Cerro Negro is an active volcano in the Cordillera de los Maribios mountain range in Nicaragua, about 10 km (6.2 mi) from the village of Malpaisillo.

It consists of a gravelly basaltic cinder cone, which contrasts greatly with the surrounding verdant hillsides, and gives rise to its name, which means Black Hill.

It is the largest and southernmost of four cinder cones that have formed along a NW-SE trend line in the Cordillera de los Maribios mountain range.

Flank (excentric) vent and radial fissures also explosively erupted, resulting in excessive lava flows.

Evacuations were called for the Malpaisillo village, and major land and property damage resulted from the volcano's explosive eruptions.

Another sub-plinian VEI 3 explosive vulcanian eruption occurred from Cerro Negro's central vent from November 21 to December 17, 1950.

In February 1954 another VEI 2 Strombolian eruption exploded out of Cerro Negro's central vent, but lava and tephra volumes were not recorded.

The volcanic activity from October 23 until December 10, 1968 marked the formation of the Cristo Rey crater, when the summit and south flank of Cerro Negro erupted with a sub-plinian VEI of 3.

Additional larger-scale evacuations Nicaragua's 2nd largest city, León, recorded ash falls of over 1 cm thick.

Ash columns were approximately 10 km high, and a tephra volume of 5.8 x107 m3 (over 300 square kilometers) caused major damage to the local crops and buildings.

Volcanic activity lasted for a total of five days, with the main sub-plinian eruption (VEI 3) occurring over a two-day time period, producing an ash column that was roughly seven kilometers high.

This large tephra volume produced approximately four centimeters of ash across most of León, resulting in many collapsed roofs and additional injuries and fatalities.

These Strombolian eruptions generated convective ash columns that reached heights of 200–1000 meters, and these explosions lasted for a period of 79 days.

During this time, the eruptions were larger, and volcanic bombs and blocks up to two meters in diameter were ejected from Cerro Negro.

Ash falls caused damage to property and farmland, with an average deposit of two millimeters per day in León (~20 km from volcano), but there were no fatalities during the safe evacuation of 6000 people in the surrounding villages.

Small-scale evacuations of surrounding villages were carried out, but the low-volatile, highly crystalline basaltic magma only had a lava volume of 6 x 105 m3.

The most recent eruptions at Cerro Negro occurred in August 1999, although strong seismic activity was registered in early 2004.

Currently, Cerro Negro is being monitored by the Nicaraguan Seismic Network, which is affiliated with INETER (Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales).

Seismic activity, gas concentrations, surface deformation, and temperature fluctuations are all carefully watched in order to mitigate the effects of a possible eruption.

As Cerro Negro lies in a less-populated area of Nicaragua, there is less volcanic risk to human life compared to many of the other volcanoes in the world.

Nevertheless, the eruptions of Cerro Negro have been known to cause catastrophic damage to buildings and farmland, due to the widespread ash falls and tephra fallouts.