Nicaragua is a nation in Central America. It is located about midway between Mexico and Colombia, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. Nicaragua ranges from the Caribbean Sea on the nation's east coast, and the Pacific Ocean bordering the west. Nicaragua also possesses a series of islands and cays located in the Caribbean Sea.
The etymology of Nicaragua is Nicānāhuac, which was the name the Nicaraos, a Nawat-speaking people, referred to their land located in present-day western Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica.[1][2][3][4] It means "here lies Anahuac" in Nahuatl and is a combination of the words "Nican" (here),[5] 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".[6][7][8][9][10][11] It is a geographical endonym that refers to the large bodies of water surrounding the land the Nicaraos inhabited, the Pacific Ocean, lakes Nicaragua and Xolotlan, and the rivers and lagoons.[12][13][14] In addition it fits the theory that the etymology references bodies of water inside the country.