Sébaco is a town and a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...

in the

Matagalpa Matagalpa () is a city in Nicaragua which is the capital of the department of Matagalpa. The city has a population of 111,258 (2021 estimate),department of

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to ...

. Situated at the junction of the

Pan-American Highway The Pan-American Highway (french: (Auto)route panaméricaine/transaméricaine; pt, Rodovia/Auto-estrada Pan-americana; es, Autopista/Carretera/Ruta Panamericana) is a network of roads stretching across the Americas and measuring about in ...

and the Rio Grande de Matagalpa, Sébaco is the largest city of the

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

Sébaco Valley, one of the most fertile areas in Nicaragua. From Sébaco, vegetable fields extend beyond the horizon when looking west. Five kilometres north of the city, a highway branches east from the Pan-American towards the city of

Matagalpa Matagalpa () is a city in Nicaragua which is the capital of the department of Matagalpa. The city has a population of 111,258 (2021 estimate),King Charles I of Spain Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (Crown of Castile, Castil ...

named the area "The Very Noble City of Sébaco" by decree. In 2006 the National Assembly of Nicaragua officially named the city Sébaco.

Geography

Sébaco is located in one of the largest and most fertile valleys of the Nicaraguan interior, approximately 103 kilometers from the capital,

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicara ...

. Its territory is crossed by two major rivers: the Old River, which runs north to south through the center of Sébaco Valley, and is a source of hydroelectric power; and the Rio Grande de Matagalpa, which runs from the east to the South West. These two rivers provide irrigation for the vegetables and grain produced in the valley. The largest underground lake in the world is situated underneath this valley. According to legend, the lake formed when a volcano to the south was going to explode, but a priest, guided by his faith, planted a cross on top of the mountain and the volcano subsided. Current studies show the hill contains plentiful amounts of water which travel from the slopes and form springs miles away from the river.

Education

Today there are many schools in and around the municipality, including preschools, kindergartens, and elementary schools. Secondary and higher education include: Ruben Baltodano Light Baptist School of Truth and Life (ACIBEN), Ruben Dario Secondary Care, Colegio San Luis Gonzaga, Lily of the Valley, Eddy Alonso Institute (INEA), and the National University College of North (UNN).

Tourism

Sébaco is visited by people who want to shop in malls and shops with goods from all over the Americas. Sébaco has museums that have exhibits in pre-Columbian art as well as art from the colonial period. The valley's natural environment also attracts tourists.

Etymology

The name Sébaco originates from the

Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...

language, coatl cihuatl, which means snake woman. Coatl Cihuatl was also the Aztec goddess of fertility and agriculture. When the Spanish arrived in the area, they were unable to pronounce the original name of this town, and over time the pronunciation became Sébaco.

History

Previously, Sébaco was an important ceremonial center of the goddess, Coatl Cihuatl. It was also the center of an important Chiefdom, known as Cihuatl Coatl or Chontales, which was composed of parts of the current departments of Nueva Segovia, Madriz,

Estelí Estelí (), officially Villa de San Antonio de Pavia de Estelí is a city and municipality within the Estelí department. It is the 3rd largest city in Nicaragua due to the high urbanization of its municipality, at 83%, with an urban population o ...

Matagalpa Matagalpa () is a city in Nicaragua which is the capital of the department of Matagalpa. The city has a population of 111,258 (2021 estimate),Jinotega Jinotega () (derived from Náhuatl: ''Xiotenko'' ‘place next to the jiñocuajo trees’) is the capital city of the Department of Jinotega in north-central Nicaragua. The city is located in a long valley surrounded by the cool climate and D ...

Boaco Boaco () is the capital city and a municipality of the Boaco Department of Nicaragua. The municipality of Boaco has a population of 62,936 (2021 est.) and an area of 1,087 km2 (26% of the Boaco Department) while the department (state) is 4,17 ...

, Chontales and Río San Juan. Sébaco was discovered by the Spaniard Gabriel Rojas de Córdoba in 1525, while he was looking for the outlet of

Lake Managua Lake Managua ( es, Lago de Managua, ), also known as Lake Xolotlán (), is a lake in Nicaragua. At 1,042 km², it is approximately long and wide. Similarly to the name of Lake Nicaragua, its other name comes from the Nahuatl language, possi ...

. Sébaco quickly became the center of all Spanish military operations and evangelization for northern Nicaragua and southern Honduras. The area witnessed an influx of people in 1833. With the

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...

of the Pan American Highway in the 1950s, the municipality began to extend over much of the valley. Today it is one of the most populated areas in northern Nicaragua, and one of the largest producers of rice, beans and onions in Central America.

External links

*
Guide on Sébaco

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sebaco Municipalities of the Matagalpa Department Valleys of North America Landforms of Nicaragua