page_title: Economic history of Nicaragua
hierarchical_section_title: Economic history of Nicaragua
caption_attribution_description: Jaime and Kaivin Ruiz working on a coffee plantation in Nicaragua. Trócaire's 2006 Lent campaign focused on the issue of child labour. (Photo: Simon Burch)
context_page_description: The first Spanish explorers of Nicaragua found a well-developed agrarian society in the central highlands and Pacific lowlands. The rich volcanic soils produced a wide array of products, including beans, peppers, corn, cocoa, and cassava. Agricultural land was held communally, and each community had a central marketplace for trading and distributing food.
  The arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century destroyed, for all intents and purposes, the indigenous agricultural system. The early conquistadors were interested primarily in gold; European diseases and forced work in the gold mines decimated the native population. Some small areas continued to be cultivated at the end of the 16th century, but most previously tilled land reverted to jungle. By the early 17th century, cattle raising, along with small areas of corn and cocoa cultivation and forestry, had become the primary function of Nicaragua's land. Beef, hides, and tallow were the colony's principal exports for the next two and a half centuries.
caption: Nicaraguan children working on a Coffee plantation in 2006
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