Coordinates: 13.379°N 83.

584°W

Mosquito Coast
The Mosquito Coast, also known as the Mosquitia,
Mosquito Shore and the Mosquito Kingdom, historically Mosquito Coast
included the area along the eastern coast of present-day Miskitu Nation
Nicaragua and Honduras. It formed part of the Western
Caribbean Zone. It was named after the local Miskitu Nation Early 17th century–1894
and was long dominated by British interests. The Mosquito
Coast was militarily incorporated into Nicaragua in November
1894; however, in 1960, the northern part was granted to
Honduras by the International Court of Justice.[1]

The Mosquito Coast was generally defined as the domain of

Coat of arms
the Mosquito or Miskitu Kingdom and expanded or
contracted with that domain. During the 19th century, the
question of the kingdom's borders was a serious issue of
international diplomacy between Britain, the United States,
Nicaragua, and Honduras. Conflicting claims regarding both
the kingdom's extent and arguable nonexistence were pursued
in diplomatic exchanges.[2] The British and Miskitu definition
applied to the whole eastern seaboard of Nicaragua and even
to La Mosquitia in Honduras: i.e., the coast region as far west
as the Río Negro or Tinto.

Contents
History
Attempted Spanish settlement
British contact and recognition of the Mosquito
Kingdom
Early British alliance
Status English and
Emergence of the Mosquitos Zambos British
(Miskito Sambu) protectorate
Sociopolitical system (1638–1787,
British settlement 1844–1860)

British evacuation Spanish colony

(1787–1800, de
Spanish interlude jure 1819)
Government reorganization and Spanish Autonomous
settlement territory of
Miskito revolt Nicaragua
(1860–1894)
Renewed British presence
Economic expansion Capital Sandy Bay
Second British protectorate and American Bluefields (after
opposition 1787)
 Arrival of the Moravian Church Common languages Miskito
Treaty of Managua English
Annexation to Nicaragua Mayangna
Miskito under Nicaragua Creole
Miskito separatism Government Monarchy
Miskito Kings King
• c. 1650–1687 Oldman (first
Inhabitants
known)
Religion • 1842–1860 George
Popular culture Augustus
Frederic II (last)
See also Hereditary Chief
Footnotes • 1860–1865 George
Augustus
Sources and references
Frederic II (first)
Internet resources
• 1890–1894 Robert Henry
Printed sources Clarence (last)
History

History • Established Early 17th

century
• Disestablished 20 November
Before the arrival of Europeans in the region, the area was 1894
divided into a large number of small, egalitarian groups,
possibly speaking languages related to Sumu and Paya. Succeeded by
Columbus visited the coast briefly in his fourth voyage. Nicaragua
Detailed Spanish accounts of the region, however, only relate Honduras
to the late 16th and early 17th centuries. According to their
understanding of the geography, the region was divided Today part of Nicaragua
between two "Provinces" Taguzgalpa and Tologalpa. Lists of
Honduras
"nations" left by Spanish missionaries include as many as 30
names, though careful analysis of them by Karl Offen
suggests that many were duplicated and the regional geography included about a half dozen entities
speaking related but distinct dialects occupying the various river basins of the region.[3]

Attempted Spanish settlement

During the 16th century, Spanish authorities

issued various licenses to conquer Taguzgalpa
and Tologalpa in 1545, 1562, 1577, and 1594,
but no evidence suggests that any of these
licenses resulted in even brief settlements or
conquests. The Spanish were unable to conquer
this region during the 16th century and in the 17th
century sought to "reduce" the region through
missionary efforts. These included several
attempts by Franciscans between 1604 and 1612;
another one led by Fray Cristóbal Martinez in Political map of the Caribbean around 1600.
1622, and a third one between 1667 and 1675.
None of these efforts resulted in any lasting
success.[4]
Because the Spanish failed to have significant influence in the region, it remained independent of outside
control. This allowed the native people to continue their traditional way of life and to receive visitors from
other regions. English and Dutch privateers who preyed on Spanish ships soon found refuge in the
Mosquito Coast.

British contact and recognition of the Mosquito Kingdom

Although the earliest accounts do not mention it, a political Mosquito Kingdom
entity of uncertain organization, but probably not very stratified,
1638–1787
which the English called the "Mosquito Kingdom" was present
on the coast in the early seventeenth century. One of the kings
of this polity visited England around 1638 at the behest of the
Providence Island Company and sealed an alliance.

In subsequent years, the kingdom stood strongly against any

Flag
Spanish incursions and was prepared to offer rest and asylum to
any anti-Spanish groups that might come to their shores. At the Anthem: God Save the King (1745–
very least English and French privateers and pirates did visit 1787)
there, taking in water and food. A detailed account of the
Status Protectorate
kingdom written by a buccaneer known only as M. W.
of England
describes its organization as being fundamentally egalitarian, (1638–1707)
with the king and some officials (usually called "Captains" in
Protectorate
that period but later being more elaborate) being primarily of Great
military leaders, but only in time of war. Britain (1707–
1787)

Early British alliance Capital Sandy Bay

(King's
The first British contacts with the Mosquito region started residence)
around 1630, when the agents of the English chartered
Common languages Miskito
Providence Island Company—of which the Earl of Warwick
was chairman and John Pym treasurer—occupied two small English
cays and established friendly relations with the local inhabitants. Government Monarchy
Providence Island, the company's main base and settlement,
Monarch
entered into regular correspondence with the coast during the
• c. 1650–1687 Oldman
decade of company occupation, 1631–1641.[6]
(first known)

The Providence Island Company sponsored the Miskito's • 1776–1801 George II

Frederic
"King's Son" visit to England during the reign of Charles I
(last)
(1625–1649). When his father died, this son returned home and
Superintendent of
placed his country under English protection.[7] Following the the Shore
capture of Providence Island by Spain in 1641, England did not
• 1749–1759[5] Robert
possess a base close to the coast. However, shortly after the Hodgson, Sr.
English captured Jamaica in 1655, they recommenced relations (first)
with the coast, and Oldman went to visit England. According to • 1775–1787 James
the testimony of his son Jeremy, taken around 1699, he was Lawrie (last)
received in audience by "his brother king", Charles II and was
History
given a "lac'd hat" and a commission "to kindly use and relieve
such straggling Englishmen as should chance to come that • Arrival of the 1630
way".[8] Providence Island
Company
• British ally 1638
Emergence of the Mosquitos Zambos (Miskito • British protectorate 1740
Sambu) • Convention of 1786
London
While accounts vary, the Miskito Sambu appear to be • British evacuation 1787
descended from the survivors of a shipwrecked slave ship who Currency Pound
reached this area in the mid-seventeenth century. These sterling
survivors intermarried with the local Miskito people, thereby
creating a mixed-race group. They gradually adopted the Preceded by Succeeded by
language and much of the culture of their hosts. The Miskito Captaincy Captaincy
Sambu settled near the Wanks (Coco) River. By the late 17th General of General of
century, their leader held the office of general with jurisdiction Guatemala Guatemala
over the northern portions of the Mosquito Kingdom. In the Miskito
early eighteenth century, they managed to take over the office of people
King, which they held for at least the rest of the century.

In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Miskitos Zambos

began a series of raids that attacked Spanish-held territories
and still independent indigenous groups in the area. Miskito
raiders reached as far north as the Yucatán, and as far south
as Costa Rica. They sold many of the captives they took as
slaves to English or other British merchants; the slaves were
transported to Jamaica to work on sugar plantations.[9]
Through such raiding, the Zambo gained a more dominant
position and the king's domain was inhabited primarily by
Zambos. They also assisted the government of Jamaica in
hunting down Maroons in the 1720s.[10]

Sociopolitical system

Although English accounts referred to the area as a

"kingdom", it was relatively loosely organized. A description
of the kingdom written in 1699, notes that it occupied
discontinuous areas along the coast. It probably did not
include a number of settlements of English traders.[11]
Although English accounts refer as well to various noble
titles, Miskito social structure does not appear to have been
The Wanks or Coco river, in the northern
particularly stratified. The 1699 description noted that people
limit of the Mosquito Kingdom.
holding titles such as "king" and "governor" were only
empowered as war leaders, and did not have the last word in
judicial disputes. Otherwise, the author saw the population as
living in an egalitarian state.[12]

M. W. mentioned titled officers in his account of 1699, but later sources define these superior offices to
include the king, a governor, and a general. In the early 18th century, the Miskito kingdom became
organized into four distinct clusters of population, centered on the banks of the navigable rivers. They were
integrated into a single if loosely structured political entity. The northern portions were dominated by
Sambus and the southern ones by Tawira Miskitos.[13] The king, whose domain lay from the Wanks River
south to the Rio Kukalaya, including the king's residence near Sandy Bay, was a Sambu, as was the
general, who ruled the northern portions of the kingdom, from the Wanks River to nearly Trujillo. The
Governor, who was a Tawira, controlled the southern regions, from the Cucalaya River to Pearl Key
Lagoon. In the later 18th century (post 1766), another title, Admiral, was recorded; this man was also a
Tawira, controlling a region on the extreme south from Pearl Key Lagoon down to around Bluefields.[14]

British settlement

The Miskito king Edward I and the British concluded a formal Treaty of Friendship and Alliance in 1740,
and Robert Hodgson, Senior was appointed as Superintendent of the Shore.[15] The language of the treaty
includes what amounts to a surrender of sovereignty, and is often taken by historians as an indication that a
British protectorate was established over the Mosquito Kingdom.

Britain's primary motive and the most immediate result of the treaty was to secure an alliance between the
Miskito and British for the War of Jenkins' Ear, and the Miskito and British cooperated in attacks on
Spanish settlements during the war. The most notable being the Raid on Matina in August by 1747 – the
main fort (Fuerte de San Fernando de Matina) was captured and the cacao rich area was subsequently
ravaged.[16] This military cooperation would prove important as Miskito forces were vital to protecting not
only British interests in the Mosquito Kingdom but also for British holdings in British Honduras (now
Belize).

A more lasting result of this formal relation was that Edward I and other Miskito rulers who followed him
allowed the British to establish settlements and plantations within his realm, and issued the first land grants
to this effect in 1742. British settlement concentrated especially in the Black River area, Cape Gracias a
Dios, and Bluefields. The British plantation owners used their estates to grow some export crops and as
bases for the exploitation of timber resources, especially mahogany. Most of the labor on the estates was
supplied by African slaves and by indigenous slaves captured in Miskito and British raids into Spanish
territory. By 1786, there were several hundred British residents on the shore and several thousand slaves,
mostly African.

The Miskito kings received regular gifts from the British in the form of weapons and consumer goods, and
provided security against slave revolts and capturing runaways.

British evacuation

Spain, which claimed the territory, suffered considerably from the Miskito attacks which continued during
peacetime. When the American Revolutionary War broke out, Spanish forces attempted to eliminate the
British presence, seizing the settlement at Black River, and driving British settlers from the isle of Roatán;
however, this ultimately failed when armed settlers led by the Anglo-Irish soldier Edward Despard retook
the settlements.

Although Spain had been unable to drive the British from the coast or occupy any position, in the course of
the diplomatic negotiations following the war, Britain found itself making concessions to Spain. In the 1786
Convention of London, Britain agreed to evacuate British settlers and their slaves from the Mosquito Coast
to their as yet informal colony in what was to become British Honduras; later treaties recognized Britain's
commercial, but never territorial rights in the region.[17] Some of the settlers and their slaves remained after
they swore loyalty to the King of Spain, especially in Bluefields.[18]

Spanish interlude

Government reorganization and Spanish settlement

The Mosquito Coast was initially annexed (or from the Spanish point of view, re-annexed) to the Captaincy
General of Guatemala. Since the beginning, however, poor land communication with Guatemala City made
easier for the Miskito elites to sail to Cartagena de Indias and swear fealty to Spain before the Viceroy of
New Granada instead. Viceroy Francisco Gil de Taboada even suggested that government over the
Mosquito Coast should be transferred to Havana, Cuba, mirroring the long-standing relation that the
Mosquito Kingdom had earlier with British Jamaica, but this idea was rejected by the Spanish Crown.
Guatemala protested the perceived unruliness of the Spanish appointed governor at Bluefields, who was
none other but a former British Superintendent of the Mosquito Coast who had sworn recent fealty to
Spain, Robert Hodgson Jr., but his loyalty and good work were defended by the New Granadan Viceroy
José Manuel de Ezpeleta, who succeeded Taboada in 1789 and considered that Hodgson's influence among
the Miskito was vital to avoid a revolt.[19] Hodgson Jr. was the son of Robert Hodgson Sr., the first British
appointed Superintendent in 1749–1759, and he had occupied himself this post from 1767 to 1775, when
his political enemies persuaded Lord George Germain to replace him with James Lawrie, the last British
Superintendent before the evacuation and a declared adversary of Hodgson.[5]

The Spanish hoped to win over support of the Miskito elite by offering presents like the British had and
educating their youth in Guatemala, as many Miskito had been educated previously in Jamaica. Catholic
missionaries also travelled to the Coast with the aim of converting the native population in this period.[19]
The acceptance of the new order was unequal and often influenced by the underlying tensions within the
own Miskito elites, divided between the northern regions controlled by the Sambu, loyal to King George II
Frederic who remained himself friendly to the British, and the Tawira southerners aligned with Admiral
Briton, who developed closer ties with Spain and adopted the name Don Carlos Antonio Castilla after his
own conversion.[19]

The Spanish also sought to occupy the positions formerly held by British settlers with their own colonists.
Beginning in 1787, around 1,200 settlers were brought in from the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary
Islands. They settled in Sandy Bay, Cape Gracias a Dios and Black River, but not in the new capital
Bluefields.[20]

Miskito revolt

The new colony suffered setbacks as a result of many of the settlers dying en route and the Miskito Crown
showing its dissatisfaction with the gifts offered by the Spanish. The Miskito resumed trade with Jamaica
and, when news of another Anglo-Spanish War arrived in 1797, George II raised an army to attack
Bluefields, deposing Hodgson, and drove the Spanish out of the kingdom on September 4, 1800.[21][22]
However, the king died suddenly in 1801. According to British George Henderson, who visited the
Mosquito Coast in 1804, many in the kingdom believed that George II had been poisoned by his brother
Stephen as part of a deal with the Spanish. In order to prevent Stephen from seizing power for himself,
General Robinson spirited George II's young heir George Frederic Augustus I to Jamaica by way of Belize
and established a regency in his name.[23]

With Spanish power over the Mosquito Coast vanished and British influence rapidly returning, the
Captaincy General of Guatemala sought full control of the shore from Spain. The Colombian Ricardo S.
Pereira, writing in 1883, considered this act a miscalculation on the part of the Real Audiencia of
Guatemala, and if they had simply raised an army and marched on the Mosquito Coast, nobody would
have questioned that the area was part of the Captaincy General once Spanish power was fully restored.
Instead, the Spanish government heeded the old advice exposed by Gil de Taboada and Ezpeleta, and
decided against Guatemala's request on November 30, 1803, reaffirming the control of the Viceroyalty of
New Granada over the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina (used by New
Granadan coast guards as a base against British privateers, often coming from the Mosquito Coast itself),
and transferring sovereignty of the Mosquito Coast over to New Granada and considering the area a
dependency of San Andrés. While Spanish rule was never restored over the Mosquito Coast (instead, the
British occupied the Archipelago itself in 1806 during the course of the war against Spain), the Royal
Decree of 1803 became the reason for territorial disputes between the United Provinces of Central America
and Gran Colombia after Latin American independence, and between Nicaragua and Colombia for the rest
of the 19th century.[24]

In the meantime George II's brother Stephen made some overtures to Spain, who reciprocated by calling
Stephen king and giving him the traditional gifts (albeit less frequently than to George II),[18] but he later
changed allegiances and raided Spanish held territory. In 1815, Stephen, styling himself "King Regent [...]
of the Shore", and 33 other Miskito notables gave their "consent, assent, and declaration to, for, and of"
George Frederic Augustus I as their "Sovereign King".[25] His coronation in Belize on January 16,
1816,[26] in a deliberate move to secure British support, marked the end of the regency. Meanwhile, Spain
lost rule over New Granada in 1819 and over Central America in 1821, when the First Mexican Empire
was proclaimed.

Renewed British presence

As internecine conflicts seized both Gran Colombia and Central America post-independence, the potential
of any regional power to threaten the Miskito kingdom declined. Miskito Kings renewed their alliance with
Great Britain, which in 1801 had merged with Ireland to form the United Kingdom, and Belize replaced
Jamaica as the principal British connection to the kingdom. George Frederic Augustus I's 1816 coronation
in Belize was imitated by his successor Robert Charles Frederic in 1845.

Economic expansion

The Miskito kings allowed the settlement of foreigners in their

lands as long as their sovereignty was respected, opportunity that
was seized by British merchants and Garifuna people from Trujillo,
Honduras. Between 1820 and 1837 the Scottish con man Gregor
MacGregor pretended to have been named "Cacique of Poyais" by
George Frederic Augustus I and sold forged land rights to eager
settlers and investors in Britain and France. Most settlers suffered A panoramic view of Black River in
from the lack of infrastructure and died from tropical diseases, the (fictional) Territory of Poyais
MacGregor having led them to believe that the area was already
developed and just in need of skilled workers. In the 1830s and 40s
King Robert Charles Frederic also appointed small traders, notably
William Hodgson and brothers Peter and Samuel Shepherd, as his
agents to administer his claims to tribute and taxes from lands as far
south as Panama.[27][28]

At the same time, the mahogany trade peaked in Europe, but the
supply in Belize, a main exporter, was becoming scarce. The
Miskito Kingdom became an alternative source to Belize-based Fort Wellington on the Black River
traders and wood cutting companies, who acquired concessions (Engraving showing Fort Wellington
and land grants from Robert Charles Frederic. In 1837, Britain (Poyais) on the Black River,
formally recognized the Mosquito Kingdom as an independent Mosquito Coast, mid 1840s.)
state, and took diplomatic measures to prevent the new nations that
left the imploding Federal Republic of Central America in 1838–
1841 from interfering with the kingdom.[29][30]
The expansion of the economy attracted and benefitted
from the arrival of capital from the United States, and
immigrants from the States, the West Indies, Europe,
Syria and China.[18] Especially abundant was the
immigration of Afro-Caribbeans following the
abolition of slavery in the British and French
Caribbean in 1841, who settled mainly in and around
Bluefields, merging with the descendants of the slaves
that had not been evacuated in 1786 and giving origin
to the Miskito Coast Creoles. Because of their greater
knowledge of English, the Creoles soon became the Dwellings in Bluefields in 1845
workers most sought by foreign companies, occupying
the intermediate levels in the businesses and relegating
the native Miskitu to the worst paid occupations at the base.[18]

In August 1841, a British ship, without knowledge of London, carried the Miskito King Robert Charles
Frederic and the British Governor of Belize, Alexander MacDonald, to occupy Nicaragua's only Caribbean
port in San Juan del Norte, placed at the mouth of the San Juan River and likely endpoint of a possible
future transoceanic canal through Nicaragua, and claimed it for the Mosquito Kingdom. The commander of
the port was kidnapped and abandoned in a deserted beach, and the civilian population was told to leave
the place by March 1842. The Nicaraguan government protested and the British did not carry on the
threatened evacuation of the port, but neither did they take action against MacDonald for the incident.[17]

Second British protectorate and American opposition

In 1844, the British government declared a new protectorate over Miskito Kingdom
the Mosquito Kingdom and appointed a consul-general of the
1844–1860
Mosquito Coast, Patrick Walker with seat in Bluefields. The
proclamation was motivated by the state of anarchy in the
Mosquito Kingdom after the death of Robert Charles Frederic,
but also by the impending American annexation of Texas and the
British desire to build a canal through Central America before
the United States did.[17]

The protectorate was claimed to extend from Cape Honduras in Coat of arms
the north to the mouth of the San Juan River in the south, Flag
including San Juan del Norte. Nicaragua protested again and
sent forces to San Juan del Norte, which the Miskito King Anthem: God Save the Queen
George Augustus Frederic II replied to with an ultimatum Status Protectorate
demanding all Nicaraguan forces to leave before January 1, of the
1848. Nicaragua appealed to the United States, but the United
Americans, then at war with Mexico, did not answer. After the Kingdom
ultimatum expired, Miskito-British forces led by the King and Capital Bluefields[18]
Patrick Walker, and backed by two British warships, seized San
Juan del Norte. They also destroyed Serapaqui, where the British Common languages English
prisoners captured during the first attempt on San Juan del Norte Miskito
were interned, and advanced to Lake Nicaragua, during which Government Monarchy
Walker drowned. On March 7 Nicaragua signed a peace treaty King
where it ceded San Juan del Norte to the Mosquito Kingdom,
• 1842–1860 George
who renamed it Greytown after Charles Edward Grey, governor Augustus
of Jamaica.[17] Frederic II
With the Mexican–American War concluded, the new US Consul-General[17]
delegate in Central America, E. G. Squier, tried to get Consul (after 1851)
Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras to form a common front • 1844–1848 Patrick
against the British, who were now threatening to annex Tiger Walker
Island (El Tigre) in Honduras' Pacific coast. After British and (first)[17]

American forces nearly clashed in El Tigre, both governments • 1849–1860 James

reprimanded the commanders of their forces there and concluded Green
(last)[31]
the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty on April 18, 1850.[17] In this
document the two powers pledged themselves to guarantee the History
neutrality and equal use of the proposed canal, and to not • Protectorate 1844
"occupy, or fortify, or colonize, or assume or exercise any declared
dominion over Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito Coast or • Annexation of San 1848
any part of Central America", nor make use of any protectorate Juan del Norte
or alliance, present or future, to such ends.[32] • Bombardment of 1854
Greytown
The United States assumed that this meant the immediate British • Treaty of Managua January 28
evacuation of the Mosquito Coast, while the British argued that it 1860
only bound them to not expand further in Central America and Currency Pound
that both the 1844 protectorate and the 1848 peace treaty were sterling
still valid. On November 21, the American steamer Prometheus
was fired upon by a British warship for not paying port tariffs at Preceded by Succeeded
Greytown. One of the passengers was Cornelius Vanderbilt, by
business magnate and one of the richest people in the United Miskito Treaty of
States. The British government apologized after the United people Managua
States sent two armed sloops to the area.[17] Nicaragua Honduras

More incidents happened in the following years. In 1852, Britain

occupied the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras and rebuffed the American protests claiming that they
had been part of Belize before the treaty. The American representative in Nicaragua, Solon Borland,
considered the treaty breached and argued openly for the US annexation of Nicaragua and the rest of
Central America, for which he was forced to resign. In 1853, the buildings of the US-owned Accessory
Transit Company in Greytown were looted and destroyed by the locals. In 1854, an American steamer
captain killed a Greytown Creole, and Borland, who had remained in Greytown after his resignation,
stopped the arrest for murder by threatening the marshal and his men with a rifle, arguing that they had no
power to arrest an American citizen. Though he held no office, Borland ordered 50 American passengers
bound for New York to remain on land and "protect US interests" while he sailed to the United States for
help. In an example of gunboat diplomacy, the Americans sent then the USS Cyane and demanded 24,000
dollars in damages, an apology and a pledge of good behavior in the future. When the terms weren't met,
the crew bombarded Greytown, then landed and burnt the town to the ground. Damage was extensive but
no one was killed. With its attention seized by the ongoing Crimean War and the firm opposition of
Britain's merchant class to a war with the United States, the British government only protested and
demanded an apology that was never received.[17]

By 1859 British opinion was no longer supportive of their nation's presence in the Mosquito Coast. The
British government returned the Bay Islands and ceded the northern part of the Mosquito Coast to
Honduras, negotiating with Guatemala to enlarge the British territory in Belize as compensation. The next
year, Britain signed the Treaty of Managua, ceding the rest of the Mosquito Coast to Nicaragua.[17]

Arrival of the Moravian Church

In the 1840s, two British citizens who travelled Europe advertising the sale of land in Cabo Gracias a Dios
attracted the interest of Prince Charles of Prussia. Charles' first plan was to establish a Prussian settlement in
the area and sent three German merchants to study this possibility on the ground. Their dictamen was
against colonization, but their suggestion to evangelize the Mosquito Coast was taken up by the Prince of
Schönburg-Waldenburg, who delegated the task in the Moravian Church. The first missionaries arrived in
1848 with a letter of recommendation from Lord Palmerston and began to work in 1849 in Bluefields,
targeting the royal family and the Creoles before expanding to the rest of the Kingdom.[18] In 1880, the
mission saw a membership of 1,030 made up of mostly urban creoles. By 1890, the membership was 3,924
and made up of mostly Miskito and rural natives.[33]

Treaty of Managua

Britain and Nicaragua signed the Treaty of Managua on Miskito Reserve

January 28, 1860, which transferred suzerainty over the Reserva Mosquitia
Caribbean coast between Cabo Gracias a Dios and Greytown
to Nicaragua. Attempts to decide the sovereignty over the 1860–1894
northern bank of the Wanks/Coco River which cuts Cabo
Gracias a Dios in half, began in 1869, but would not be settled
until ninety-one years later when the International Court of
Justice decided in favor of Honduras.[34]

The 1860 treaty also recognized that the Mosquito Kingdom, Flag
now reduced to the territory around Bluefields, would become Coat of arms
an autonomous Miskito reserve. The municipal constitution of Anthem: Hermosa Soberana
the reserve, signed on September 13, 1861, confirmed George
Augustus Frederic II as ruler of the territory and its inhabitants, Status Autonomous
territory of
but only as hereditary chief and not king, a title that, along those
Nicaragua
of general, admiral and governor, was abolished; and that the
hereditary chief would be advised by a council of 41 members Capital Bluefields
elected for a period of eight years. The composition of this Common languages Miskito
council was not limited to Miskito: instead, the first council English
included a number of Moravian missionaries and its first session Mayangna
started with an oration in this denomination. In compensation
Government Monarchy
for his losses, George Augustus Frederic II would be paid
£1000 yearly and until 1870 by the Nicaraguan government.[18] Hereditary Chief
• 1860-1865 George
The death of George Augustus Frederic II in 1865, after only Augustus
half that time had passed, led to a dispute between Nicaragua Frederic II
(first)
and the reserve's government. As indicated in its name, the
position of hereditary chief was not completely elective like the • 1890-1894 Robert Henry
Clarence
title of King that preceded it, but had to be occupied by a
(last)
member of George Augustus Frederic II's lineage of full
Miskito ancestry. The council argued that none of George History
Augustus Frederic II's wives was Miskito and that none of their • Treaty of Managua January 28
children was eligible as a result.[18] The election of William 1860
Henry Clarence as new chief, George Augustus Frederic II's • Annexation to 20 November
nephew by his second sister, was not recognized by Nicaragua. Nicaragua 1894
William Henry Clarence asked for support to Great Britain, Currency Nicaraguan
accusing Nicaragua of not abiding to the terms of the 1860 peso
treaty and threatening the Miskitu's autonomy, and complaining Pound
sterling
both about increasing Nicaraguan immigration and the political Preceded by Succeeded
instability in Nicaragua proper, which threatened the peace by
within the reserve.[18]
Second Nicaragua
British
In 1881, Nicaragua and Britain agreed to subject the most protectorate
disputed points of the 1860 treaty to the arbitration of the
Emperor Francis Joseph I of Austria-Hungary. His decision,
released on June 2, agreed largely with the interests of the Miskito—and by extension, the British. The
arbitration decided that:[35]

Sovereignty over the Mosquito Coast belonged to Nicaragua, but it was largely limited by
the autonomy of the Miskito, as recognized in the 1860 treaty.
Nicaragua had the right to fly its flag in any part of the Mosquito Coast.
Nicaragua could maintain a Commissioner on the Mosquito Coast to defend her national
interests.
The Miskito could also fly their own flag on the Mosquito Coast, so long as said flag included
some sign of Nicaraguan suzerainty. A compromise was reached by using the flag used
during the British protectorate (designed by Patrick Walker),[17] but with the Union Flag on
the canton replaced by the flag of Nicaragua.
Nicaragua could not make concessions to the exploitation of natural resources in the
Mosquito Coast. That right alone corresponded to the Miskito government.
Nicaragua could not regulate the Miskito's trade, nor tax importations to or exportations from
the Mosquito Coast.
Nicaragua had to pay the money overdue to the Miskito king.
Nicaragua could not limit the goods imported or exported through the port of San Juan del
Norte (Greytown), unless these goods went to or came from Nicaraguan territory outside the
reserve.

From 1883, the land and capital in the reserve began to be agglutinated by an increasingly small number of
US citizens.[18]

Annexation to Nicaragua

When in 1894, Rigoberto Cabezas led a campaign to annex the reserve, natives responded with vigorous
protest, an appeal to Britain to protect them, and more militant resistance[36] – to little avail. The situation
was such that, from July 6 to August 7, the US occupied Bluefields to 'protect US interests'. After enjoying
almost complete autonomy for fourteen years, on 20 November 1894 their territory formally became
incorporated into that of the republic of Nicaragua by Nicaraguan president José Santos Zelaya. The former
Mosquito Coast was established as the Nicaraguan department of Zelaya. During the 1980s, the department
was dissolved and substituted by the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) and South Atlantic
Autonomous Region (RAAS), autonomous regions with a certain degree of self-government. Those
regions were renamed the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (RACCN) and the South
Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (RACCS) in 2014.

Miskito under Nicaragua

The Miskito continued to enjoy a certain autonomy under Nicaragua, though there was considerable
tension between the claims of the government and those of the indigenous people. This tension was
expressed openly during Sandinista rule, which sought greater state control. The Miskito were strong
supporters of U.S. efforts to undermine the Sandinistas and were important allies of the Contras.
Miskito separatism

Miskito dissidents declared the independence of the unrecognized Communitarian Nation of Moskitia in
2009.[37][38] The movement is led by Reverend Hector Williams, who was elected as "Wihta Tara" (Great
Judge) of Moskitia by the Council of Elders, its governing body[39] composed of traditional leaders from
within the Miskito community. The council advocates for independence and has considered a referendum,
seeking international recognition. It also addresses the needs of the impoverished Moskitian communities,
such as drug addiction among youth as the coast is slowly gaining influence as a corridor for drug
trafficking.[39] However, the allure of possible Narco funding might be a tempting method of supporting
independence should the movement find no support.[40]

The movement was backed by a 400-man "indigenous army" made up of veterans of the Contras, which
captured the YAMATA party headquarters in 2009.[41]

Miskito Kings
c. 1650–c. 1687 Oldman
c. 1687–1718 Jeremy I
1718–1729 H.M. Jeremy II
1729–1755 H.M. Edward I
1755–1776 H.M. George I
1776–1800 H.M. George II Frederic
1800–1824 H.M. George Frederic Augustus I
1824–1841 H.M. Robert Charles Frederic
1841–1865 H.M. George Augustus Frederic II
1865–1879 H.E. William Henry Clarence, Hereditary Chief of Miskito
1879–1888 H.E. George William Albert Hendy, Hereditary Chief of Miskito
1888–1889 H.E. Andrew Hendy, Hereditary Chief of Miskito
1889–1890 H.E. Jonathan Charles Frederick, Hereditary Chief of Miskito
1890–1905 H.E. Robert Henry Clarence, Hereditary Chief of Miskito

Inhabitants
The Mosquito Coast was a sparsely populated territory.

Today, what used to be the Miskito Coast of Nicaragua has a population of 400,000 inhabitants, consisting
of 57% Miskito, 22% Creoles (Afro-Europeans), 15% Ladinos, 4% Sumu (Amerindian), 1% Garifuna
(Afro-Indians), 0.5% Chinese and 0.5% Rama (Amerindian).[42]

Religion
Anglicanism and the Moravian Church gained a significant following in the Mosquito Coast.

Early history of the Mosquito Coast also saw minor involvement from the Puritans.

Popular culture
 W. Douglas Burden describes an expedition in search of a silver mine along the coast. The
relevant chapters are "an Outlandish Land" and "Blake's Story" in Look to the
Wilderness.[43]

See also
Garifuna people
Miskito
La Mosquitia
The Mosquito Coast - a 1986 US movie

Footnotes
1. "Mosquito Coast" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070929141401/http://concise.britannica.co
m/ebc/article-9372678/Mosquito-Coast). Encyclopædia Britannica. Britannica Concise
Encyclopedia. Archived from the original (http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9372678/
Mosquito-Coast) on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
2. Naylor, Robert A.; Penny Ante Imperialism: The Mosquito Shore and the Bay of Honduras,
1600–1914: A Case Study in British Informal Empire, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press,
London, 1989, pp. 95–102, 110–112, 144–157
3. Offen, Karl (2002). "The Sambo and Tawira Miskitu: The Colonial Origins and Geography of
Intra-Miskitu Differentiation in Eastern Nicaragua and Honduras". Ethnohistory. 49 (2): 319–
372 [pp. 328–333]. doi:10.1215/00141801-49-2-319 (https://doi.org/10.1215%2F00141801-4
9-2-319). S2CID 162255599 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:162255599).
4. Añoveros, Jesus Maria Garcia (1988). "La presencia franciscana en la Taguzgalpa y la
Tologalpa (La Mosquitia)". Mesoamérica (in Spanish). 9: 58–63.
5. Sorsby, William Shuman; The British Superintendency of the Mosquito Shore, 1749–1787 (h
ttp://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1317875/1/295143.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20140
819102807/http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1317875/1/295143.pdf) 2014-08-19 at the Wayback
Machine, Ph.D. thesis, Faculty of Arts, University College, London, 1969
6. Kupperman, Karen Ordal; Providence Island: The Other Puritan Colony, 1631–41,
Cambridge University Press, 1993
7. Sloane, Hans; A Voyage to the Islands of Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and
Jamaica ..., B. M., London, 1707, pp. lxxvi–lxxvii. According to a conversation held with
Jeremy, the future king in about 1688.
8. M. W.; "The Mosqueto Indian and his Golden River". in Churchill, Ansham; A Collection of
Voyages and Travels, London, 1732, vol. 6, p. 288
9. Helms, Mary (1983). "Miskito Slaving and Culture Contact: Ethnicity and Opportunity in an
Expanding Population". Journal of Anthropological Research. 39 (2): 179–197.
doi:10.1086/jar.39.2.3629966 (https://doi.org/10.1086%2Fjar.39.2.3629966).
JSTOR 3629966 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/3629966). S2CID 163683579 (https://api.sema
nticscholar.org/CorpusID:163683579).
10. Romero Vargas, German; Las Sociedades del Atlántico de Nicaragua en los siglos XVII y
XVIII, Banco Nicaraguënse, Managua, 1995, p. 165
11. M. W.; "The Mosqueto Indian and His Golden River", in Churchill, Anshaw; A Collection of
Voyages and Travels, London, 1728, vol. 6, pp. 285–290
12. M. W.; "Mosketo Indian", p. 293
13. Offen, Karl (2002). "The Sambo and Tawira Miskitu: The Colonial Origins and Geography of
Intra-Miskitu Differentiation in Eastern Nicaragua and Honduras". Ethnohistory. 49 (2): 319–
372. doi:10.1215/00141801-49-2-319 (https://doi.org/10.1215%2F00141801-49-2-319).
S2CID 162255599 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:162255599).
14. Olien, Michael (1998). "General, Governor and Admiral: Three Miskito Lines of Succession".
Ethnohistory. 45 (2): 278–318. doi:10.2307/483061 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F483061).
JSTOR 483061 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/483061).
15. Floyd, Troy S (1967). The Anglo-Spanish Struggle for Mosquitia (https://books.google.com/b
ooks?id=pJhnAAAAMAAJ). University of New Mexico Press. pp. 68–69.
ISBN 9780826300362.
16. Floyd pp. 83-85 (https://books.google.com/books?id=pJhnAAAAMAAJ)
17. Scheina, Robert L.; Latin America's Wars, vol. 1, The Age of the caudillo, 1791–1899,
Potomac Books, Inc., Washington (DC), 2003
18. García, Claudia; Etnogénesis, hibridación y consolidación de la identidad del pueblo
miskitu (https://books.google.com/books?id=sti7L6DXoAcC) CSIC Press, 2007
19. Ezpeleta, Joseph de; Nota del Virrey Ezpeleta sobre Pacificación de la Costa de Mosquitos,
1790, in Pereira, Ricardo S.; Documentos sobre límites de los Estados-Unidos de
Colombia: copiados de los originales que se encuentran en el Archivo de Indias de Sevilla,
y acompañados de breves consideraciones sobre el verdadero Uti possidetis juris de 1810
(http://www.bdigital.unal.edu.co/6890/) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/201408190837
34/http://www.bdigital.unal.edu.co/6890/) 2014-08-19 at the Wayback Machine, Camacho
Roldan y Tamayo, Bogotá, Colombia, 1883, ISBN 9781141811274 Cap. XII (http://www.bdig
ital.unal.edu.co/6890/123/capitulo_xii_costa_de_mosquitos.pdf) Archived (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20140819102711/http://www.bdigital.unal.edu.co/6890/123/capitulo_xii_costa_de
_mosquitos.pdf) 2014-08-19 at the Wayback Machine
20. Pedrote, Enrique S.; El Coronel Hodgson y la Expedición a la Costa de Mosquitos, Anuario
de Estudios Americanos, vol. 23, 1967, pp. 1205–1235
21. Sorsby, William Shuman; Spanish Colonization of the Mosquito Coast, 1787–1800, Revista
de Historia de América, vol. 73/74, 1972, pp. 145–153
22. Dawson, Frank; The Evacuation of the Mosquito Shore and the English Who Stayed
Behind, 1786–1800, The Americas, vol. 55, no. 1, 1998, pp. 63–89
23. Henderson, George; An Account of the British Settlement of Honduras [...], R. Baldwin,
London, 1811 (2nd ed.), p. 219
24. Pereira, Ricardo S.; Documentos sobre límites de los Estados-Unidos de Colombia:
copiados de los originales que se encuentran en el Archivo de Indias de Sevilla, y
acompañados de breves consideraciones sobre el verdadero Uti possidetis juris de 1810 (ht
tp://www.bdigital.unal.edu.co/6890/) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2014081908373
4/http://www.bdigital.unal.edu.co/6890/) 2014-08-19 at the Wayback Machine, Camacho
Roldan y Tamayo, Bogotá, Colombia, 1883, ISBN 9781141811274 Cap. XII (http://www.bdig
ital.unal.edu.co/6890/123/capitulo_xii_costa_de_mosquitos.pdf) Archived (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20140819102711/http://www.bdigital.unal.edu.co/6890/123/capitulo_xii_costa_de
_mosquitos.pdf) 2014-08-19 at the Wayback Machine
25. Correspondence Respecting the Mosquito Shore [...], House of Commons of Great Britain,
London, 1848, p. 46. The names of the signatories are printed on pp. 46-47.
26. The Honduras Almanack for the year of our Lord 1829, Legislative Assembly, Belize, p. 56
27. Naylor, Robert A.; Penny Ante Imperialism: The Mosquito Shore and the Bay of Honduras,
1600–1914: A Case Study in British Informal Empire, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press,
London, 1989, pp. 99–100
28. His grants to them are found in British and Foreign State Papers (1849–50), vol. 38, London,
1862, pp. 687 and 689
29. Naylor, Robert A. (1967). "The Mahogany Trade as a Factor in the British Return to the
Mosquito Shore in the Second Quarter of the Nineteenth Century". Jamaica Historical
Journal. 7: 63–64.
30. Naylor, Robert A.; Penny Ante Imperialism: The Mosquito Shore and the Bay of Honduras,
1600–1914: A Case Study in British Informal Empire, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press,
London, 1989, pp. 103–117; 122–123 on the concessions
31. Cahoon, Ben. "Nicaragua" (http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Nicaragua.htm).
www.worldstatesmen.org. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20170902102305/http://ww
w.worldstatesmen.org/Nicaragua.htm) from the original on 2 September 2017. Retrieved
29 April 2018.
32. Pletcher, David M.; The diplomacy of trade and investment: American economic expansion
in the Hemisphere, 1865-1900, University of Missouri Press, 1998
33. The awakening coast : an anthology of Moravian writings from Mosquitia and eastern
Nicaragua, 1849-1899 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/877868655). Karl Offen, Terry
Rugeley. Lincoln. 2014. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-8032-5449-7. OCLC 877868655 (https://www.worl
dcat.org/oclc/877868655).
34. Memorial Submitted by the Government of Nicaragua, vol. I: Maritime delimitation between
Nicaragua and Honduras in the Caribbean Sea (Nicaragua v. Honduras) (http://www.icj-cij.o
rg/docket/files/120/13719.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20140819102817/http://
www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/120/13719.pdf) 2014-08-19 at the Wayback Machine,
International Court of Justice, 21 March 2001
35. Varela, Raúl; Jefes Hereditarios Miskitos (http://pueblosoriginarios.com/biografias/jefes_mis
kitos.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20150424063628/http://pueblosoriginarios.
com/biografias/jefes_miskitos.html) 2015-04-24 at the Wayback Machine, Pueblos
Originarios de América: Biografías
36. Hale, Charles R. (1994). "Resistance and Contradiction: Miskitu Indians and the Nicaraguan
State, 1894-1987" (https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=26389196). Stanford (CA):
Stanford University. p. 37. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20100420055859/http://ww
w.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o) from the original on 2010-04-20. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
37. Gibbs, Stephen (3 August 2009). "Nicaragua's Miskitos seek independence" (http://news.bb
c.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8181209.stm). BBC News. Retrieved 2010-05-12.
38. "Mosquito Coast Bites Nicaragua's Ortega" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130617160218/h
ttp://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1894376,00.html). Time. 1 May 2009. Archived
from the original (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1894376,00.html) on 17
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39. Rogers, Tim (2011-05-10). "Drugs dilemma on Nicaragua's Mosquito coast" (https://www.bb
c.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13210289). BBC News. Archived (https://web.archive.org/
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original on 2012-01-01.
40. Rogers, Tim (2011-04-14). "Narco-Dividends: White Lobsters on the Mosquito Coast" (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20130608190247/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,206
3261,00.html). Time. Archived from the original (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,859
9,2063261,00.html) on 2013-06-08.
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s.org.uk/archive/news677.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160304031909/htt
p://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news677.htm) 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine,
SchNEWS, no. 677, 2009-05-29
42. "Lenguas indigenas" (http://download.rincondelvago.com/files_pdf/6/6/9/00004669.pdf)
(PDF). Salamanca: El Rincón del Vago. Retrieved 2014-10-01.
43. Burden, W. Douglas (1956). Look to the Wilderness. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
pp. 197–245.

Sources and references

Internet resources
https://web.archive.org/web/20050506032019/http://www.flag.de/FOTW/flags/ni-mc.html –
Mosquito Coast flag
Douglas, James (1867). "Account of the attempt to form a settlement in 1823, on the
Mosquito Shore" (https://archive.today/20130704084923/http://www.transactions.morrin.org/
docsfromclient/books/196/196.html). Transactions. New Series. Literary and Historical
Society of Quebec (5). Archived from the original (http://www.transactions.morrin.org/docsfro
mclient/books/196/196.html) on 2013-07-04. Retrieved 2013-04-27.

Printed sources
Cwik, Christian; Displaced minorities: The Wayuu and Miskito people, in: The Palgrave
Handbook of Ethnicity, Ed.: Steven Ratuva. (London, New York, Singapure, Palgrave
Macmillan 2019) url=http://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-981-130242-
8_117-1
Dozier, Craig; Nicaragua's Mosquito Shore: The Years of British and American Presence,
University of Alabama Press, 1985
Floyd, Troy S.; The Anglo-Spanish Struggle for Mosquitia, University of New Mexico Press,
Albuquerque (NM), 1967
Hale, Charles R. (1994). "Resistance and Contradiction: Miskitu Indians and the Nicaraguan
State, 1894-1987" (https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=26389196). Stanford (CA):
Stanford University.
Helms, Mary (1969). "The Cultural Ecology of a Colonial Tribe". Ethnology. 8 (1): 76–84.
doi:10.2307/3772938 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F3772938). JSTOR 3772938 (https://www.j
stor.org/stable/3772938).
Helms, Mary (1983). "Miskito Slaving and Culture Contact: Ethnicity and Opportunity in an
Expanding Population". Journal of Anthropological Research. 39 (2): 179–197.
doi:10.1086/jar.39.2.3629966 (https://doi.org/10.1086%2Fjar.39.2.3629966).
JSTOR 3629966 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/3629966). S2CID 163683579 (https://api.sema
nticscholar.org/CorpusID:163683579).
Helms, Mary (1986). "Of Kings and Contexts: Ethnohistorical Interpretations of Miskito
Political Structure and Function" (http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/M_Helms_Kings_1986.pdf)
(PDF). American Ethnologist. 13 (3): 506–523. doi:10.1525/ae.1986.13.3.02a00070 (https://
doi.org/10.1525%2Fae.1986.13.3.02a00070).
Ibarra Rojas, Eugenia; Del arco y la flecha a las armas de fuego. Los indios mosquitos y la
historia centroamericana, Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica, San Jose, 2011
Naylor, Robert A.; Penny Ante Imperialism: The Mosquito Shore and the Bay of Honduras,
1600–1914: A Case Study in British Informal Empire, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press,
London, 1989
Offen, Karl (2002). "The Sambo and Tawira Miskitu: The Colonial Origins and Geography of
Intra-Miskitu Differentiation in Eastern Nicaragua and Honduras". Ethnohistory. 49 (2): 319–
372. doi:10.1215/00141801-49-2-319 (https://doi.org/10.1215%2F00141801-49-2-319).
S2CID 162255599 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:162255599).
 Olien, Michael; The Miskito Kings and the Line of Succession, Journal of Anthropological
Research, vol. 39, no. 2, 1983, pp. 198–241
Olien, Michael; Micro/Macro-Level Linkages: Regional Political Structure on the Mosquito
Coast, 1845–1864, Ethnohistory, vol. 34, no. 3, 1987, pp. 256–287
Olien, Michael; General, Governor and Admiral: Three Miskito Lines of Succession,
Ethnohistory, vol. 45, no. 2, 1998, pp. 278–318
Potthast, Barbara; Die Mosquitoküste im Spannungsfeld Britischer und Spanischer Politik,
1502–1821, Bölau., Cologne, 1988
Romero Vargas, Germán; Las Sociedades del Atlántico de Nicaragua en los siglos XVII y
XVIII, Banco Nicaraguënse, Managua, 1995

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