Nicaraguans (Spanish: Nicaragüenses; also called Nicas) are people inhabiting in, originating or having significant heritage from Nicaragua.

DNA studies show that most western Nicaraguans (whites and mestizos) descend from Europeans (mostly Spanish, Italian,[3][4][5] and Portuguese) and an Indigenous combination of Nahua, Otomanguean, and Chibcha ancestry.

This is further evident in the Chibcha minorities that lived and thrived within the Nahua chiefdoms of Kwawkapolkan, Kakawatan, and Masatepek in modern-day Rivas and Masaya.

[11][12] Genetic studies show that eastern Nicaraguans mostly descend from shipwrecked African slaves who intermarried and mixed with the Indigenous peoples of Caribbean Nicaragua (creating the Miskito Sambu, an ethnic group of Zambos), and British colonizers who ruled the Caribbean coasts of Nicaragua and Honduras for roughly 225 years.

[13][14] The black Nicaraguans in the Caribbean coast are mostly of West Indian (Antillean) origin, the descendants of slaves brought mostly from Jamaica when the region was a British protectorate.

Data from the CIA World Factbook estimates that Nicaragua's population is around 69% Mestizos, and 17% White, with the majority being of full Spanish descent as well as Italian, German, or French ancestry.

Nicaragua's central region and the Caribbean coast were inhabited by indigenous peoples who were also Chibcha-related groups that had migrated from South America, primarily what is today Colombia and Venezuela.

The black population is mostly of West Indian (Antillean) origin, the descendants of indentured laborers brought mostly from Jamaica when the region was a British protectorate.

In particular, families from Spain, Germany, Italy, France and Belgium generally moved to Nicaragua to start a new life.

They received free land, monetary incentives, and other perks in exchange for populating unsettled territories and working in the new growing coffee industry.

Unlike other Latin American countries, Nicaraguan migrants' primary destination is not the United States, it is Costa Rica.

An estimate 9% (more than 385,899) of the Costa Rican population is made up of Nicaraguans;[19] some of them migrate for seasonal work opportunities and then return to their country.

In the northern part of Costa Rica there are 287,766 Nicaraguans and the Catholic Church in this area has an active program to protect the rights of migrant workers.

[21] The earliest documents of immigration from Nicaragua to the United States was combined in total with those of other Central American countries.

[25] The largest concentration of Nicaraguan Americans in the United States, about 79,559, is in Miami, Florida, most notably around the areas of Sweetwater and "Little Managua".

However, within three decades an estimated Indian population of one million plummeted to a few tens of thousands, as approximately half of the indigenous people in western Nicaragua died of diseases brought by the Spaniards.

The central region and the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua were inhabited by indigenous peoples who were mostly Chibcha-related groups that had migrated from South America, primarily what is now Colombia and Venezuela.

These groups include the present-day Miskitos, Ramas and Sumos who lived a less sedentary life based on hunting and gathering, as well as fishing and performing slash-and-burn agriculture.

[23] However, nearly all of the estimated 200,000 Nicaraguans who fled to the United States (and other nearby Central American countries) between 1978 and 1979 returned after the victory of the Sandinistas in 1979.

Its culture is similar to that of Caribbean nations that were or are British possessions, such as Jamaica, Belize, The Cayman Islands, and the Mosquito Coast of Honduras.

The Atlantic coast of Nicaragua is known for a lively, sensual form of dance music called Palo de Mayo which is very much alive all throughout the country.

Nicaraguan literature has historically been an important source of poetry in the Spanish-speaking world, with internationally renowned contributors such as Rubén Darío who is regarded as the most important literary figure in Nicaragua, referred to as the "Father of Modernism" for leading the modernismo literary movement at the end of the 19th century.

[32] Other literary figures include Ernesto Cardenal, Gioconda Belli, Claribel Alegría and José Coronel Urtecho, among others.

It is regarded as one of Latin America's most distinctive colonial-era expressions and as Nicaragua's signature folkloric masterpiece combining music, dance and theater.

[32] The theatrical play was written by an anonymous author in the 16th century, making it one of the oldest indigenous theatrical/dance works of the Western Hemisphere.

In Nicaragua the Voseo form is common, just as in other countries in Central and South America like Honduras, Argentina, Uruguay or coastal Colombia.