Total area: 129,494 km2
land area: 120,254 km2

Comparative area: slightly larger than New York State

Land boundaries: 1,231 km total
Costa Rica 309 km, Honduras 922 km

Coastline: 910 km

Maritime claims: @m5Continental shelf: 200 meters depth
@m5Territorial sea: 200 nm

Disputes: territorial disputes with Colombia over the Archipelago de San Andres y Providencia and Quita Sueno Bank; Sandinista regime fighting armed opposition known as the Nicaraguan Resistance or @m5Contras--a shortened form of @m5contrarrevolucionarios or counterrevolutionaries

Climate: tropical in lowlands, cooler in highlands

Terrain: extensive Atlantic coastal plains rising to central interior mountains; narrow Pacific coastal plain interrupted by volcanoes

Natural resources: gold, silver, copper, tungsten, lead, zinc, timber, fish

Land use: 9% arable land; 1% permanent crops; 43% meadows and pastures; 35% forest and woodland; 12% other; including 1% irrigated

Environment: subject to destructive earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and occasional severe hurricanes; deforestation; soil erosion; water pollution

NOTE: The information regarding Nicaragua on this page is re-published from the 1989 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Nicaragua Geography 1989 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Nicaragua Geography 1989 should be addressed to the CIA.