William Walker

One of the reasons Central America is so fascinating is its unlikely history, which I find many times more intriguing than the European equivalence. I try to not fill the blog with too much history however, as you probably wouldn't be bothered to read it, but some of the oddities I am sure you appreciate. This is one of them; the story about Nicaragua and William Walker.

Background
In Nicaragua there were in the colonial times two centres; Granada (dominated by conservatives) and Leon (dominated by liberals). Granada was the rich city of trade and Leon, although very poor, the seat of the political power. This inbalance led to conflicts between the two cities as Leon thought it should have more of the wealth and Granada thought it should have more power. After independence, there was even a civil war (1850s) between Leon and Granada. This finally led to the relocation of the capital to Managua (still the capital city) which then was a little bigger than a standard fishing village. Managua was only chosen because it was located between Leon and Granada.

The merits of William Walker
Mr Walker was an american citizen, obsessed with taking over Central American land. In 1853 he led a group to attack Mexico and after arriving, he declared himself president of the Mexican part of lower California. Mexico later drove him out when he became too irritating.

Walker arrives to Nicaragua
In the middle of the conflict, the liberals of Leon asked William Walker to help them seaze power from Granada. He happily arrived with an invading party to Granada and succeded. He had his own plan however: he rigged elections and had himself elected president. He ruled the country from Granada, changed the official language to English, instituted slavery and adapted the "five or none"-strategy, which set out his ambition to also take over the remaining Central American countries. This caused worries amongst the neighbours and they united in order to attack Granada and managed to drive him out in 1957. He avoided capture by surrending himself to the US Navy and he was sent back to the US.

Why did he not learn his lesson? This was not the last time Walker was in action however. He arrived six months later with another invading party, only to be arrested and deported by the US Navy again. He changed his tactics and landed in 1860 in Honduras, with yet a new invasion. This time he was captured by the British Navy, which turned him over to the local authorities. They showed no mercy and made the process short; he was shot shortly after and is today buries in Trujilly, Honduras.

Nicaragua after Walker
With the record of having invited William Walker to Nicaragua, the Liberals of Leon failed to regain any power for the next 36 years. Walker is also one of reasons to why the capital was moved to Managua.