Nicarao people

The Nicarao people were a Nahuat-speaking Mesoamerican people who migrated from North America and central and southern Mexico over the course of several centuries from approximately 700 CE onwards. Around 1200 CE, the Nicarao split from the Pipil people and moved into what is now Nicaragua. The migration of the Nicarao has been linked to the collapse of the important central-Mexican cities of Teotihuacan and Tula, as well as the Classic Maya collapse. The Nicarao settled in several pockets throughout western Nicaragua, particularly around the western shores of Lake Nicaragua. The Nicarao shared many blended cultural traits with both indigenous North American and Mexican belief systems as well as their Toltec parent tribe, including an identical Toltec calendar, similar organizational treaties, the use of screenfold books, the worship of the Great Spirit and closely related sky deities, Nagual mysticism, and the practice of animal and Tonal spirituality. The Nicarao were first contacted by the Spanish in 1522 CE, initiating the Spanish conquest of Nicaragua. At the time of contact, they were ruled by a cacique that the Spanish called Nicarao, who governed from his capital Quauhcapolca, not far from the modern town of Rivas. At that time, the Nicarao had a sizeable population concentrated in nucleated villages. Within a century of European contact, the Nicarao were effectively dismantled as a tribal Confederation by the Spanish incursion. The Nicarao people migrated south from North America and central and southern Mexico over the course of several centuries from approximately 700 CE onwards. Around 1200 CE, the Nicarao split from the Pipil people and moved into what is now Nicaragua. The beginning of this series of migrations was likely to have been linked to the collapse of the great central-Mexican city of Teotihuacan, and later with the collapse of the Toltec city of Tula. The dating of Nicarao arrival in what is now Nicaragua has also been linked to the Classic Maya collapse, with the cessation of Maya influence in the region, and the rise of cultural traits originating in the Valley of Mexico.