Granada is one of the most photogenic cities I've encountered in a while thanks to the beautifully preserved colonial architecture. Unfortunately, for the same reason it's also allegedly the most touristy in all of Nicaragua, and to be sure, there were plenty of other gringos, although it's still less touristy than basically anywhere in Costa Rica. Thank goodness I've been studying Spanish for the past two months, I really don't think it'd be possible to do Nicaragua otherwise.
Granada was first founded in 1524, although it was ransacked so many times none of the original buildings remain. Interestingly it wasn't just pirates doing the ransacking, we Americans had a go at it too. Or rather, an American and also a complete tool by the name of William Walker had a go at it. He was a ballsy Tennessee man who set out to singlehandedly conquer Central America in the 1800s. Starting off in Mexico with minor conquests, he got sponsored by conservative Granada's more liberal rival, Leon, and captured Granada in 1855---all with some doubiously legitimate approval from the U.S. government.
But William Walker got out of hand, essentially appointing himself president of the whole country, trying to invade Costa Rica, and soliciting support for the endeavor from U.S. southern agrarians by calling his regime an attempt to spread black slavery. Walker got royally pwned by the Central American coalition army backed by preexisting American business interests in the region, was forcibly repatriated twice by the U.S. Navy (though he was oddly greeted as a hero upon return to North America), and was finally captured by the British navy, who considered him a threat to their transcontinental canal ambitions. They handed him over to the Honduran government, who summarily executed him by firing squad in 1960.
No comments:
Post a Comment