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Spanish explorer Gil Gonzalez de Avila names Nicaragua after a local Indian chief, Nicarao.
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Nicaragua becomes fully independent from Spain but is incorporated into the Mexican empire.
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Nicaragua becomes a fully independant republic from the Mexican Empire
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General Jose Santos Zelaya, a Liberal, seizes power and establishes a dictatorship.
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US troops help depose Zelaya and establish military bases a few years later.
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Guerrillas led by Augusto Cesar Sandino campaign against US military presence.
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Sandino killed on the orders of the National Guard commander, General Anastasio Somoza Garcia.
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General Somoza elected president, heralding the start of a 44-year-long dictatorship by his family.
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General Somoza assassinated, but is succeeded as president by his son, Luis Somoza Debayle.
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The assassination of the leader of the opposition Democratic Liberation Union, Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, triggers a general strike and brings together moderates and the FSLN in a united front to oust Somoza.
