Just 5 per cent of the population are of pure native descent. Nicaragua's pre-Columbian population consisted of the Nahuatl-speaking Nicarao people of the west, and six ethnic groups including the Miskitos, Ramas and Sumos in the Caribbean region. While very few pure-blooded Nicarao people still exist, the Caribbean peoples have remained distinct. In the mid-1980s, the government divided the eastern half of the country - the former department of Zelaya - into two autonomous regions and granted the African and indigenous people of the region limited self-rule.