Time in Managua, Nicaragua:

Managua is the capital city of Nicaragua as well as the department and municipality by the same name. It is also the largest city in Nicaragua. Located on the southwestern shore of Lake Managua, the city was declared the national capital in 1852.^[2] Previously, the capital had alternated between the cities of León and Granada. The city has a population of about 1,850,000, composed predominantly of mestizos and whites; making it the second most populous city in Central America after Guatemala City.
Founded in 1819, the city was given the name: Leal Villa de Santiago de Managua. Its original purpose was to serve as a rural fishing village.^[3] Efforts to make Managua the capital of Nicaragua began in 1824, after the Central American nations formally attained their independence from Spain. Managua/'s location between the rival cities of León and Granada made it a logical and ideal compromise site. Managua/'s economy is based mainly on trade. The city is Nicaragua/'s chief trading center for coffee, cotton, and other crops. It is also an important industrial center. Its chief products include beer, coffee, matches, textiles, and shoes.^[4]
The city has been witness to the rise and fall of political powers throughout Nicaragua/'s history and has suffered two devastating earthquakes over the course of the 20th century in 1931 and again in 1972. Managua is the economic, political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of Nicaragua. In 2007, after a successful literacy campaign, Managua was declared by the Mayor of Managua and the Sandinista party newspaper to be the first capital city in Central America to be rid of illiteracy.^[5]
Since the 1972 earthquake, residential and business areas have been built on the outskirts of Managua. Large villages of housing units were built for thousands of families left homeless by the earthquake. Other new construction included schools, hospitals, and shopping centers. These buildings were specially constructed to withstand severe earthquakes. A rise in foreign visitors are powering the nation/'s tourism industry. The Nicaraguan capital has been dubbed as the Venice of Central America because of its escalating use of makeshift canals that can be found throughout the city.^[6] Managua also houses the only eternal flame in Central America and one out of the five in Latin America.
Managua was built in the 1850s on the site of an indigenous community. The city occupies an area on a fault. Seismologists predict that Managua will continue to experience a severe earthquake every 50 years or less.^[4]
Residents of the city and of the department of Managua are called managüenses.