Nicarao (cacique)

Nicarao, or Macuilmiquiztli (Nahuatl Makwilmikistli: macuil "five", miquiztli "death") was the most powerful ruler in pre-Columbian Nicaragua, whose chiefdom stretched from modern-day Rivas in southwestern Nicaragua to Guanacaste province in northwestern Costa Rica. He was the Nahua chief of Kwawkapolkan, which means "place of capulín trees" in the Nawat language. It's a combination of the Nawat words Kwawit (tree), kapol (capulín), and -kan (a locative meaning "place of"). Based on research done by historians in 2002, it was discovered that the chief's real name was Macuilmiquiztli, meaning "Five Deaths" in the Nahuatl language. Macuilmiquiztli governed one of the many Nahua chiefdoms in western Nicaragua that the Spanish came to call the Nicaraos, who inhabited a shared land they referred to as Nicānāhuac.