Masaya (volcano)
| Volcán Masaya (Masaya Volcano) | ||
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 View into the Santiago crater of the volcano |
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| height | 635 m | |
| location | Nicaragua | |
| Mountains | Central American volcanic belt | |
| Coordinates | 11 ° 59 ′ 0 ″ N , 86 ° 9 ′ 0 ″ W | |
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| Type | Stratovolcano | |
| Age of the rock | about 2500 years | |
| Last eruption | 2017 | |
The volcano Masaya is surrounded by 6 by 11 km wide Masaya- Caldera and near the eponymous town in Nicaragua . It is located in the Masaya Volcano National Park .
The name that the indigenous population gave the volcano is Popogatepe , the Nahuatl name for burning mountain (see Popocatépetl ). He was worshiped by them in the pre-Columbian era, and his eruptions were seen as signs of angry gods . Because of this, the local population made human sacrifices to him , often small children or virgins .
The Spanish conquistadors named the volcano La Boca del Infierno (Hell's Throat). To ward off the devil , they placed a cross at the edge of the crater in the 16th century , which was named La Cruz de Bobadilla in honor of the church father Francisco Bobadilla .
Many European conquerors searched the area of the volcano for gold ; Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo (1529) and Friar Blas del Castillo (1538) were among the unsuccessful seekers .
When the Masaya erupted in 1772 (the last of the actual Masaya crater), the lava flowed like a river into the area that is now called Piedra Quemada (burned stone).
It is possible that political opponents were thrown into the crater by the Sandinista during the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza Debayle and after the end of the dictatorship his henchmen . During the dictatorship, the nearby fortress of Coyotepe was used as a torture prison, from which inmates were sometimes flown to the volcano in helicopters. How many people were thrown into the crater, by whom and under what circumstances is unknown. The incumbent President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, does not want the history to be dealt with.
The bee Anthophora squammulosa settles on the volcano in an environment that is hostile to life due to sulfur dioxide , acid rain and ash.
Original map by Karl Albert Ludwig von Seebach from the museum at the Masaya-Nindiri volcano
Masaya volcano (crater)
Web links
- Masaya in the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Boris Herrmann: The dark secrets of Masaya . In: Tages-Anzeiger , December 26, 2017, accessed on December 27, 2017
- ^ Devi Shastri: This bee lives on the edge — of an active volcano. In: Science . 2016, doi : 10.1126 / science.aag0711 .