San Juan de Nicaragua
| San Juan de Nicaragua | |
|---|---|
|
Coordinates: 10 ° 55 ′ N , 83 ° 42 ′ W
San Juan de Nicaragua on the map of Nicaragua
|
|
| Basic data | |
| Country | Nicaragua |
| Department | Río San Juan |
| City foundation | 1539 |
| Residents | 275 (2000) |
| Detailed data | |
| surface | 1.762 km 2 |
| Population density | 156 people / km 2 |
| height | 2 m |
| Waters | Río San Juan, Caribbean |
| Time zone | UTC −6 |
San Juan de Nicaragua formerly known as San Juan del Norte and in English Greytown , is a place in the southeast of Nicaragua , in the department of Río San Juan , the associated municipality is since 2002 Greytown .
geography
San Juan de Nicaragua is located on the Caribbean coast in the south of the Miskito coast near the border with Costa Rica . It is located at the confluence of the Río San Juan into the Caribbean. The morphology of the city is shaped by the delta of the Río San Juan, which brings volcanic sediments from Costa Rica , which relocate the port in interaction with ocean currents and winds.
history
Spanish conquistadors reached the mouth of the Río San Juan on June 24, 1539, St. John's Day , which is why the river San Juan and the place at its mouth was named after San Juan del Norte.
In 1541 the governor of Nicaragua Rodrigo Contreras had a fortified garrison with a customs post built as San Juan de la Cruz . In 1707 and 1762 the place was destroyed by Miskitos .
San Juan del Norte belonged to the viceroyalty of New Granada , which split off from Peru in 1739 , and in which a British protectorate of Miskito was established in 1740.
In 1796 the port was declared a free port to promote trade. Puerto de Omoa in Honduras and Puerto de Santo Tomás de Castilla in Guatemala were also free ports .
In 1842 the city experienced rapid growth when it became the eastern port of a transport company for Cornelius Vanderbilt 's Accessory Transit Company . This company transported thousands of travelers from the Atlantic to the Pacific side of Central America every month. They wanted to go to California because of the gold rush . Sailing ships and steamers went to San Juan del Norte via New York and New Orleans. From here they transported ships across the Río San Juan and Lake Nicaragua to Granada (Nicaragua) from there by mules , horses or carriages to Rivas on the Pacific, where ships shuttled between Panama, Rivas and California.
Francisco Ferrera recognized Thomas Lowry Robinson as monarch of the British Protectorate Miskito Coast on December 16, 1843, under pressure from Frederick Chatfield . Advised by Chatfield, in June 1847 Lord Palmerston defined the boundaries of the Kingdom of Misquito , Cabo Gracias a Dios to the north and Río San Juan to the south . The viceroyalty of New Granada was to be kept at a distance by an area on the Chiriqui Lagoon , which was to be added to Costa Rica . When Nicaraguan troops tried to occupy San Juan del Norte at the mouth of the Río San Juan, it was defeated on January 1, 1848 by a British force sent to the governor of Jamaica by Charles Edward Gray . Greytown was named after Gray.
The US also laid claim to the coast. Their demands were based on fears of a privileged position Britain might have taken with regard to the proposed inter-oceanic Nicaragua Canal .
In the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850, the governments of Great Britain and the United States undertook not to colonize or occupy any part of Central America and granted each other the exclusive right to build the Nicaragua Canal.
On March 15, 1854, the ship Routh sailing under the American flag rammed the canoe of a Nicaraguan on the Río San Juan, which sank and the Nicaraguan was killed.
The Greytown police tried to arrest the captain of the US ship, while the passenger, US ambassador Solon Borland , opposed. An angry crowd injured Solon Borland. The US government demanded generously calculated compensation, if the demand was not met within 24 hours, the destruction of San Juan del Norte was threatened. On July 13, 1854, the USS Cyane shelled Greytown and completely destroyed about 80 houses. The bombing of Greytown sparked fierce protests in the US press and internationally. It is considered to be the first bombing of an unfortified coastal city that was clearly condemned internationally as an atrocity of war .
Shortly afterwards the Río San Juan changed its course and the city was destroyed again.
Greytown was rebuilt and in 1855 the filibuster William Walker made himself President of Nicaragua and took control of the Accessory Transit Company branches and revoked their operating licenses. William Walker was evicted by groups supported by Vanderbilt. Walker and his cronies tried again in November 1857 to come to power in Nicaragua. Walker and his filibuster drove into Greytown Harbor and camped on nearby Punta Arenas. There they were encircled by the United States Marine Corps , who arrested Walker.
Vanderbilt closed his company against apanage from his competitors. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company and the United States Mail Steamship Company operated similar routes via Panama, which is why Greytown lost its importance.
The city was formally part of the national territory of Nicaragua and control of the Miskitos was ended in 1860, but it remained in fact under British protectorate. In 1894, José Santos Zelaya incorporated the Miskito Coast into the Nicaraguan national territory, at that time Greytown still had 1,482 inhabitants.
On April 9, 1984, San Juan de Nicaragua was bombed by Contras and occupied by the Arde Contra from April 14 to 17
In 2002 the municipality of San Juan del Norte was renamed by the Nicaraguan parliament in San Juan de Nicaragua and the district capital in Greytown .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ The New York Times March 31, 1854, CHARLES EDWARD GRAY, ex-Governor , embarked in HM screw steamer Devastation
- ^ Richard Warner Van Alstyne (1900 - 1983), American Diplomacy in Action , Stanford University Press
- ↑ Ficha del Municipio Graytown (PDF; 20 kB)
- ↑ New York Times, August 2, 1854 DESTRUCTION OF SAN JUAN The President of the United States, in reply to resolutions heretofore adopted by both Houses
- ↑ New York Times, September 15, 1860, THE GREYTOWN BOMBARDMENT ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. RESPONSIBILITY OF NAVY OFFICERS.pdf
- ↑ Jan Martin Lemnitzer: Atrocities of war at sea in the 19th century in Sönke Neitzel & Daniel Hohrath (eds.): Atrocities of war: The dissolution of violence in armed conflicts from the Middle Ages to the 20th century , Schöningh, Paderborn 2008, ISBN 978-3- 506-76375-4 , p. 80
- ^ New York Times, March 3, 1856, NICARAGUA AND THE FILLIBUSTERS
- ↑ Your countrymen . In: Der Spiegel . No. 18 , 1984 ( online - Apr. 30, 1984 ).
- ^ Time Apr. 30, 1984, Zero "Scores One
