Matagalpa is a city in Nicaragua, the capital of the department of Matagalpa. The city has a population of 150,643 (2012 census), while the population of the department is more than 542,000. Matagalpa is Nicaragua's fifth largest city, the largest in the country's interior and one of the most commercially active outside of Managua. Matagalpa is the second most important city in Nicaragua and is known as the "Pearl of the North" and "Land of Eternal Spring."