Ocotal

Ocotal La Sultana del Norte
—  Municipality  —
Ocotoal in 1988
Ocotal Location in Nicaragua
Coordinates: 13°38′N 86°29′W
Country	Nicaragua
Department	Nueva Segovia Department
Area
• Total	32.9 sq mi (85.23 km2)
Population (2000)
• Total	31,932

Ocotal is the capital of the Nueva Segovia Department in Nicaragua, Central America.

Description

Ocotal is the capital of the Nueva Segovia Department in Nicaragua with light industry and crafts. The main agricultural production is coffee. The city, which has a population of 31,932 , is located in a valley. The name comes from the native language word for pine resin, due to the local abundant pine ocote.

Administration

There are nine barrios or neighbourhoods, Sandino, Roberto Gómez, Noel Wheelock, Nora Astorga, Pueblos Unidos, Anexo a Laura Sofía, El Zamora, Laura Sofía, and Monseñor Madriga.

Within ocotal there are 10 Municipal zones containing 22 Administrative areas

Zone 1 José Santos Duarte Yelba María Antunez	Zone 3 Danilo Ponce Laura Sofía Olivas	Zone 5 Augusto C. Sandino	Zone 7 Leonardo Matute, Ramón A. López Carlos Jarquín Lacayo Farfan	Zone 9 Hermanos Zamora
Zone 2 Nicarao, Santa Ana Anexo Laura Sofía Olivas Nora Astorga|	Zone 4 José S. Rodríguez	Zone 6 Teodoro López Nuevo Amanecer	Zone 8 Monseñor Madrigal	Zone 10 Noel Wheelock, Cristo de Rosario 26 de Septiembre Roberto Gómez

Geography

Characterized by steep hills in the north and south, plateaus in the west and a valley in the center. It lies at an altitude of 500m above sea level.

History

In 1927, Ocotal suffered one of the first dive bombing attacks in history. Ocotal is the same city that was founded by Spanish colonialists in 1543, with the name Nueva Segovia.

During the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis, ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya set up a government-in-exile in the city briefly in July during reconciliation negotiations with coup leaders.

Sport

Ocotal has a well known soccer team known as Deportivo Ocotal

Twin towns

Ocotal is twinned with Swindon, United Kingdom, with Hartford, Connecticut, United States, and with Wiesbaden, Germany

Gallery

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  A street in Ocotal

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  View looking down the large set of steps in Ocotal

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Map

A map of Ocotal is being created by the Openstreetmap project here

External references

• Radio Segovia
• Videos in Spanish and some English of Ocotal with links to the surrounding areas
• Brief outline of Ocotal 1999
• Swindon-Ocotal, History of Nicaragua and Ocotal from Twin town Swindon
• Battle of Ocotal
• Battle of Ocotal from Nicanews
• Groundwater study. Includes geography and history (.pdf)
• Home page of Deportivo Ocotal (in Spanish)
• Detailed information on the Sandino Rebellion, includes reports from the battle at Ocotal
• Nicaraguan Expat site
• More information on the central park (Spanish)
• La Gruta de la Virgen de Guadalupe - Ocotal, Nicaragua
• Urban planning - Hurricane Mitch
• Hurricane Mitch
• Report on Landmines Nicaragua page 123