Formation of the Kingdom of Mosquitia
The existence of a polity always has an event that marks its beginning. For example, the United States of America came into existence with 'The unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America', which was adapted on July 4, 1776; the current Jamaican polity came into existence with the 'Jamaica Independence Act 1962', which took effect on August 6, 1962; and the current Belizean polity came into existence with the 'Belize Act 1981', which took effect on September 21, 1981.
As for Moskitia, its existence then as a kingdom can be marked with the return of Oldham from London in 1637, who became the first Wihta Tara (Great Chief) to officially adapt the title of 'king'.
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First, although the Moskitian Dynasty, or House of Moskitia, had more than a dozen different leaders spanning over more than 260 years, not all of them ruled over the same state or polity, nor did all of them hold the same title. Only eight leaders of the Moskitian Dynasty ruled over the Kingdom of Mosquitia directly, starting with Oldham, who was the first to adapt the title of 'king', until George Augustus Frederic on the 13th of September 1861, when he adapted, or was forced to adapt, the 'Municipal Constitution for the Government of the Mosquito Reservation', and changed his title to 'Heredity Chief'.
Oldham was the son of an unnamed Wihta Tara, who sent him to London in 1634, where he lived for three years with Robert Rich (1587–1658), the Second Earl of Warwick, chairman of the Providence Island Company (1630–1641).
Oldham's father died sometime after October 1636, and Oldham returned from London in the first quarter of 1637. As the new leader of the Moskitian Dynasty and society, he declared both to be under the protection of the English King, Charles the First of England (1625–1649). The exact words that were used by Sir Hans Sloane for this part of the account, which he recorded second-hand from King Jeremy, son of Oldham, were as follows: "Upon the return of the said Indian Prince, they persuaded him to resign up his Authority and Power over them, and (with them) unanimously declared themselves the subjects of his said Majesty of Great Britain, in which opinion they have ever since persisted, and do own no other Supreme Command over them." This, then, was the commencement of a new polity, a new era, one that was declared by Oldham with the consent of his people.
Years later, after the English conquest of Jamaica (1655), which he supported by sending soldiers thither, Oldham travelled again to London in 1666 and was invited to the court of King Charles the Second of England (1660–1685), "from whom he met with the most gracious reception [and] who had him often with him on his private parties of pleasure, admired his activity, strength, and many accomplishments; and not only defrayed every expense attending himself and his retinue from and to the Mosquito Shore, but loaded him and them with presents, which were ever afterwards spoken of in the highest terms of admiration and to the honour of England." Oldham also received a request from King Charles II, in writing, before leaving London, to “kindly” “relieve such strangling Englishmen as should chance to come that way, with plantains, fish, and turtle.” Oldham thus made his country, to use the words of Robert White, "a military, federal, protected province of Great Britain." Military because the British had always maintained a base of fortification in Moskitia, with the first "place of defence" being erected at King's Cape (Cabo Gracias a Dios) in 1633 by Sussex Cammock, captain of the Golden Falcon for the Providence Island Company; federal because, beside allowing the British to live in Moskitia, they also admired and adapted some of their laws; and protected province because the kings had always requested and declared British protection over the country.
Oldham's death in 1686 marked the end of the birth of the Kingdom of Mosquitia.
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