Le�n, Nicaragua

Le�n is a city in Nicaragua, Central America, located at 12.43�North, 86.89�West. In full the legal name of the city, granted in Spanish Colonial times, is Santiago de los Caballeros de Le�n, but this is little used. It is the capital of Nicaragua's Le�n Department. As of 2003 the city had an estimated population of about 163,000 people.

Le�n is situated on the Le�n River, some 50 miles northwest of Managua, and some 11 miles north of the Pacific Ocean coast. Although less populous than Managua, Le�n has long been the intellectual center of the nation, with the University founded here in 1813. Le�n is also an important industrial and commercial center for Nicaragua.

The first city of Le�n in Nicaragua was established in 1523 by Francisco Fernandez de Cordoba about 20 miles east of the present site; this old Le�n was severly damaged by an eruption of the volcano Momotombo, and so the city was moved to its present location, which had been a Native American town named Subtiaba'.

Le�n has fine examples of Spanish Colonial architecture, including the grand Cathedral of San Pedro, built from 1706 to 1740, with two towers added in 1746 and 1779.

When Nicaragua withdrew from the United States of Central America in 1839, Le�n became the capital of the new nation of Nicagagua. For some years the capital shifted back and forth between Le�n and Granada, Nicaragua, with Liberal regemes prefering Le�n and Conservative ones Granada, until as a compromise Managua was agreed upon to be the permanent capital in 1858.

In 1950 the city of Le�n had a population of 31,000 people.