Nicaragua
"Salve a ti, Nicaragua" (Hail to You, Nicaragua)

Words by: Salomón Ibarra Mayorga
Music by: traditional (arranged by Luis Abraham Delgadillo)
Adopted: 1918 (music), 1939 (lyrics)

The melody of the anthem goes back to the 1700s as a liturgical anthem in Spain. It was brought to Nicaragua shortly before independence in the early 19th century, and was used as the first official anthem, between 1835 and 1837. The national anthem was changed three times since then, until in 1918, the people demanded a stable national anthem. It was decided to bring back the original anthem, and Luis Abraham Delgadillo, a Nicaraguan composer who studied in Milan, was chosen to arrange the anthem.

As a result of a government contest, new words were composed for the anthem. The only requirements for the lyrics was that there would have to be two verses only, the subject must be about peace and work (since Nicaragua just came out of several revolutions), and that the words must fit the music. The winning lyrics were revised in 1939 and adopted by the government that year.