Miskito

Miskito
Total population
150,000-200,000
Regions with significant populations
Nicaragua, Honduras
Languages
Miskito, Spanish, Miskito Creole English
Religions
Christianity, other
Related ethnic groups
Garifuna, Maroons, Afro-Caribbeans

The Miskitos are indigenous people in Central America. Their territory expands from Cape Camarón, Honduras, to Rio Grande, Nicaragua along the Mosquito Coast. There is a native Miskito language, but large groups speak Miskito creole English, Spanish, and other languages. The creole English came about through frequent contact with the British. Many are Christians.

History

File:Mapa Miskito.png

Miskito distribution (in red)

Early history

The Miskito Nation came into being as a state sometime before 1625. Its first recorded king was Oldman, son of an unnamed king of the Miskitos. First contact with the English was made during the reign of King Oldman's father, who sent him to Britain where he received an audience with King Charles I.

The Miskito king and the British concluded a formal Treaty of Friendship and Alliance in 1740 followed by the appointment of a resident Superintendent in 1749. A protectorate was established over the Miskito Nation, often called the Mosquito Coast.

Traditional Miskito society was highly structured, with a defined political structure. There was a king but he did not have total power. Instead, the power was split between him, a governor, a general, and by the 1750s, an admiral. Historical information on kings is often obscured by the fact that many of the kings were semi-mythical.

The Miskito kingdom aided Britain during the American Revolutionary War by attacking Spanish colonies and gained several victories alongside the British. However, at the conclusion of the peace in 1783, Britain had to relinquish control over the coast. The British withdrawal was completed at the end of June 1787. Despite the withdrawal, Britain maintained an unofficial protectorate over the kingdom, often intervening to protect Miskito interests against Spanish encroachments.

Spanish settlers first began to arrive in Miskito land in 1787, but the Miskitos continued to dominate the area because of their numbers and the experienced military. Also, the Miskito territory is very inaccessible, and was therefore little affected by the Spanish conquest of the area. Their political structure allowed the Miskito people to retain their independence all through Spanish rule and through the Federation of Central American States.

Due to British economic interest in Central America (particularly British Honduras, now called Belize), the Miskitos were able to acquire guns and other modern weapons. After Nicaragua was declared in 1821, combined Miskito-Zambo raiders began to attack Spanish settlements in Honduras, often to rescue enslaved Miskitos before they were shipped to Europe, but often also to enslave other Amerindians to sell to the British to work in Jamaica. They also enslaved women from other tribes. Due to the allowance of polygamy and the added number of women from these slave raids, the Miskito population boomed. These raids continued for many years after any animosity between Britain and Spain ended. The Miskitos, for a long time, considered themselves superior to other tribes of the area, whom they referred to as "wild." European dress and English names were popular among the Miskitos.

The Spanish were absorbed into Nicaragua in 1894. From the middle of the nineteenth century onwards, British interest in the region began to wane. The state ceased to exist in 1894 when it was occupied by Nicaragua. It was restored by the British in July that same year but reoccupied by Nicaragua in August.

The Miskitos who lived in the Jinotega department, west of the Región Autónoma del Atlántico Norte, were much different than the Miskitos who lived along the Caribbean coast. The Miskitos in Jintoega were Catholic and were not influenced by the British, they often traded with the Spanish-speaking mestizos from the Pacific coast. During the conflict in 1927-1933 between Augusto Sandino and the United States over the U.S. occupation of Nicaragua, the Miskitos were asked by both sides to provide food and transport. Many Miskitos in the Jinotega region joined Augusto Sandino and his troops in 1926. As opposed to the Miskitos of the Caribbean coast, the Miskitos of Jinotega had closer ties with Sandino as well as the FSLN, which organized agricultural cooperatives and built schools and health centers in the area.

Twentieth century

The presence of the state in the regions where Miskitos lived was reinforced during the 1960s and the 1970s, leading to expropriation of native-held land. During these decades, the Miskitos' only encounter with national politics was to be firmly asked to vote for the National Liberal Party. The fall of Anastasio Somoza led to some improvement of the living conditions of the Miskitos, who looted the possessions of traders who fled to Honduras or to the Jinotega region. The new Sandinista regime established health clinics, schools and projects supporting agricultural development, while Miskito youths were engaged in the armed forces. Others were given access to education. The creation of Comités de Defensa Sandinista (CDS) also lead to an extension of the state in these regions. The Miskitos, who had been subject to pervasive racism before, were assimilated by the Sandinistas to the exploited classes, granting them a new dignity.

Despite these changes, or perhaps because of them, several Miskito groups eventually formed guerrilla in the 1980s, which carried on armed struggle against the central government. The Misurasata appeared among the Miskito, Sumo and Rama Amerindian peoples of Nicaragua's Atlantic coast (the name Misurasata stood for Miskito, Sumo, Rama, SANDANISTA WORKING TOGETHER), who in December 1981 found themselves in conflict with the authorities following the government's efforts to nationalize Indian land. They had a number of grievances against the Sandinistas, including:

• Unilateral natural resource exploitation policies which denied Indians access to much of their traditional land base and severely restricted their subsistence activities.
• Forced removal of at least 10,000 Indians from their traditional lands to relocation centers in the interior of the country, and subsequent burning of some villages.
• Economic embargoes and blockades against native villages not sympathetic to the government.

On 25 February 1982, Steadman Fagoth, one of the guerrilla leaders, fled to Honduras along with 3,000 Miskitos, while the Sandinistas began to denounce the incursion of Contras in the Rio Coco zone. The Miskitos occupied the village of San Carlos during the "Red December" (20-21 December 1982) during which several Sandinista soldiers were killed. In retaliation, the state massacred 30 Miskitos in the following days, prompting many of them to escape to Honduras to live in a difficult state of exile. The state of emergency in the Rio Coco zone was proclaimed in 1983, and lasted until 1988. In 1983 the Misurasata movement, led by Brooklyn Rivera, split, with the breakaway Misura group of Stedman Fagoth allying itself more closely with the FDN, one of the first Contra commanded by Enrique Bermúdez. A subsequent autonomy statute in September 1987 largely defused Miskito resistance.

In 1992, after the Sandinistas' defeat during the elections, the Miskito insurgents signed an agreement with the Minister of the Interior, Carlos Hurtado, creating "security zones," preparing the return of the police forces to the region and the integration of 50 Miskitos to the police force. Brooklyn Rivera, one of the Miskito guerrilla leaders, became the director of the INDERA (Nicaraguayan Institute of Development of Autonomous Regions), an illegal structure regarding the 1987 law on autonomy still in force in Nicaragua. The INDERA was suppressed a few years later, allegedly because of opposition between Miskitos and other native groups

Culture

Miskito Livelihood

Miskito Indians living on the coast of Nicaragua once hunted green turtles in the context of a traditional subsistence economy. Turtle fishing was combined with agriculture, hunting, fishing and gathering. Subsistence activities were timed to harmonize with seasonal fluctuations and resource availability.

Turtles were traditionally harpooned. The harpoon was eight to ten feet in length and attached to a strong line. Turtlemen traveled in a small, seagoing canoe, often in hazardous weather conditions, using complex metal maps and systems of navigation to locate the turtles. A hunting party consisted of two men: a "strikerman" in the bow, and the "captain" in the stern. Turtles were intercepted in the area between their sleeping shoals and feeding banks as they surfaced for air. When the turtle had been harpooned, it would pull the canoe along at high speeds in an effort to escape, until it tired and could be pulled alongside the canoe.

Exposure to international markets led to a change in hunting methods. Hunting activities became market focused instead of subsistence focused. Commercial enterprises were established by foreign companies, and the skills of Miskito turtlemen were utilized to facilitate intensive harvesting of green turtle populations. A series of economic booms and busts led to serious depletion of green turtle populations, and villagers were confronted with rising social tensions and an increased dependence on a scarce resource

The export of 'Panulirus argus' or lobsters, is one of the Miskito's main bread winners. These expensive exports have provide jobs and livelihoods for countless Miskito families for generations. From August to May (Lobster season), many of the adult Miskito men dive, and the younger males accompany them in small boats known as 'cayucos', floating alongside the larger lobster boats. Being promoted from the cayuco to actually diving is considered a rite of passage in the Honduran Miskito culture. In 2002, according to sources of the Honduran Central Bank, lobster exports brought in 31 million dollars in state revenues.

Dampier's Tale of the Miskito Indians

The following account by William Dampier from A New Voyage Round the World (first published in London, 1697) dates from 1681, when he landed on the southern coast of Panama, (then called Darien). In the narrative, Dampier pays homage to the fishing and farming skills of the Miskito, as well as notes several observations on their customs.

"...When we had rowed and towed against the Wind all night; we just got about Cape St. Lorenzo in the morning; and sailed about 4 miles farther to the Westward, and run into a small Creek within two Keys, or little Islands, and rowed up to the Head of the Creek, being about a Mile up, and there we landed May 1681. We got out all our Provision and Cloaths, and then sunk our Vessel. While we were landing and fixing our Snap -sacks to march, our Moskito Indians struck a plentiful Dish of Fish, which we immediately drest, and therewith satisfied our Hunger.

"Having made mention of the Moskito Indians, it may not be amiss to conclude this Chapter with a short account of them. They are tall, well- made, raw -bon'd, lusty, strong, and nimble of Foot, long -visaged, lank black Hair, look stern, hard favour'd, and of a dark Copper- colour Complexion. They are but a small Nation or Family, and not 100 Men of them in Number, inhabiting on the Main on the North-side, near Cape Gratia Dios; between Cape Honduras and Nicaragua.

"They are very ingenious at throwing the Lance, Fisgig, Harpoon, or any manner of Dart, being bred to it from their Infancy; for the Children imitating their Parents, never go abroad without a Lance in their Hands, which they throw at any Object, till use hath made them masters of the Art. Then they learn to put by a Lance, Arrow, or Dart: The manner is thus. Two boys stand at a small distance, and dart a blunt stick at one another; each of them holding a small stick in his right hand, with which he strikes away that which was darted at him. As they grow in years they become more dexterous and courageous, and then they will stand a fair mark, to any one that will shoot Arrows at them; which they will put by with a very small stick, no bigger than the Rod (2) of a Fowling-piece; and when they are grown to be Men, they will guard themselves from Arrows, tho they come very thick at them, provided two do not happen to come at once. They have extraordinary good Eyes, and will discry a Sail at Sea farther, and see any thing, better than we.

"Their chiefest employment in their own Country is to strike Fish, Turtle or Manatee, the manner of which I describe elsewhere, Chap. 3. For this they are esteemed and coveted by all Privateers; for one or two of them in a Ship, will maintain 100 Men: So that when we careen our Ships, we choose commonly such places, where there is plenty of Turtle or Manatee for these Moskito Men to strike; and it is very rare to find Privateers destitute of one or more of them, when the Commander, or most of the Men are English; but they do not love the French, and the Spaniards they hate mortally. When they come among Privateers they get the use of Guns, and prove very good marks Men; they behave themselves very bold in fight, and never seem to flinch nor hang back; for they think that the white Men with whom they are, know better than they do when it is best to fight, and let the disadvantage of their party be never so great, they will never yield nor give back while any of their party stand.

"I could never perceive any Religion nor any Ceremonies, or superstitious Observations among them, being ready to imitate us in whatsoever they saw us do at any time. Only they seem to fear the Devil, whom they call Wallesaw; and they say he often appears to some among them, whom our Men commonly call their Priest, when they desire to speak with him on urgent business; but the rest know not any thing of him, nor how he appears, otherwise than as these Priests tell them. Yet they all say they must not anger him, for then he will beat them, and that sometimes he carries away these their Priests. Thus much I have heard from some of them who speak good English.

"They marry but one Wife, with whom they live till death separates them. At their first coming together, the Man makes a very small Plantation, (3) for there is Land enough, and they may choose what spot they please. They delight to settle near the Sea, or by some River, for the sake of striking Fish, their beloved employment.

"Far within land there are other Indians, with whom they are always at War [4]. After the Man hath cleared a spot of Land, and hath planted it, he seldom minds it afterward, but leaves the managing of it to his Wife, and he goes out a striking. Sometimes he seeks only for Fish, at other times for Turtle, or Manatee, and whatever he gets he brings home to his Wife, and never stirs out to seek for more till it is all eaten. When hunger begins to bite, he either takes his Canoa and seeks for more game at Sea, or walks out into the Woods and hunts about for Peccary, [5] Waree, (6) each a sort of wild Hogs, or Deer; and seldom returns empty handed, nor seeks for any more so long as any of it lasts.

"Their Plantations are so small, that they cannot subsist with what they produce: for their largest Plantations have not above 20 or 30 Plantain Trees, a bed of Yams and Potatoes, a bush of Indian Pepper, and a small spot of Pine-apples; which last fruit is a main thing they delight in, for with these they make a sort of drink which our men call Pine-drink, much esteemed by these Moskito's, and to which they invite each other to be merry, providing Fish and Flesh also. Whoever of them makes of this Liquor treats his Neighbours, making a little Canoa full at a time, and so enough to make them all drunk; and it is seldom that such Feasts are made, but the party that makes them hath some design, either to be revenged for some injury done him, or to debate of such differences as have happened between him and his Neighbours, and to examine into the truth of such matters. Yet before they are warmed with drink, they never speak one word of their grievances: and the women,. who commonly know their Husbands designs, prevent them from doing any injury to each other by hiding their Lances, Harpoons, Bows and Arrows, or any other weapon that they have.

"These Moskito's are in general very civil and kind to the English, of whom they receive a great deal of respect, both when they are aboard their Ships, and also ashore either in Jamaica, or elsewhere, whither they often come with the Seamen. We always humour them, letting them go any whither as they will, and return to their country in any Vessel bound that way, if they please. They will have the management of themselves in their striking, and will go in their own little Canoa, which our men could not go in without danger of oversetting; nor will they then let any white man come in their Canoa, but will go a striking in it just as they please: All which we allow them. For should we cross them, tho' they should see shoals of Fish, or Turtle, or the like, they will purposely strike their Harpoons and Turtle-irons aside, or so glance them as to kill nothing. They have no form of Government among them, and acknowledge the King of England for their sovereign: They learn our language, and take the Governour of Jamaica to be one of the greatest princes in the world..."

Miskito Folklore

Like many Native American ethnic groups, the Miskitos have a very longstanding oral tradition of passing down stories and their history from generation to generation. One of the most notable tales is of a Miskito man's journey into the afterlife. A Miskito man named Nakili had lost his wife who he loved very much. While visiting her grave, he found her soul, and began preparing for her journey to the afterlife. The husband desperately wanted to accompany her but called to him that it was impossible since he still breathed life, but the husband insisted and could not be convinced otherwise to remain in this world. So after they began the journey together, she guided him and led him down a narrow footpath that he never had seen before, and they arrived at a sacred place where many birds of prey were flying in a circle. She was startled, but he chased them off and they continued their trip. After awhile the trail passed between two pines that were so close together that the wife's soul could barely pass between them, whereas the husband being the size of a normal person, could not get through. So he decided to circumvent them.

They continued on until they arrived at a precipice that could be only crossed by a bridge no wide than that of a human hair. Beneath the bridge was a huge pot of scalding water, tended to by the birds of prey. The soul of the wife weighed little and was small enough to pass the narrow bridge, but Nakili crossed it with a single leap.

Later they arrived at a great river where they found a birchbark canoe operated by four talking toads. In the water they watched a vast array of fish, specifically sardines called Blim or Bilim or Bilam, which the soul mistook for baby sharks. Across the river Nakili and his wife's soul saw the world of the afterlife, where it appeared that everybody was very happy and peaceful. However, when the souls of people who did not lead lives filled with high scruples and virtue tried to cross, the canoe would topple over and the sardines would devour them. The toads safely ferried the wife's soul across in the canoe, but the man had to reach the other side on his own and swam behind the canoe.

There they were then welcomed by Más Allá, a holy woman with large breasts, to whom the inhabitants arrived once in a while to nurse from. Más Allá was displeased to see Nakili and ordered to him to return to the Earth plane. He begged to stay by his wife's side and his fierce devotion to her swayed Más Allá to let him stay in the astral plane.

In the afterlife, nobody had to work for their livelihood. There was abundant food and things to drink, and many types of diversions. After awhile, Nakili got homesick to visit his children, so Más Allá granted him the ability to return to Earth on the condition that he would not try to come back to the afterlife until the death of his own body, to which he heartily agreed.

She set him asail on a great piece of bamboo, which washed him with the tide back to the shores beside his house.

Contemporary Miskitos

Today, the Miskito people stand to lose access to the Pearl Cays, an archipelago upon which they have relied for centuries, because the ownership of several of the islands is being claimed by a US property developer who is selling or leasing what he asserts as his rights to the public. The Center for Legal Assistance for Indigenous Peoples (CALPI) found that the developer paid $35,000 for the Keys, and is selling them for a total of about $2.5 million. According to CALPI, the American developer did not have title to the land because it is subject to Article 36 of the Nicaraguan constitution.

In 1998, Hurricane Mitch heavily affected regions where Miskitos live. In September of 2007, Category 5 Hurricane Felix with peak sustained winds of 160 mph struck the coast near Punta Gorda, Nicaragua. Damage and death toll estimates were considerable.

Climate change is having a devastating effect on the Miskito Indians, especially those dwelling in wooden huts in the western territories. They subsist on crops planted on a few hectares of land and food hunted from the jungle and rivers, but severe drought is threatening their livelihood as much as the extreme opposite influx of hurricanes. Environmental researchers are warning that the effect of climate change is likely to hit indigenous communities like the Miskito the hardest. Of many native communities, they are likely the least equipped to handle such devastatingly mutable weather conditions, as they are completely powerless and vulnerable to these highly unstable weather patterns. Their very survival could depend on their ability to adapt to climate changes, which have altered the way they have farmed for centuries.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Casper, Bernard, & Salvatore Schlaefer. 2007. A Grammar of the Miskito Language. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 9781432562816
• Ortiz, Roxanne. 1988. The Miskito Indians of Nicaragua (The Minority Rights Group Report 79). Public Interest Pubn. ISBN 9780946690596
• Rohmer, Harriet, & Octavio Chow. 1997. The Invisible Hunters. Children's Book Press. ISBN 9780892391097
• Stonich, Susan C. 2001. Endangered peoples of Latin America: struggles to survive and thrive. Greenwood Press. ISBN 031330856X

External links

• Dampier, William (1681) The Miskito Indians Athena Review Vol.1, no.2. from A New Voyage Round the World (first published in London, 1697) Retrieved November 23, 2007.
• Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Left-Wing Revolution, Right-Wing Reaction, and the Destruction of lndigenous Peoples Ward Churchill and Glennn T. Morris. Retrieved November 4, 2007.
• Honduras: Death Looms Over Miskito Lobster Divers Giovanna Tassi Retrieved November 24, 2007.

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