In the early 17th century. British pirates began using coastal estuaries as hideouts. They then turned to extracting the region’s natural hardwoods in association with the indigenous communities along the coast that became known as Miskitu. The British traded firearms and metal tools with the coastal indigenous peoples in exchange for marine products and lumber. Having acquired guns, these groups began serving as guerrilla forces in British raids against the Spanish in exchange for more weapons. This may have led to the eventual name of the group. In addition to other possible origins, such as a connection with Muisca people of Costa Rica, the name ‘Miskitu’ may be more related to the word musketeros, meaning ‘the people with muskets’.
More guns allowed Miskitu to expand. This included conducting very long-distance raids into Spanish settlements and along the Yucatán to meet British settler demands for indigenous forced labour. It especially helped to expand and secure an independent state supported by imperial Britain.
By the 1700s Miskitu had become a regionally dominant mixed culture with various languages and ethnic groups who all lived together. The culture was polygamous and had a form of social organization based on kin groups. Communities were matriarchal, women did the agricultural and community work; property was communal and government was effected by the council of elders.
The growing Miskitu empire developed a monarchy. The king and the royal court were dominated by Zambos and the military was run by the Tawira. During the 18th and 19th centuries Miskitu eventually came to occupy most of the present-day north and eastern RACN and established scattered settlements in the northeastern portion of RACS.
In 1845, the British organized proxy colonial rule via the Miskitu kingdom including crowning of a British educated Zambo king and subsequently claiming Miskitu territory as a British protectorate. However, in 1894 the structure was dissolved following the annexation of the Atlantic region by President José Santos Zelaya. For almost 240 years, Miskitu had been able to maintain their autonomy and independence from Spain, the Federation of Central American States as well as from Nicaragua itself and this would prove hard to forget.
Although for the first time, opportunities were being created for Atlantic coast indigenous communities to campaign for their rights, the troubled bi-coastal history caused distrust of Sandinista plans. Events were seen as merely a change of government in the ‘Spanish’ part of the country and this was compounded by a lack of understanding of the region on the part of the new regime.
For example, government supported social services threatened long-established indigenous community authorities like the Moravian Church; Sandinistas offended Miskitu groups by the imposition of the Spanish language in the literacy campaign. MISURASATA (Miskitu, Sumu, and Rama Sandinista Alliance), a Miskitu-dominated popular organizations, which served as the only link between indigenous communities and the Sandinista government promoted their own Miskitu agenda and was not trusted by the government, specifically since few MISURASATA leaders and activists were actually Sandinistas.
By 1981, large numbers of Miskitu were in open revolt against the government and war resulted. Some were forcibly relocated by the Sandinistas. Around 40,000 Miskitu went into exile in Honduras during the fighting and others joined the US-backed contras. The threat of large-scale Miskitu participation in the civil war forced major re-analysis by the national government which led to the initial ceasefire in 1985. This was followed by two years of discussions and the production of the 1987 Autonomy Law of the Atlantic coast – a direct attempt to achieve peace in the region and the country.
