Managua Residents of the city are called "managuas", "managüenses", or "capitalinos". Nicaragua was inhabited by Paleo-Americans as far back as 12,000 BCE. The ancient footprints of Acahualinca are 2,100-year-old fossils discovered along the shores of Lake Managua. Other archaeological evidence, mainly in the form of ceramics and statues made of volcanic stone, like the ones found on the island of Zapatera, and petroglyphs found on Ometepe island, contribute to the increasing knowledge of Nicaragua's ancient history. Founded as a pre-Columbian fishing town, the city was incorporated in 1819 and given the name "Leal Villa de Santiago de Managua". Efforts to make
Managua 1927. A new sewer system and the redirecting of waste water to a new waste water treatment plant at Las Mercedes funded by the German government to decontaminate the lake is expected to be the largest in Central America and was inaugurated in 2009. Managua's city area extends about , essentially south from the south shore of Lake Managua. The lakeshore is at an altitude of above sea level, and the city climbs as it gets towards the Sierras de Managua further south where it is over above sea level. Geologically, the city lies on fault lines, thus seismologists predict