Nicaragua departments quiz

The 17 departments in the quiz

Nicaragua has 15 departments and 2 autonomous regions: 17 in the quiz. Use the Capitals button in the panel to find their capitals instead.

How to play

In Point mode we name a department and you tap it on the map; in Type mode one lights up and you type its name (accents don’t matter); and in Time trial you get 6 seconds per question. If you miss, we show you where it was, which way it lies and a hint drawn from the data: its size rank and its neighbors.

Each game has 10, 20 or all the questions, and at the end you can practice just the ones you missed. Your best score for each mode is saved in this browser only: neither we nor anyone else can see it, and there’s no sign-up.

The hardest ones

The smallest departments are the hardest, since they barely show on the map: Masaya (about 220 sq mi), Carazo (about 470 sq mi), and Madriz (about 620 sq mi). Zoom in with the buttons or two fingers to tap them.

And watch out for look-alike names: Costa Caribe Norte and Costa Caribe Sur.

Tips to learn them

• Start with the three largest: Costa Caribe Norte, Costa Caribe Sur, and Río San Juan cover 53% of the area of Nicaragua.
• The 5 departments bordering Honduras trace that border on the map: Chinandega, Costa Caribe Norte, Jinotega, Madriz, and Nueva Segovia.
• 9 of the 17 have no coastline: Boaco, Chontales, Estelí, Granada, Jinotega, Madriz, Masaya, Matagalpa, and Nueva Segovia.
• Matagalpa has the most neighbors: it borders 7 departments. Once you place it, you have a landmark for many more.

Playing in class

If you teach in Nicaragua, start with your school’s department and its neighbors and add a few each day. Otherwise, it’s a good way to get to know the country before studying it.

With the Challenge your class link, everyone gets the same questions in the same order, with no accounts or passwords, and each student sees their own score, time and streak. To practice on paper, there’s a printable worksheet of the same map with an answer key.

List of all 17 departments

1. Boaco Boaco
2. Carazo Jinotepe
3. Chinandega Chinandega
4. Chontales Juigalpa
5. Costa Caribe Norte Bilwi
6. Costa Caribe Sur Bluefields
7. Estelí Estelí
8. Granada Granada
9. Jinotega Jinotega
10. León León
11. Madriz Somoto
12. Managua Managua
13. Masaya Masaya
14. Matagalpa Matagalpa
15. Nueva Segovia Ocotal
16. Río San Juan San Carlos
17. Rivas Rivas