Indigenous people of Central America
The Miskitos are a native people in Central America. Their territory extends from Cape Camarón, Honduras, to Río Grande de Matagalpa, Nicaragua, along the Mosquito Coast, in the Western Caribbean zone. Their population was estimated in 2024 as 535,225, with 456,000 living in Nicaragua.
The Miskito people speak the Miskito language and Miskito Coast Creole. Most also speak other languages, such as Spanish, English, and German. Spanish is the language of education and government, but some families educate their children in English, German, or Miskito. Miskito Coast Creole, an English-based creole language, came about through frequent contact with the British for trading, as they predominated along this coast from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Many Miskitos are Christians. A 1987 peace agreement afforded them land rights over traditional lands. However, despite significant political struggles throughout their history, today the Miskito face human rights violations over land rights disputes, as recognized by the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights.
Etymology.
“Miskito” derives from the term "Miskut uplikanan" ("people of Miskut"). Miskut was a legendary Miskito patriarch or great leader.
History.
Before the arrival of Europeans in the region in the early 16th century, the area was divided into numerous small egalitarian native American groups speaking old Miskito language. The Spanish listed 30 nations in Taguzgalpa and Tologalpa, as the Spanish understood their geography. Karl Offen's analysis of this historic data suggests there were about a half dozen entities, groups who were distinct by their language dialects, who were situated in the river basins. Much of the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua and Honduras remained free from Spanish authority during the 16th century. The region became a haven for Dutch, English and Welsh privateers (for example Henry Morgan, Daniel Montbars and William Dampier) during the early 17th century.
Some African people arrived at the Mosquito Coast from wrecked slave ships in the mid-17th century. These people, along with escaped slaves from the Providence Island colony, settled around Cape Gracias a Dios and intermarried with the indigenous people. The Spanish referred to these mixed-race descendants as "Mosquito Zambo" ("Mosquito" was their transliteration of Miskito). Those living in the southern (Nicaraguan) region were less racially mixed. Modern scholars have classified them as Tawira Miskito. Rivalries between these two groups and competition for territory often led to wars, which were divisive in the 18th century.
British-Miskito alliance.
English privateers working through the Providence Island Company made informal alliances with the Miskito. These English began to crown Miskito leaders as kings (or chiefs); their territory was called the Miskito Kingdom (the English adopted the Spanish term for the indigenous people). A 1699 written account of the kingdom described it as spread out in various communities along the coast but not including all the territory. It probably did not include the settlements of English traders. The king did not have total power. The 1699 description noted that the kings and governors had no power except in war time, even in matters of justice. Otherwise the people were all equal. Their superior leaders were named by the English as the king, a governor, a general and, by the 1750s, an admiral. Historical information on kings is often obscure as many of the kings were semi-mythical. These "kings" were not recognized by the Native American Tawira Miskito.
In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Miskitos began a series of raids attacking Spanish-held territories and the still independent indigenous groups in the area. Miskito raiders reached as far north as the Yucatán, and as far south as Costa Rica. Many of their captives were sold into slavery to European slave traders (even as the Zambo were originally slaves themselves), and many of them ended up working on Jamaican sugar plantations. In addition, from 1720 onwards, the Jamaican colonial authorities commissioned the Miskito to capture Maroons in the Blue Mountains, as they were effective trackers. The Zambos were one of the primary drivers of slave-based depopulation of the area.
The Zambo Miskito leader and the British concluded a formal Treaty of Friendship and Alliance in 1740. The British appointed John Hodgson as Superintendent of the Shore. The British established a protectorate over the Miskito Nation, often called the Mosquito Coast (related to the original Spanish name).
The Miskito kingdom aided Britain during the American War of Independence by attacking Spanish colonies to draw off their forces. It gained several victories alongside the British. But, at the conclusion of the peace in 1783, Britain had to cede control over the coast to Spain. The British withdrawal was completed at the end of June 1787. To compensate their Miskito supporters, the British re-settled 537 Zambo Africans often misnamed Miskitos, together with their 1,677 Native American slaves, from Mosquitia to the Bay settlement in British Honduras, present-day Belize. Despite their official withdrawal, Britain maintained an unofficial protectorate over the kingdom. They often intervened to protect Miskito interests against Spanish encroachments.
Independence era.
In addition to the area's geographic isolation, the Miskito military capacity and British support allowed the people to retain their independence when Spain controlled the Pacific side of Central America. The Miskito Coast remained independent throughout much of the period of the Federal Republic of Central America, but Nicaragua finally absorbed the territory in 1894.
Once the Central American republics became independent in the early- to mid-19th century, they had less power in relation to other nations than did Spain, and struggled to protect their own territorial interests against filibusters and the United States government, which took an increasing strategic interest in the area.
The United Kingdom took an interest in the affairs on the Mosquito Coast, as it had trade positions in Belize/British Honduras and Jamaica. In addition, US trading interests began to develop in the region. British governors in Belize began issuing commissions and appointments to Miskito kings and other officials, such as King Robert Charles Frederick, crowned in Belize in 1825. British officials regularly officially recognized the various Miskito offices; it worked to protect Miskito interests against the Central American republics and against the United States.
The latter contested British influence as per the Monroe Doctrine. The United States involvement in war with Mexico prevented it from enforcing the doctrine. As Britain gradually became less interested in its commissioning of Miskito nobility, the Miskito effectively began to operate as an independent state. Due to British economic interest in Central America (particularly British Honduras, now Belize), they regularly traded with the Miskito.
After Nicaragua declared independence in 1821, combined Miskito-Zambo raiders began to attack Honduran settlements. They sometimes rescued enslaved Miskito before they could transported beyond their reach. They also enslaved women from other tribes for use as sexual partners.
Their society allowed polygamy. The Miskito population boomed as the men had more children with their slave women. These raids continued for many years after animosity between Britain and Spain ended at the international level. For a long time, the Miskito considered themselves superior to other indigenous tribes of the area, whom they referred to as "wild". The Miskito commonly adopted European dress and English names.
From the middle of the nineteenth century, British interest in the region began to wane. At the Treaty of Managua in 1860, the United Kingdom allowed Nicaragua to have uncontested claim over the Mosquito Coast. The treaty provided for a Miskito Reserve, a self-governing entity that enjoyed semi-sovereign rights. Nicaraguan forces occupied the area in 1894 and took over the state. The British restored the Miskito Reserve in July, but Nicaraguan forces reoccupied in August 1894 and ended its independence.
Various major American fruit companies (such as the United Fruit Company, which had begun large-scale production of bananas in the Miskito Reserve) supported Nicaragua's takeover of power in the area. The American companies preferred Nicaraguan authority to the Miskito, especially as the Miskito elite was more prepared to protect the rights of small landholders than was the Nicaragua government.
20th century.
Early 20th century.
The Miskito who lived in the Jinotega Department, west of the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, were much different from the Miskito who lived along the Caribbean coast. The Miskito in Jinotega were Catholic as a result of Spanish colonial influence, were not allied with the British, and often traded with the Spanish-speaking mestizos from the Pacific coast.
During the conflict in 1927–1933 between Augusto César Sandino and the United States over the United States occupation of Nicaragua, both sides tried to enlist the Miskito in providing food and transport. In 1926, many Miskito in the Jinotega region joined Augusto Sandino and his troops. The Miskito of Jinotega had closer ties with Sandino and the Sandinista National Liberation Front, which organized agricultural cooperatives and built schools and health centers in the area.
During the 1960s and the 1970s, Nicaragua began to expropriate native-held land for nationalization. During these decades, the mainstream of Nicaraguan national politics recognized the Miskito only when asking them to vote for the Nicaraguan National Liberal Party.
Political conflict in the 1980s.
In the 1980s, the Sandinista government extended their influence over the region via its "Comités de Defensa Sandinista". In response, several Miskito groups formed counter-revolutionary squads, who carried on terrorist attacks against the revolutionary government. On 25 February 1982, Steadman Fagoth, one of the counter-revolutionary leaders, took refuge in Honduras along with 3000 Miskito. Meanwhile, the Sandinistas began to denounce the activities of the Contras in the Coco River zone. In 1983, the government proclaimed a state of emergency in the Río Coco zone, which was maintained until 1988.
A 1986 documentary called "Nicaragua Was Our Home" documented the persecution of the Miskito at the hands of the Nicaraguan government. The film features interviews with Miskito Indian people and some non-Miskito clergy who lived among them; they recounted actions of the government against them, including bombing of villages, shootings, and forced removal of people from their homes. The film was shown on some PBS stations and at the 1986 Sundance Film Festival.
In September 1987, the Nicaraguan legislature passed a statute providing autonomy to the Miskito. This essentially defused Miskito resistance.
1990s.
In 1990 the Sandinistas were defeated in national elections. The Miskito signed an agreement with the newly appointed Minister of the Interior, Carlos Hurtado, to create "security zones," prepare the return of the national police forces to the region, and integrate 50 Miskito into the police force.
Brooklyn Rivera, one of the Miskito guerrilla leaders, became the director of the INDERA (Nicaraguan Institute of Development of Autonomous Regions), an illegal structure under the 1987 law on autonomy. The government suppressed the INDERA a few years later, allegedly because of conflict between the Miskito and other native groups
21st century.
Despite the 1987 peace agreement affording the Miskito people substantial territory, conflict over land rights remains. Increasing waves of settlers have relocated to ancestral Miskito lands as a result of drought and attraction to gold and timber. Illegal purchases of indigenous lands afforded the settling farmers void land rights. Violence between settlers and Miskito, Rama, and Ulwa people have led to the burning of villages, rape of women, kidnappings and the death of at least 30. Approximately 600 indigenous people have fled to Honduras.
Both sides acknowledge that the Nicaraguan government has not worked to ameliorate this conflict. The Inter-American Commission for Human Rights repeatedly called for action in order to protect the Miskitos, to no governmental response. President Daniel Ortega has acknowledged that Miskito land claims are legitimate, and any land sales were not legal. The government arrested various public notaries for the authorization of illegal land sales, and created a special commission over the issue under the prosecutor general. However, the government has not addressed the violence. The public officials implicated in illegal land sales were Sandinistas, members of Ortega's own party.
Declaration of independence.
In April 2009 a group of Miskito elders declared independence from Nicaragua under the name Community Nation of Moskitia. This declaration has not been met with any formal response from the government of Nicaragua nor has it been recognised by any other state. The independence movement is led by Hector Williams, who is described as the leader of the Miskito and uses the title "Wihta Tara," or Great Judge. They cited as reasons for their renewed desire for independence the serious economic problems damaging their traditional fishing industry and the recent election of Daniel Ortega as president of Nicaragua. Many of them had fought as Contras against him during the Nicaraguan Civil War and still opposed him. Thus,