El Castillo (municipality)
El Castillo on the map of Nicaragua
El Castillo is a town in the department of Río San Juan - the smallest in terms of population departments - in the southeast of the Central American country Nicaragua.
Geography
El Castillo is located on the right bank of the Río San Juan, which rises in Lake Nicaragua and empties into the Caribbean Sea. The city lies about 43 km in a straight line southeast of San Carlos is the capital of the department and about 250 kilometers southeast of the capital, Managua. The size of the district is 1656 km ².
The climate is tropical and the annual rainfall varies 2800-4000 mm. The mean annual temperature is about 25 ° C. El Castillo is surrounded by tropical rainforest and the humidity is therefore very high.
Direct to El Castillo, the Río San Juan on numerous rapids. The most powerful of them was called by the Indians Raudal del Diablo.
History
The foundation of the city dates back to the construction of a fortress built by the Spanish conquistadors in 1672 on the banks of the Río San Juan to protect the city of Granada on Lake Nicaragua from the constant raids by pirates and English ships. The Castillo de la Inmaculada Concepción del Río San Juan, which gave the town its name (Spanish Castillo means castle ), is still the main attraction of the place.
In 1762 the fort was successfully defended against the attempt to conquer the English troops who had allied himself with the Caribbean Sea.
1780 beleaguered British Expeditionary Force under the command of Horatio Nelson the fort and after hard fighting succeeded this on April 24, to take the fortress. Nelson was at this time already on the way back to England, as he had probably infected with yellow fever. The remaining first victorious British troops were decimated by diseases. They finally had to pull off and the whole enterprise failed.
Population
The municipality ( municipality ) of El Castillo had loud 2005 census, according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos of Nicaragua 19,864 inhabitants, where 2,834 people were counted in the urban area of the municipality.
Economy
In the past, the trade in tropical timber from high economic significance for the city was. Today is the trade in agricultural products, especially corn and bananas, an important revenue sources. In addition, certain cocoa is grown for export. 2006 were revived and expanded large-scale palm plantations for the production of palm oil through a loan from the DEG to the plantation society PALCASA.
Controversy
Environmentalists like the Nicaraguans Saúl Obregón, or the German Organisation eV Save the rainforest and cooperatives of local cocoa farmers throw PALCASA ago not to keep on their plantations environmental and social standards. Cocoa farmers have been supported in the past by the German Society for International Cooperation ( GIZ). A German consulting firm which was commissioned by DEG, confirmed 2010, many accusations, such as water pollution, illegal logging and trade union repression. Also the adjacent biosphere reserve " Indio Maiz " could be jeopardized.
Traffic
From outside the site (2011 ) is only with small boats ( locally called pangas ) accessible on the Río San Juan. From San Carlos a boat trip takes about two hours. Next, there are three times a week for boats downstream to Greytown / San Juan de Nicaragua, and vice versa.
Attractions
The fortress of El Castillo de la Inmaculada Concepción ( Completion: 1675), extends in a rectangular shape with its four corner towers - with the names of Santa Bárbara, Santa Teresa, Santa Rosa and Santa Ana - over a length of 49 by 20 meters. The fort is a historical landmark of Nicaragua, where currently in a museum and a library.