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12°12′N85°19′W / 12.200°N 85.317°W /12.200; -85.317
TheAmerrisque Mountains (Spanish:Serranías de Amerrisque, Cordillera de Amerrisque) are the central spine ofNicaragua and part of the Central American Range which extends throughout central Nicaragua for about 700 km (430 mi) fromHonduras in the northwest toCosta Rica in the southwest, just a few miles from theCaribbean. The Amerrisques also are known as Cordillera Chontaleña at their central range. Its coordinates are 12°12'0" N and 85°19'0" W in DMS (degrees minutes seconds) or 12.2 and -85.3167 (in decimal degrees) and is 329 meters above sea level.[1]
Amerrique is the Mayan name of the mountains betweenJuigalpa and Libertad in theChontales Department in Nicaragua; these mountains separateLake Nicaragua from theMosquito Coast. TheMayan nameAmerrique signifies "the country of the wind", "the country where the wind blows constantly". The range is named after the Amerrisque tribe, who are fast fading away. It is supposed that the Amerrisques were once powerful, but very little is known concerning them. The decay of their speech went on for a long time before contact with Europeans, and the name by which the people and the mountains are now known is, not improbably, the bare remnant of the original word, which may very well have been something likeAmerristiquiqque, shortened successively toAmerristique andAmerrisque.[2]
As Nicaragua's divide, the Amerrisques contain some high peaks such as Pataste (1736 m) in Madriz Region, Quiabuc (1604 m) in Estelí Region, and Chagüite (1345 m) in Matagalpa Region. At the same time, they are the source of many rivers such as the Segovia (775 km), the Siquia-Escondido (207 km), while crisscrossed by rivers born at other ranges such as the Grande (500 km), the Viejo (209 km), etc. The range also separates the Great LakesXolotlán andCocibolca in Western Nicaragua, from the Mosquito Coast in Eastern Nicaragua.
The Amerrisques boast a rich flora, due to their latitude and altitude, which ranges from sub-alpine, by Honduras, to tropical, by Costa Rica. Species range from unique regionals such asmadroño,espavel, andchilamate to North American species such as pine, oak, sweetgum, and terebinth, and South Americans such as gumtree, mahogany, and rosewood.
The fauna includes mountain lions, coyotes, ocelots; deer, guatusas, tapirs; anteaters, armadillos, quetzals; guardabarrancos, toucans, harpy eagles; great owls, roadrunners, rattlesnakes; corals, fer-de-lance, etc. While the northern parts of the range are pine or oak-clad, the central parts sport dry-to-rainy forests and cattle ranching. The southern heights are covered in thick jungles along the San Juan River.
Some important cities located at the feet of the Amerrisques includeEstelí (210,000), a cultural and manufacturing center, andJuigalpa (110,000), a cattle ranching area.
InTradiciones peruanas (1872), the Peruvian writerRicardo Palma mentioned his belief that theetymology of America derived from the mountains of Amerrique. Without citing the source from which he obtained the information, he affirmed that "the name America circulated by oral tradition among the men of Columbus."[citation needed]
The English geologist and naturalistThomas Belt, in his bookThe Naturalist in Nicaragua (1874), also suggested that the etymology of America came from the Amerrisque range.
The French-American geologistJules Marcou, in his workNouvelles Recherches sur l'Origine du Nom d'Amérique (first published: Paris, 1875), accepted and supported the thesis on the origin of the nameAmerica by Belt, who had served as engineer to the Compañía Minera de Chontales between 1868 and 1871 in the gold deposits of Santo Domingo, San Benito, and San Antonio.[3][4][5]
TheEnciclopedia universal ilustrada europeo-americana (Barcelona, 1907), volume 38, page 537, suggests that Columbus may have heard the nameAmerrisque from theRama people, who lived near the present-dayBluefields (inRama Cay), and who had probably originated farther up theEscondido River, perhaps at its sources in Amerrisque.
The Nicaraguan archaeologist Jorge Espinosa also expressed that the Amerrisques gave their name to the Western Hemisphere, although he based his thesis, for the University of Louisiana, on historical maps drawn byJohn Cabot in 1497, where the nameAmerrisque already appears five years beforeChristopher Columbus set foot in Nicaragua in 1502.[6][better source needed]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.marcou 1875 société de géographie nouvelles recherches sur l'origine du nom d'amerique.
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