan Kakawatan Masatepek Tekwantepek Shilutepek Teswatan Chinantan
The most powerful Nahua chiefdom was Kwawkapolkan, which means "place of capulín trees" in Nawat and was ruled by Macuilmiquiztli. It is a combination of the Nawat words Kwawit (tree), kapolin (capulín), and -kan (a locative meaning "place of"). Kwawkapolkan was also the southernmost Nahua chiefdom that extended from Rivas down to Bagaces in central Guanacaste in Costa Rica. Kwawkapolkan bordered its ally Kakawatan in Rivas, the Kingdom of Nicoya which was a powerful Mesoamerican civilization in the Nicoya Peninsula, and smaller Chibcha peoples in other parts of Rivas as well as the Huetares and Voto people of northern Costa Rica.