Corinto

Corinto, a seaport on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, in the department of Chinandega, built on the small island of Asserradores or Corinto, at the entrance to Realejo Bay, 65 m. by rail N.W. of Managua. Pop. (1900) about 3000. The town, which was founded in 1849, and first came into prominence as a port in 1863, has a spacious and sheltered harbour, the best in Nicaragua. It possesses no docks or wharves, and vessels anchor some 500 yds. off-shore to load or discharge cargo by means of lighters. On the mainland is the terminus of a railway to Leon, Managua and other commercial centres. Coffee, gold, mahogany, rubber and cattle are largely exported; and more than half the foreign trade of Nicaragua passes through this port, which has completely superseded the roadstead of Realejo, now partly filled with sandbanks, but from 1550 to 1850 the principal seaport of the country. About 450 ocean-going ships, of some 450,000 tons, annually enter the port. Most of the foreign vessels are owned in Germany or the United States. The coasting trade is restricted to Nicaraguan boats.