The Kingdom of Mosquitia: Wars, Peace, and Independence between Empires

Before the United States of America became independent by issuing the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, and being officially acknowledged by Great Britain under the Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, Moskitia was already the first independent country in the Americas.

The independence of Moskitia was diplomatically recognised by the Kingdom of England as early as 1666, when King Oldham visited London and was received at the Court of King Charles II of England, and again in 1687, when King Jeremy visited Jamaica and requested English protection over the country during the reign of James II of England. This somewhat informal political tie between Moskitia and England was formalised under the Declaration of Edward, or the Treaty of Senock Dawkra, better known as the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, signed on March 16, 1740. This treaty was signed after Spain declared war on Moskitia on August 30, 1739, to "dislodge and exterminate these Indians and the English and other foreigners who sustain them". The war commenced. And many battles were fought over a period of over two decades. The English ended hostilities against the Spanish with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763, wherein "His Britannick Majesty" agreed to demolish "all the fortifications which his subjects" had "erected in the bay of Honduras and other places of the territory of Spain in that part of the world." Moskitia, on the other hand, terminated hostilities against the Spanish until the month of June, when an army led by King George I attacked a Spanish post at Matina and offered peace in exchange for an annual tribute of cacao and plantain, which offer was accepted by the Governor of Cartago.

The treaty between England and Spain, however, gave rise to fresh disputes when Spain claimed that fortifications in Moskitia were also supposed to be demolished. England, on the other hand, upheld the fact that Moskitia was not part of the "Bay of Honduras" or the "Territory of Spain" and, therefore, the treaty did not apply to Moskitia.

An accurate map of North America. Describing and distinguishing the British and Spanish dominions on this great continent; according to the definitive treaty concluded at Paris 10th Feby. 1763. Also all the West India Islands belonging to, and possessed by the several European princes and states.

Spain’s main concern was the clandestine trades that were carried on by some of her own subjects with the English through the territory of Moskitia, which were causing the Spanish treasury a loss of tax revenues due to tax evasion. Nevertheless, the region remained at peace for some time. Moskitia even signed another peace agreement with the Governor of Cartago in 1768.

This period of peace may have been another reason for the Captain-General of Guatemala, Pedro de Salazar, to have declared on November 11, 1769, that it was then "very clear that to think of obligating [the Moskitians] to pay taxes, or to even raise this question with them, will completely jeopardise our friendship. The laws speak of other classes of Indians, those that have not established treaties with the nations of Europe, those that do not possess arms, and those who do not possess such skills as these [Moskitians] have in their ability to defend themselves and eschew the domination of Spain." This was an official acknowledgment by the Spanish of Moskitia’s strong independence.

This period of peace, however, was interrupted once again when Spain, this time in full alliance with the French under the terms of the Treaty of Aranjuez signed on April 12, 1779, declared war again on England and Moskitia in June 1779: "The King has decided to start the most vigorous hostilities against England. Consequently, steps are being taken to unite the Spanish and French squadrons and to declare war on Great Britain in June. The King has commanded that you take whatever opportune steps are available to dislodge the English from those coasts and subject or destroy the Zambos Mosquitos who are allied with them. The Governors of Havana and Yucatan and the Viceroy of Santa Fe are to help in these operations." Consequently, Moskitia was once again called upon to uphold her part of the 1740 Treaty of Friendship and Alliance with England.

But even before the war was officially declared by Spain, she had already started a campaign to break or cripple the Anglo-Moskitian Alliance by employing one Jeremiah Terry to help induce the leaders of Moskitia not to go to war against the Spanish and instead make peace. Jeremiah Terry was able enough to get the Moskitian leaders to write a letter to the Viceroy of Santa Fe on September 5, 1778, stating: "we have at his request agreed to make a firm and lasting peace, between the Mosquito Men and Spanish Nation, as soon as the regular forms properly authorised by the King of Spain, can pass between deputies appointed by him and us; and it is our request that the Governor of Costa Rica and Nicaragua may immediately be made acquainted with our resolution, and thro’ them the Viceroy of Sta. Fe, who we trust will communicate them to the King of Spain, so that his deputies may meet ours upon the 15th of August next…at a place called Sucia Bite on the Shore [Mosquitia] a little to the westward of Chagra [Chagres]; and in the meantime it is our desire, that all hostilities and injustice should cease between Mosquito Men and Spaniards from this day, until the King of Spain’s pleasure upon this subject shall be made known to us… And if favourable, your people may safely visit our Shore and carry on such trade as you think proper to permit."

Jeremiah Terry’s connection to Spain was soon discovered, and he was captured on October 29, 1778, and taken to Jamaica to answer for his actions.

On June 25, 1779, four days after Spain had declared war on England, the Colonial Secretary, Lord George Germaine, ordered that "attacks should be made upon the Spanish possessions in America on the side of the Mosquito Shore". Thus, a mutual declaration of hostilities had begun. This war lasted for four years, when it came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on January 20, 1783, wherein it was agreed, among many other things, that "all the English who may be dispersed in any other parts, whether on the Spanish continent or in any of the islands whatsoever, dependent on the aforesaid Spanish continent, and for whatever reason it might be, without exception, shall retire within the district which has been above described". Vague was the language of this article in the eyes of many English. And it threw a lot of doubts in the air as to its proper interpretation. But on October 3, 1783, the Home Secretary, Lord North, wrote to Governor Campbell of Jamaica that "His Majesty, in his negotiations with the Court of Spain, most certainly never meant to affect the rights of any third person, and consequently did not include the Mosquito Shore (which has never belonged to the Crown of Spain) under the name of the Spanish Continent". Then on November 26, Governor Campbell passed this message down by informing Superintendent Lawrie that "the native Princes and inhabitants of that country [Moskitia] will rest satisfied, that they are exactly on the same footing as before the commencement of the war." Therefore, the English did not retire from Moskitia, which was not part of the "Spanish Continent", meaning Spanish Possessions.

A new map of North America, with the West Indian Islands. Divided according to the preliminary articles of peace, signed at Versailles, 20, Jan, 1783.

This sensible interpretation that was given to the term "Spanish Continent" by the English government found many complaints from the Spanish court. And threats of a fresh war push both sides to start negotiations to settle this difference. Moskitia thus became the main topic for two of the world’s greatest powers at the time. This negotiation was concluded with the signing of the Convention of London on July 14, 1786. Therein it was agreed, among other things, that "His Britannick Majesty’s Subjects, and the other colonists who have hitherto enjoyed the protection of England, shall evacuate the Country of the Musquitos." Here, then, it was explicitly mentioned from whose country the British were to evacuate. Not from the "Territory of Spain" nor the "Spanish Continent", but from the "Country of the Musquitos". So what Spain’s Captain-General of Guatemala, Pedro de Salazar, had acknowledged and declared on November 11, 1769, the Spanish Court found itself acknowledging and declaring only seventeen years later. That the "Country of the Musquitos" was not part of her possessions but an independent country.

The only reasons the English had agreed to evacuate from Moskitia were to maintain peace with Spain, relieve the Spanish Treasury from tax evasion, and to receive a more extensive land for the cutting of dyewood, etc., in the Bay of Honduras. This treaty, or the two previous ones, were never meant by the English to acknowledge any claim Spain thought she had to Moskitia.

A map of a part of Yucatan, or of that part of the eastern shore within the Bay of Honduras allotted to Great Britain for the cutting of Logwood, in consequence of the convention signed with Spain on the 14th July 1786. With an inset of “Mosquitia or the Mosquito Shore with the eastern part of Yucatan as for as the 20th degree of north latitude”.

But this did not severe the ties between London and Sandy Bay (the capital of Moskitia at that time). As a matter of fact, Moskitia was still under British protection. But it neither  stopped the Spanish from trying to colonise Moskitia, for which they set up a post at Black River, the former principal settlement of the British from its foundation by William Pitt in 1732 until the evacuation was completed in July 1787.

Spanish colonists first arrived in Moskitia on August 18, 1788, with most of them perishing and dying because they were ill-fit to manage the climate of the country. The few that had remained or survived were expelled from Moskitia when the settlement was captured by an army led by King George II and his General, Lowry Robinson on September 4, 1800. This was the last colonial settlement that Spain tried to set up on the American continent and the first from which she was expelled.

In the maps shown above, the cartographers marked the boundary of Moskitia as extending only from Cape Castilla down to the San Juan or Grey Town River, though the claim of the Moskitian people had already extended as far as the River Chagres.