Jinotega
(Xinotencatl)
Nicaragua

Jinotega is the capital of Jinotega Department in the north central region of Nicaragua

Latitude: 13.1° N
Longitude: 86.0° W
Elevation: 3232 ft / 985 m

Jinotega is located in the north central mountains of Nicaragua, 160 kilometers from the capital, Managua. The city is situated in a valley encircled by high mountains, some covered with pine trees and some covered with cloud-covered rain forests. The department of Jinotega is made up of approximately 177,600 inhabitants over an extension of 9,576 square kilometers.

The capital city of the Department of Jinotega is the City of Jinotega. The Department of Jinotega produces 80% of the nation's coffee. It has a population of about 51,000 as of 2005 living inside a vast valley surrounded by mountains. It is known as "La Ciudad de las Brumas" ("City of Mists") for the magnificent whisks of clouds continuously feathering through the top of the valley.

According to locals, Jinotega began when five Spanish families moved north from Matagalpa to settle the "dry zone" or "zona seca" community of Naranjo which lies within the department of Jinotega - about 15 kilometers south of the city of Jinotega. The city of Jinotega was formed in the middle of a bowl-like mountainous area as a natural place for farmers in the surrounding countryside to come and trade. A large cross was placed at the highest point on the western edge of the city. It can be seen illuminated at night.

This department is the second largest in Nicaragua, bordering on the north with Honduras, on the south with Matagalpa, with Zelaya department on the east, and on the west with the departments of Esteli, Madriz, and Nueva Segovia

Name Jinotega derives from the Nahuatl word "Xinotencatl". Linguists disagree on the meaning of this word. Some interpret it as "City of the Old Men", whereas others translate it as "Neighbors of the Jiñocuabos". The word "Neighbors" here should be understood as being like the ending "ville" or "land" in English, like e.g. in "Janesville" or "Maryland". The interpretation as "Neighbors of the Jiñocuabos" is more likely to be the right one, since Jiñocuabo is a tree (bursera simaruba (L.) Sarg.) which was praised by the natives as a healing tree. Jiñocuabo trees grow up to the present in the areas surroundig Jinotega.

The department of Jinotega contains seven municipalities: San Rafael del Norte, La Concordia, Yali, Cua-Bocay, Wiwili, Pantasman and Jinotega.

is also one of two sources of Nicaragua's indigenous black ceramics. Outside of Jinotega 30 minutes on the highway to San Rafael del Norte, there is a tiny settlement that time has forgotten, where the work of black pottery specialists can be seen as they spin the clay in a local cooperative.