This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "Zelaya Department" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Yellow line: the current border of RACCN and RACCS
Zelaya is a former department in Nicaragua. The department was located along the Mosquito Coast bordering the Caribbean Sea and was named after former President of Nicaragua José Santos Zelaya, who conquered the region for Nicaragua from the Mosquito Coast, then a British protectorate and indigenous monarchy, in 1894. The capital was Bluefields.
In 1987 it was divided into two autonomous regions: