San Juan del Sur

San Juan del Sur was settled as a Spanish colony from Panama in the early 16th century. Nicaragua gained independence from Spain in 1821 and the country became an independent republic in 1838. Britain occupied the Caribbean Coast in the first half of the 19th century, but gradually ceded control of the region in subsequent decades.

San Juan del Sur also played an important role in the conflict between Nicaraguans and U.S. filibusters, first in a local skirmish that resulted in the ouster of Chief Director Laureano Pineda, and later as the site of various battles in the National War against troops led by William Walker. In 1855, San Juan was witness to Walker’s retreat after his June 29 defeat in Rivas; two months later, it served as the arrival point for more filibusters who attacked and took over the city of Granada. On November 23, 1856 the port hosted the battle between William Walker’s schooner “Granada” and the Costa Rican brigantine “Once de Abril”, and finally on May 5, 1857 San Juan was the scene of Walker’s final retreat on the “St. Mary” after his surrender in Rivas.

Furthermore, San Juan del Sur has been an important communication center. In 1876, telegraphic service was initiated between San Juan and the port of Corinto on the northern Pacific Coast. Six years later, a door was opened from Nicaragua to the world with a submarine cable installment that was managed by All American Cable and lasted until the 1960s. In March of 1928, a train route was inaugurated from San Juan del Sur to San Jorge; in San Jorge, passengers boarded a steamboat crossing Lake Nicaragua to Granada, thus establishing a direct link between the coast and the interior of the country. From the 1940s on, San Juan flourished as a hub for a wide variety of regional and international exports, including precious wood and live cattle.

Today the port is linked with highway #2 by a good road emerging at La Virgen