Matagalpa, Nicaragua

Matagalpa (Spanish pronunciation: [mataˈɣalpa]) is a city in Nicaragua which is the capital of the department of Matagalpa. The city has a population of 109,824 (2020 estimate), while the population of the department is 593,503. Matagalpa is Nicaragua's seventh largest city, the largest in the country's interior, and one of the most commercially active outside of Managua. Matagalpa is the 4th most important city in Nicaragua and is known as the "Pearl of the North" and "Land of Eternal Spring."

According to Jeronimo Perez, a historian who visited this area in 1855–1856 the name Matagalpa means Cabeza Principal (Main Head) or Pueblo Grande (Big Town) from the Matagalpa indigenous language words: Maika=Head, Calpul* Town- But according to the Matagalpan linguist father Guillermo Kiene, a Catholic priest and missionary who lived from 1898 to 1959, the word Matagalpa comes from the Sumo language, and means "let's go where the rocks are."

There have been other descriptions of the word Matagalpa: -Here next to the water, and -Among Mountains ( "Aquí junto al agua" y "Entre Montañas"). These descriptions are believed to be related to the geographic location of the city, which is next to the Grand River of Matagalpa, and also surrounded by mountains.

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