GREYTOWN (SAN JUAN DEL NORTE)

This article appears in Volume V12, Page 592 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: GRA-GUI

GREYTOWN (SAN JUAN DEL NORTE) , the

principal

PRINCIPAL

seaport on the Caribbean

coast

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

Nicaragua

NICARAGUA

, in the extreme

south

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

-eastern corner of the republic, and at the mouth of the northern channel of the San Juan river

delta

DELTA (from the shape of the Gr. letter A, delta, originally used of the mouth of the Nile)

. Pop. (1905) about 2500. The townoccupies the seaward side of a narrow peninsula, formed by the windings of the river. Most of its houses are raised on piles 2 or 3 ft. above the ground. The neighbourhood is unhealthy and unsuited for agriculture, so that almost all food-stuffs must be imported, and the cost of living is high. Greytown has suffered severely from the

accumulation

ACCUMULATION (from Lat. accumulare, to heap up)

of sand in its once fine harbour. Between 1832 and 1848 Point Arenas, the seaward end of the peninsula, was enlarged by a sandbank more than 1 m.

long

LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

; between 1850 and 1875 the depth of water over the bar decreased from about 25 ft. to 5 ft., and the entrance channel, which had been nearly zm. wide, was almost closed. Subsequent attempts to improve the harbour by dredging and building jetties have only had partial success; but Greytown remains the headquarters of Nicaraguan commerce with Europe and eastern America. The

village

VILLAGE

called America, 1 m. N., was built as the eastern terminus of a proposed interoceanic canal.
The harbour of San Juan, discovered by Columbus, was brought into further notice by Captain Diego Machuca, who in 1529 sailed down the river from Lake

Nicaragua

NICARAGUA

. The date of the first Spanish

settlement

SETTLEMENT
SETTLEMENT, ACT OF

on the spot is not known, but in the 17th century there were fortifications at the mouth of the river. In 1796 San Juan was made a port of entry by royal charter, and new defences were erected in 1821. In virtue of the protectorate claimed by

Great

GREAT

Britain over the Mosquito

Coast

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

(q.v.), the Mosquito Indians, aided by a British force, seized the town in 1848 and occupied it until 186o, when

Great

GREAT

Britain ceded its protectorate to Nicaragua by the treaty of Managua. This treaty secured religious liberty and trial by jury for all civil and criminal charges in Greytown; its seventh article declared the port free, but was never enforced;

End of Article: GREYTOWN (SAN JUAN DEL NORTE)

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