Chronological History of the Kingdom of Mosquitia

1629

• The islands of Old Providence and Saint Andrew were found by Capt. Sussex Camock and Capt. Daniel Elfrith, both on different privateering ships belonging to the Earl of Warwick.

1630

4th December

• The Providence Island Colony was established.

1633

1st July

• "Instructions from the Company of Providence Island to Capt. Sussex Cammock To "set" with his company upon Cape Gratia a Dios, there to discover and maintain a trade with the natives. To preserve the true worship of God and repress sin. To leave disorderly persons at Providence, and add such numbers to his company as may be willing to go from there."
• Capt. Sussex Cammock appointed as Director General of Trade to Mosquitia.

1634

• The son of an unamed Wita Tara was sent to London, where he lived for three years with Robert Rich (1587–1658), the Second Earl of Warwick, chairman of the Providence Island Company (1630–1641), while Colonel Morris remained in Mosquitia as a hostage. He later became known as King Oldham.

Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick

1635

July

• Failed attempt by the Spanish to capture Old Providence Island.

1636

April

• An Anglo-Mosquitian crew attempted their first raid against the Spanish at Trujillo; it was a failure.

October

• Around 200 African slaves were left at Kings Cape (Gracias a Dios).

1637

14th June

• It is recorded in "Minutes of a Committee for Providence Island" that "Albertus Blufield [sic], mate of the Expectation, says there is a good harbour, a mile and a half in breadth, at the mouth; that he was two miles up the main and found the country overgrown with silk grass and a river 8 or 10 feet deep and 30 feet broad. Albertus Blauvelt was speaking of the river we now know as the Bluefields River.

1641

• Providence Island was captured by the Spanish.

• A slave ship escaping Old Providence Island capsized at Rio Kruta, Mosquitia.

1655

• King Oldham sent around 500 soldiers to help capture Jamaica from the Spanish.

1666

• King Oldham visited London for a second time and met with King Charles II of England, from whom he received a written petition to "kindly [...] relieve such straggling Englishmen as should chance to come that way, with plantains, fish, and turtle."

1687

• King Jeremy, Oldham's son, visited Jamaica to request British protection.

1699

17th August

• The first documented Mosquitian raid on a Spanish community took place.

1720

25th June

• A formal agreement was signed between King Jeremy and Governor Sir Nicholas Lawes at St. Jago de La Vega, Jamaica.

1721

12th November

• Governor Hannibal, along with 11 captains and 507 of his men, visited Matina to propose a peace agreement with the Spanish.

1725

• A second troop of Mosquitian soldiers was sent by King Jeremy to Jamaica to wage war against "escaped negroes."

1727

• A smallpox epidemic swept through Mosquitia.

1729

3rd October

• Prince/King-Regent Peter wrote to Governor Hunter of Jamaica, informing him that "The King [Jeremy] my Royal Brother lately dying, myself hardly settled on the throne of my ancestors, the Governour also suddenly dying, left the Kingdom in such an unsettled condition..." and requested the Governor of Jamaica to send him "Commissions signed with the Great Seal of the Island, as well as one for John Bellawy, who I think a proper person to assist me in the office of Governour of the Southern parts of my Dominions, and likewise one for Charles Holby in the office of General of my Forces and overseer of the Northern parts of my Dominions.

1730

• William Pitt founded the Black River Settlement in Mosquitia.

1735

• Mosquitians attacked the town of Muimui.

1737

• 3rd troop of Mosquitian soldiers sent by King Regent Peter to Jamaica to wage war against the "escaped negroes".

1738

May

• Mosquitians attacked the town of Catacamas, near Comayagua.

1738

10th September

• Pedro de Ribera requested help from the Spanish Crown to conquer Mosquitia.

1739

19th May

• King Edward requested from the Governor of Jamaica, among other things, "a good schoolmaster to learn and instruct our young children, that they may be brought up in the Christian faith."

8th July

• The Consejo de las Indias requested help from the Spanish Crown to fight against Mosquitia.

30th August

• Spain officially declared war on Mosquitia: "dislodge and exterminate these Indians and the English and other foreigners who sustain them".

1740

17th February

• Robert Hodgson received his final orders to proceed to Mosquitia to organise the scattered English settlers and locas for military campaigns against the Spanish during the War of Jenkin’s Ear.

16th March

• The Declaration of Edward, or the Treaty of Senock Dakura, was signed between Robert Hodgson for Great Britain and King Edward for Mosquitia, forming a Treaty of Friendship and Alliance.

16th April

• The first Anglo-Mosquitian expedition organised by Robert Hodgson set off for the Cocles River by way of Bocas del Toro.
• July

• Mosquitian force attacked a Spanish establishment at Matina.

1741

24th March

• An order was given by the Spanish Crown to the president of Guatemala and the governors of Havana and Yucatan to strengthen their forces to continue the Spanish war against Mosquitia.

1743

12th August

• The Consejo de las Indias suggested that a Spanish Armanda be sent to continue the Spanish war against Mosquitia.

1745

• The first recorded "negro rebellion" occurred at the Black River Settlement in Mosquitia.

23rd August

• Orders were given to the Governors of Honduras (Juan de Vera) and Nicaragua (Alonso Fernandez de Heredia) to wage war against Mosquitia.

1747

• Mosquitians attacked the town of Muimui for the third time since 1735.

May

• An Anglo-Mosquitian force attacked a Spanish settlement in the Matina Valley.

12th August

• Fort San Fernando de Matina was captured and burned by an Anglo-Mosquitian force.

1748

7th October

• Governor Trelawny requested the Lords of Trade to consider a lasting form of government for the scattered marooners in the Kingdom of Mosquitia.

21st December

• The new Governor of Comayagua, Pantaleon Ybanez, received orders from the Spanish Crown to join in the war against the Kingdom of Mosquitia.

1749

26th April

• The Governor of Nicaragua received orders from the Spanish Crown to help in the Spanish war against Mosquitia.

5th October

• Captain Robert Hodgson was appointed as the first British superintendent in Mosquitia.

• The British Superintendency was established at the Black River Settlement.

1750

22nd September

• A new order was given to the governors of Nicaragua and Yucatan by the Spanish crown to continue warring against Mosquitia.

1754

2nd February

• Alonso de Arcos y Moreno, the President of the Audiencia of Guatemala, received instructions from the Prime Minister of the Spanish Court, Marques de la Ensenada, to invade Mosquitia.

October

• Governor Knowles of Jamaica named Galbraith as the British superintendent in Mosquitia.

1755

January

• King Edward died.

February

• The coronation of King George I took place at Sandy Bay, Mosquitia.

1756

2nd July

• Mosquitian forces defeated the Governor of Costa Rica, Fernandez de la Pastora, and his troop at Matina.

1758

April

• An order was issued to President Arcos y Moreno of Guatemala to conquer Mosquitia.

August

• Boca Toro region conquered by King George I and his Governor, Timothy Briton.

1759

August

• A Spanish force ambushed and slaughtered a crew of British, Dutch, and Mosquitians at Matina.

1760

16th December

• A secret order was sent to the leader of the Spanish Army, Juan Antonio de la Colina, to attack the Black River Settlement.

1762

20th April

• Joseph Otway replaced Richard Jones as the British superintendent to Mosquitia.

1763

10th February

• Commercial Treaty signed between Britain and Spain.

June

• An army led by King George I attacked the Spaniards at Matina and later offered future peace in exchange for an annual tribute of cacao and plantains. The offer was accepted by the governor of Costa Rica.

2nd December

• The Board of Trade decided to retain the British Superintendency to Mosquitia after the February 10, 1763, treaty between England and Spain; they agreed that Mosquitia was not part of the 'Bay of Honduras' and was also not used to cut logwood, so they had no reason to demolish and remove whatever fortification they had in Mosquitia.

1764

25th June

• Benjamin Franklin asked Richard Jackson, agent for Pennsylvania in London, to probe the British government's willingness to support a sugar plantation enterprise "on the Mosquito Shore, where I am told there is plenty of suitable Land; and Numbers ready to go and plant there, if the Crown will allow it and protect them. The Indians there do not admit that the Spaniards have any Right to that Country, as they never conquer’d it, and it was never surrender’d to them. They love the English, look upon them as their Protectors from the Spaniards, and are willing to have them establish’d there." (1)

Benjamin Franklin

• The first Moravian missionary, Christian Frederick Post, a Polish Prussian, arrived in Mosquitia and remained for twenty years.

1766

• General Tempest of Mosquitia went to London with a Shoreman, George Hewm, to request that the office of the British Superintendent in Mosquitia become independent of Jamaica. This request was not agreed to.

1767

11th May

• The former British superintendent to Mosquitia, Joseph Otaway, died at sea on his way to his family home in New York. He was leaving because of the degradation of his health.

16th July

• Richard Jones was appointed for a second time to the British superintendency in Mosquitia.

31st July

• Lord Shelburne named Robert Hodgson, the younger, to the post of British superintendency in Mosquitia.

1768

• A peace agreement was signed between the leaders of Mosquitia and the Governor of Costa Rica.

20th February

• Robert Hodgson Jr appointed as British Superintendent to Mosquitia.

1769

23rd May

• A treaty of peace and commerce was proposed by Governor Joaquin de Nava of Costa Rica to Admiral Dilson of Mosquitia, who offered him the title of "ruler of the Mosquito Nation".

11th November

• Guatemalan Captain-General Pedro de Salazar declared that "it is now very clear that to think of obligating [the Mosquitians] 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 [Mosquitians] have in their ability to defend themselves and to eschew the domination of Spain". Thus, he officially declared Mosquitia’s long-standing independence from the Spanish Empire.

1770

• The founder of Black River Settlement, William Pitt, died.

20th January

• The Governor of Nicaragua, Cavello, suggested to Pedro de Salazar, President of Guatemala, that a "bloody war be carried to the Zambos Mosquitos without giving them any quarter."

February

• Admiral Dilson replied to Governor José Joaquín de Nava y Cabezudo of Costa Rica, thanking him for his pledge to peace and promising that Mosquitia would "always observe and keep the times of peace and war with the English and Spaniards."

March

• Admiral Israel and Admiral Dilson died, most likely at the instigation of King George I, after Admiral Dilson, who had Admiral Israel as his closest ally, had received the title of "ruler (gobernador) of the Mosquito nation" from the Spanish, something that was against the traditional power structure of the Kingdom of Mosquitia.

5th April

• Superintendent Robert Hodgson issued a decree for all land grants by Mosquitian chiefs to English settlers to be recorded and to receive his certification.

17th May

• King George I issued a new land grant to Robert Hodgson and confirmed his old ones, consistent with the decree that was issued by the office of the British superintendency that all land grants by the Mosquitian leaders to English settlers must be registered.

17th September

• Unaware of Admiral Dilson’s death, Charles III of Spain approved the treaty of peace and commerce that was proposed by Governor Joaquin de Nava of Costa Rica to Admiral Dilson of Mosquitia on May 23, 1769.

1771

May

• A Spanish vessel was captured and burned by a Mosquitian force at the mouth of the San Juan River that was carrying supplies to Fort Inmaculada.

21st May

• King George I granted a land grant to a group of Shoremen near the Black River Settlement, which became known as the 'Alberapoyer Estate'.

29th June

• A land grant was made by Captain Philip, chief of the Pech people, to the members of the proposed 'Alberapoyer Estate'.

1772

2nd April

• The 'Estate of Alberapoyer' was officially established on the lands granted by King George I and Captain Philip.

4th November

• King George I made a second land grant to the owners of the 'Alberapoyer Estate'.

1773

12th June

• An election of the Council of Magistrates for the British superintendency in Mosquitia took place.

3rd July

• The Council of the British Superintendency in Mosquitia wrote a new oath of office; this became a problem between the magistrates, who sought to reduce the authority of the Superintendency.

26th September

• Superintendent Robert Hodgson wrote to Governor Dalling of Jamaica that "the leading inhabitants of this country have broken out into such open acts of opposition to government that I am under the necessity of representing them to you as in a state of revolt." And he asked the governor for troops to "bring the settlement into order."

10th November

• The creation of "Some Account of the British Settlement on the Musquito Shore. ---Drawn up for the use of government, in 1773. By Brian Edwards, esq., of Jamaica." This was later "presented to the House of Commons on the 31st of October 1776".

23rd November

• The Council of Magistrates of the British Superintendency in Mosquitia was dissolved by Governor Dalling of Jamaica.

1774

16th July

• A "Report of the Council of Jamaica respecting the Mosquito Shore" declared that Mosquitia "extends from Cape Honduras to the northern branch of the Desaguadera of the Nicaragua River San Juan, about 180 leagues, and the distant mountains which bound the Spanish territories."

November

• An embassy approved by King George I left Mosquitia, consisting of Young George, his son; Isaac, his brother; and two Ulwa chiefs, Captain John Smee and Admiral Dick Richards, to complain about the enslavement of some natives by a few English settlers. The King also "sent a barrel of Mosquito Shore soil to his "brother" king, George III, with a pledge of 5,000 Mosquito warriors, if necessary, to put down any revolt that might erupt in the North American colonies."

1775

January

• Mosqutian Embassy arrived in London, consisting of Young George, his son; Isaac, his brother; and the two Ulwa chiefs, Captain John Smee and Admiral Dick Richards.

2nd August

• Robert Hodgson, one of the main figures then behind the enslavement of native Mosquitians, was recalled by The Earl of Dartmouth from his post as British superintendent to Mosquitia.

• The Earl of Dartmouth ordered Governor Keith of Jamaica to appoint a person "to superintend the settlement upon the Mosquito Shore during Mr. Hodgson's absence."

• Anti-slavery system formed by The Earl of Dartmouth "forbidding all persons, under pain of His Majesty's highest displeasure, from making slaves of the native Indians and sending them off the coast for sale, as a practice irreconcilable with every principle of justice, good policy, and humanity" in consequence of the protest made by the Mosquitian Embassy sent to London by King George I in 1774.





The Earl of Dartmouth

10th August

• King George I and Governor Timothy Briton of Mosquitia made a land grant to the Irish merchant and trader Colvill Cairns of "all the lands belonging and appertaining to the island called Bocca Tora [Bocas del Torro], formerly inhabited but since conquered by the above-mentioned King and Governor, laying near the latitude of nine and ten degrees north, and also all the Islands and Kays...including the Cherokee [Chiriqui] Lagoon and the Islands and Keys also thereunto belonging, with ten leagues up the Main Land... and three leagues to the other side of the Cherokee Lagoon."
• King George I offered a treaty of peace, friendship, and commerce to the Spanish; when the Spanish arrived 19 months later at Boca del Torro to ratify the treaty, King George I and Governor Timothy Briton had already passed away during a smallpox epidemic. The Spanish later went to King George II and Governor Colvill Briton with the hope of signing the treaty, but the new King made more demands on the part of Mosquitia and, consequently, the treaty was never signed.

November

• Hurricane struck Mosquitia.

10th November

• Prince George, then heir to the throne, supported Dr. Charles Irving as the replacement for Hodgson to the post of the British superintendent to Mosquitia; he wrote: "Wee likewise consider ourselves much obliged by the directing Mr. Irving to take care and conduct us to our Native home. He has always treated us with great kindness and in whose house we have resided for some months [while in London], and with submission we apprehend he is well qualified to succeed the present intendant [Hodgson], who is so obnoxious to every Mosquitto Man that we dread the consequence should he be continued in office."

13th November

• Mosquitian Embassy left London for Mosquitia in the 'Morning Star' with two British captains, Dr. Charles Irving and his partner, Alexander Blair. On this trip, the then Prince and heir to the throne, Young George, met with the famous African ex-slave, Olaudah Equiano, who mentioned in his writings that he had "found with the Doctor four Musquito Indians, who were chiefs in their own country... One of them was the Musquito king's son; a youth of about eighteen years of age; and whilst he was here, he was baptised by the name of George. They were going back at the government's expense after having been in England for about twelve months, during which they learned to speak pretty good English."

Olaudah Equiano

22nd November

• Royal Order issued by the King of Spain granting approval to the governors of Panama, Portovelo, and Veragua in the viceroyalty of Santa Fe, and Nicaragua, Comayagua, and Costa Rica in the audiencia of Guatemala, to dispatch guardacostas to intercept the 'Morning Star', to detain the Mosquitian princes, and to imprison Dr. Charles Irving and his crew, all of whom were headed to Mosquitia from London. But the order was not carried out due to a lack of funds in the Spanish provinces.

December

• The anti-slavery system formed by The Earl of Dartmouth on August 2, 1775, was put into execution by Governor Sir Basil Keith in consequence of protests made by Mosquitian Embassy sent to London by King George I in 1774.

29 December

• Sir Basil Keith appointed as British interim Superintendent to Mosquitia.

1776

January

• King George I died at Sandy Bay.

1st February

• Captain Joseph Smith Speer volunteered to serve as the British superintendent to Mosquitia.

28th February

• New royal order issued by Spain, declaring war against Mosquitia.

31st March

• A memorial "respecting the sentiments of the people on the Shore in favour of Capt. Lawrie" for the office of the British Superintendency in Mosquitia was presented to Lord Germain, the Colonial Secretary.

Lord George Germain

April

• The Morning Star, bringing home the Mosquitian Embassy sent by King George I to London in November 1774, reached Mosquitia and landed at Kings Cape (Gracias a Dios), where Prince George and the other chiefs disembarked.

30th April

• Two Spanish Guardacostas, the "Pacifica" and the "Recurso", flying Dutch colours, drew alongside the 'Morning Star', which was left anchored and alone four days prior off the bar at the Black River Settlement. The Dutch flags were lowered, Spanish banners were raised, and the 'Morning Star' was boarded. Soon afterwards, as the frantic witnesses on the shore ran about helplessly, she sailed away in company with the guardacostas. The Morning Star was later renamed 'Pastora' by the Spaniards.

1st May

• Hodgson, from Black River, wrote to the commander of the Spanish Guardacostas who stole the 'Morning Star', of the "outrage on the harmony that seemed to subsist between our Kings.... Such an act of violation & depradation[sic]… [demonstrates] that the motives on which you have hazarded this transaction have occasioned you to regard public faith and national Peace of little import."

17th May

• Capt. Lawrie was appointed as the 5th English Superintendent to Mosquitia, replacing Robert Hodgson.

22nd August

• The Superintendency Council of Magistrates passed "An Act for Recovering and Extending the Trade with the Indian Tribes" to abolish the slave trade of native people in Mosquitia.

29th August

• Capt. Lawrie arrived at the Black River Settlement to begin his office as the British superintendent in Mosquitia.

22nd October

• The "Act for Recovering and Extending the Trade with the Indian Tribes" for abolishing the slave trade of native people in Mosquitia came into effect.

29th November

• Mosquitian Chief, Governor Colvill Briton, made a declaration partially against the decree of the Superintendency Council of Magistrates. He declared that "all my men who are indebted to the British subjects are to go out to the southward and strike their debts [by turtle fishing] whenever their employers may order them without giving them or me any trouble." But he also forbade English traders to give them further credit, a practice that had led many Mosquitians into debt bondage.

1777

March

• The Coronation of King George Frederic Augustus I took place at the Black River Settlement in Mosquitia.

29th August

• Superintendent Capt. Lawrie recommended to the Colonial Secretary, Lord Goerge Germain, that all native slaves in Mosquitia should be purchased with government funds and returned to their own tribes. And estimated that £3,000 sterling was distributed among the slave owners for recompense.

14th November

• John Dalling, the new Governor of Jamaica, rejected Lawrie's proposal that all native slaves in Mosquitia should be purchased with government funds and returned to their own tribes, stating that the Mosquitians had "an inveterate habit of getting those Indians into their possession by force or fraud and employing them in all servile offices." The issue was ignored in the turbulent years after 1777, and it was not resolved until the general emancipation in Mosquitia by King Robert in 1832 and in 1841.

1778

12th February

• Governor Fernández of Costa Rica sent an invitation to Admiral Dilson II, chief of the southern precinct of Mosquitia, to visit Costa Rica to arrange a treaty of peace and friendship.

15th February

• Minutes of peace negotiations took place between Admiral Dilson of Mosquitia and Governor Fernández of Costa Rica to arrange a treaty of peace and friendship.

5th September

• "George Rex, Isaac Duke and Regent, Governor Briton, Admiral Frederick, John Smee General, and Admiral Dilson", at the request of Jeremiah Terry, wrote to the viceroy of Santa Fe, offering peace between the Kingdom of Mosquitia and the Spanish Empire. They wrote: "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 authorized 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 day of August next...at a place called Sucia Bite on the Shore [Mosquitia] a little to the Westward of Chagra [Chagres]; and in the mean time 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 favorable your people may safely visit our Shore and carry on such Trade as you think proper to permit."

29th October

• Party composed of fourteen white men, a few Negro slaves, and a small guard of Miskito men under Governor Briton, General Smee, and Admiral Frederick seized the "Atlántico" and the houses on the San Juan River that were under Jeremiah Terry’s command. Jeremiah Terry was secretly working for the Spanish government to help banish the British from Mosquitia.

7th November

• Governor Colvill Briton of Mosquitia wrote to Governor John Dalling of Jamaica during a legal trial against Jeremiah Terry, informing the governor that Terry's vessel, the "Atlántico", was a prize "whether the ship is Spanish or American property." "The Moskito Nation", he added, is "always at war with the former, & the latter, I am informed, are at war with the Great King of England."

1779

18th May

• An order from the Spanish Court was sent to its governors in America to prepare for war against the English and Mosquitian Kingdoms: "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."

25th June

• Lord George Germain ordered that "attacks should be made upon the Spanish possessions in America on the side of the Mosquito Shore".

15th August

• President Matías de Gálvez y Gallardo of Guatemala ordered the governor of the province of Yucatan, Roberto de Rivas Betancourt, to eject the English from Mosquitia.

20th October

• Anglo-Mosquitian forces captured and burned the town and fort of San Fernando de Omoa, the largest Spanish fort in the Kingdom of Guatemala, and held it until November.

1780

11th April

• Anglo-Mosquitian forces reached and started to besiege Fort Inmaculada on the San Juan River.





Plano del Castillo de la Inmaculada Concepcion del Rio de San Juan.



• Spanish militia clashed with 400 Shoremen near the Black River Settlement.

29th April

• Spanish forces at Fort Inmaculada on the San Juan River surrendered to an Anglo-Mosquitian force. It was recaptured by Spanish forces in January 1781, when only a small English force was stationed there.

18th August

• An agreement was signed between the Ulwa and Miskito Chiefs and Sir Alexander Leith for mutual support in future attacks against the Spanish.

13th September

• Robert White proposed the establishment of a "regular royal government" in Mosquitia to convert Mosquitia into a British colony. His proposal was ignored.

1st October

• Mosquitian Gran Congress was held at Cairns' home in Tuapi, including King George II, Governor Briton, Prince Isaac, the Duke of Boccaterra [a.k.a. the Duke of York and Count of Stamford], General Smee, Major Jasper Hall, and the Admirals Richards and Dilson, all agreeing to wage war against the Spanish. This may almost be considered Mosquitia's formal reply to the Spanish declaration of war of May 18, 1779.

1782

16th January

• Units of an unwieldy, barefoot Spanish army—280 men each from Tegucigalpa and San Salvador, 500 from San Miguel, 190 from Olancho El Viejo, and 180 from Santa Ana—marched towards a rendezvous at Juticalpa, on the frontiers of Mosquitia, to start an invasion, under the command of Lt. Col. Vicente de Arrizavalag.

5th March

• A Spanish army under the command of Lt. Col. Vicente de Arrizavalaga started to invade Mosquitia.

25th March

• A small number of Mosquitians and Shoremen ambushed the land army marching into Mosquitia under the command of Lt. Col. Vicente de Arrizavalaga, killing and injuring 32 of them.

31st March

• The Black River Settlement was captured by a superior Spanish force commanded by Jose Matías de Gálvez y Gallardo.

José Matías de Gálvez y Gallardo

9th April

• After facing many hardships, including multiple deaths, Lt. Col. Vicente de Arrizavalaga ordered the retreat of his army from Mosquitia.

17th August

• A small squadron with a detachment of 130 Loyal American Rangers, furnished with arms, stores, provisions, and presents for Mosquitian chiefs, which was fitted out and sailed from Port Royal on the 7th, arrived at Kings Cape to assist in the expulsion of the Spaniards from the Black River Settlement.

31st August

• The Black River Settlement was surrendered to an Anglo-Mosquitian force by the Spanish force of 742 men and twenty-seven officers, most of whom were made prisoners of war.

1783

25th August

• José Matias de Gálvez y Gallardo, after facing defeat at Black River, Mosquitia, suggested to the president of the Audiencia of Guatemala, José Juan Estachería Hernández, to continue the war against the Mosquitians and English, and the former, according to Gálvez, were "enemies of all humanity", and should face slavery or "utter extinction". The operation, which Gálvez called "the most important duty assigned to me by our august sovereign", was supposed to begin on March 1, 1784. It never happened.

3rd October

• Lord North, secretary of state for the home department, wrote a "most secret & confidential" letter 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."

Lord North

26th November

• Governor Campbell of Jamaica informed Superintendent Lawrie that "the native princes and inhabitants of that country [Mosquitia] will rest satisfied, that they are exactly on the same footing as before the commencement of the war." Thus declaring the victory of Mosquitia and England over Spain in the war.

1784

4th August

• King Charles III of Spain agreed to another plan to attack Mosquitia.

1785

20th January

• Spain ordered its governors in the West Indies to suspend all hostile plans against the Kingdom of Mosquitia.

25th October

• An order was issued by the Spanish to harass and expel the Shoremen by force from the Kingdom of Mosquitia.

1786

6th April

• Spain issued a list of complaints against the Shoremen in the Kingdom of Mosquitia.

14th July

• The Convention of London was signed between England and Spain, in which, firstly, the long-standing independence of Mosquitia was formally recognised by the Spain and reaffirmed by Great Britain, the British nevertheless agreed to remove themselves from Mosquitia in exchange for a more extensive territory in the Bay of Honduras and to help relieve the Spanish treasury from tax evasion, which was the result of the many illicit trades that her own subjects carried out with the British through Mosquitia.

1787

1st February

• The name 'Mosquitia' appeared for the first time on an English map by William Faden, Geographer to the British King.

7th July

• The British evacuation from the Kingdom of Mosquitia was completed, removing over 2,000 Englishmen including their families and slaves; the British superintendency also came to an end.

1788

1 July

• Governor Colville Briton of Mosquitia was baptised in Cartagena by the Archbishop of Santa Fe de Bogotá, Antonio Caballero y Góngora, thus converting to Catholicism and receiving the new name of ‘Carlos Antonio de Castilla’. He was later killed by Mosquitian leaders, who considered him a traitor.

18th August

• The first set of Spanish colonists arrived in the Kingdom of Mosquitia, at Kings Cape (Cape Gracias).

1789

11th January

• Governor Colville Briton [a.k.a. ‘Carlos Antonio de Castilla’] and Maria Manuela Rodriguez Mojica were married in Leon, Nicaragua, by Bishop Villegas.

1790

• Governor Colville Briton of Mosquitia, aka ‘Carlos Antonio de Castilla’, was killed by the followers of his nephew, Admiral Alparis Dilson, then an ally of King George II.

Governor Colville Briton

1797

• Prince Stephen visited Guatemala and San Salvador on a state visit at the request of the Spanish authorities.

1798

30th April

• King George II sent a letter to the then-Governor of Jamaica, requesting that his sons be educated in Jamaica.

11 July

• King George II's request to the Governor of Jamaica to have his sons educated there was approved.

1800

4th September

• The last Spanish force was defeated at the Black River Settlement on a surprise attack and expelled from Mosquitia by an army led by King George Frederic Augustus I and his general, Lowry Robinson.

October

• King George II, after he had “murder of one of [his] women, under circumstances of peculiar barbarity, called forth the resentment of her friends, who created a riot, during which the King was fired upon, and killed, by his own people.”

1804

June

• Prince George Frederic and his younger brother, Prince Robert Charles Frederic, accompanied by their great-uncle Prince Isaac, went to Kingston, Jamaica, to pursue their studies, where they were "taught arithmetic and Greek, Roman, and English history, as well as the British cultural and social codes".

13 August

• Prince George Frederic, accompanied by his great-uncle Prince Isaac, visited for the first time the home of Lady Nugent, the American wife of Major-General George Nugent, who was lieutenant governor of Jamaica. She wrote that "the young king was dressed in a scarlet uniform and wore a crown upon his head, of which he seemed very proud. [...] The crown was of silver gilt, ornamented with mock stones, and was sent from England some years ago for his father. Both the little king and his uncle seemed to hold it in high estimation."

13th August

• In Jamaica, "a dinner was organised at the governor’s residence, bringing together a small party of high-ranking British officers and dignitaries" to dine with the Mosquitian royal princes.

14 August

• Prince George Frederic, accompanied by his great-uncle Prince Isaac, visited for the second time the home of Lady Nugent, the American wife of Major-General George Nugent, who was lieutenant governor of Jamaica.

1806

26th March

• Saint Andrew was surrendered by the Spanish (Thomas O'Neill) to a British force under the command of John Bligh, Esq., Captain of His then British Majesty's ship 'Surveillante'.

Rear-Admiral John Bligh

4th April

• The inhabitants of Saint Andrew petitioned John Bligh, Esq., Captain of His Britannic Majesty's ship 'Surveillante,' that if they were requested to leave that island, they be permitted to live on the mainland of the Kingdom of Mosquitia, the Cayman Islands, or Jamaica. However, they were never removed from the island.

1815

20th July

• Permission was granted by King George Frederic to Captain Jacob Dunham, a citizen of the United States of America, to "touch and trade in all parts of my dominions in any vessel from North America."

King George Frederic and Captain Jacob Dunham

14th November

• Prince Stephen and other Mosquitian Chiefs, submitted themselves to King George Frederic, "giving [their] assent, consent, choice, and declaration to, for, and of the appointment of the hereditary Prince Frederic... to his father’s Crown, Franc, and Government, as [their] lawful King and Sovereign."

1816

13th January

• King George Frederic wrote to Sir George Arthur, Superintendent of British Honduras, requesting to be crowned in Belize.

Lieutenant-General Sir George Arthur

14th January

• Sir George Arthur, Superintendent of Honduras, wrote a positive reply to King George Frederic's request to be crowned in Belize, considering that he was "in a particular manner under the protection of the British Government". And suggested that the coronation should take place on the 18th, when the British also celebrate the 'Birthday' of the Queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

18th January

• The Coronation of King George Frederic Augustus II took place in Belize.

1819

June

• King George Frederic gave permission to Jean-Louis Aury, a French corsair hired on behalf of Buenos Ayres, to allow his fleet to circulate in the northern region of the Kingdom of Mosquitia and gave him livestock to replenish his supplies during the attack against the Spanish ports of Omoa and Truxillo.

4th August

• James David Roy Gordon, a Scottish mercenary who was sent to Mosquitia by Jean-Louis Aury to persuade King George Frederic to support him militarily and who had become a close friend with the king himself, and who the king considered to be one of those "Men of Wisdom and Integrity," was appointed by him to the rank of 'general' in the Mosquitian army, with powers "to act for us with foreign nations in any way or manner he may judge of the greatest utility to our public service" under a proclamation by the king.

1820

5th April

• Superintendent Arthur, who was a member of the Church Missionary Society, replied to King George Frederic’s request to his captains "to determine the best way to meet the educational needs of young children" in Mosquitia, stating that it would indeed be "highly pleasing to the Mosquito [sic] people to have their children educated."

29th April

• King George Frederic made one of the most famous land grants in the history of Mosquitia of the "District of Land, commonly called Black River, Polayas, or Poyais," (more than 33,000 square kilometres) beginning at Black River and extending far into the interior, to the Scottish mercenary, General Gregor MacGregor, carefully adding that "it be clearly understood that there is nothing contained in this deed which shall be construed into a cession of the sovereignty of the country us now held by His Mosquito Majesty."

Gregor MacGregor

1821

15th January

• Sir George Arthur, Superintendent of Honduras, fearing that the people of Belize would be completely replaced by British mercenaries like Gordon, wrote to the Colonial Office reporting that Gordon had "entered very much into the affairs of the Mosquito King, under what Instructions he was acting [and] appointing him a General in his service." Unsure of the measures to take respecting the "Mosquito King and Nation in general," Arthur expressed apprehension regarding King George Frederic’s ambitions and feared that offering him and his chieftains presents, as was customary, would this time not be sufficient to put an end to the king’s plans to integrate non-Belizeans into the Mosquitian trade.

13th April

• General Gregor MacGregor made a "proclamation" to adapt the "most active measures for procuring [the Mosquitians] religious and moral instructors, the implements of husbandry, and persons to guide and assist [them] in the cultivation of the valuable productions, for which [the] soil and climate are so well adapted."

1822

22nd November

• The Honduras Packet, chartered by Gregor MacGregor and headed for Mosquitia, left from London.

1823

March

• The Pech and Garifuna people, who had provided food and helped build huts for the settlers brought by Gregor MacGregor, stopped working for them due to dissatisfaction with the salary paid by the settlers, which was less than what Gordon had initially promised (about £80/year).

28th March

• Disappointed to find heavy weaponry (i.e., cannons and other "arms and ammunitions of war") in the cargo holds of the Honduras Packet, fearing that these might be used against Mosquitia or his authority, and concerned about the way the new settlers had treated the Garifuna and Pech people at the Black River Settlement, King George Frederic wrote to Captain Murray, informing him that his subjects would be more than entitled to ruin their "property and probably [their] lives."
• The Poyais land grant to Gregor MacGregor was declared null and void by King George Frederic, "he not having fulfilled his contract with me agreeable to his stipulations."
• King George Frederic created the first constitution for the Kingdom of Mosquitia "with an institutional framework sufficiently close to those of the new Spanish American republics."

1st September

• A copy of the ‘Proclamation of the King of the Mosquito Shore', wherein the land grant to Gregor Macgregor was cancelled, was published in the 'Times' in London with the help of Belizean loggers.

1824

8th March

• The Mosquitian national flag was designed and introduced by King George Frederic Augustus II.

9th March

• King George Frederic was strangled by one of his wives, “and his body thrown into the sea.”
• Prince Stephen assumed the title of King-Regent.

1825

• Lieutenant-Colonel Goidot and a New Granadian Colonel reached Mosquitia to request the Mosquitians to declare themselves dependent on New Granada; the request was denied by the king.

23rd April

• The Coronation of King Robert Charles Frederic took place in Belize.
• The regency under Prince Stephen, King-Regent, came to an end.

1832

26th October

• William Hodgson was appointed by King Robert as "Captain and Magistrate of the Terribee and Valiente Indians, and collector of taxes from Manchioneal Bay, Monkey Point, Boca del Toro, and other places adjacent."
• A new law was created by King Robert forbidding the taking of more people into slavery after November 1, 1832; one to protect females against abuse by males; and one to collect taxes "from every male subject above the age of fourteen years", "as well as all foreigners who reside or may hereafter reside on any part of the Mosquito Shore."

1833

8th May

• A trading licence was granted by King Robert to Messrs. Samuel and Peter Shepherd.

11th July

• Mosquitian trading licence granted to Messrs. Thomas and Joseph Knap by King Robert.

1836

• New Granada occupied the Boca del Toro region.

• The Federal Republic of Central America occupied and established a customs house at the port of Grey Town. That federation, however, was dissolved by 1838, and with it, the customs house, in August 1838.

1837

25 January

• King Robert wrote to his "brother king," William IV of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to ensure the protection of the British Crown.

1838

• New Granada left the Mosquitian territory of Boca del Toro.

11th August

• Manuel Quijano y García of the Nicaraguan army wrote to King Robert Charles Frederic, congratulating and saluting him, "in the name of my government, to show you the good disposition in which we are at present; and establishing a mutual correspondence to secure the sacred rights of the two governments in good faith, I offer a strict friendship and the customary respect to your nation." And informing the King that he had visited San Juan to remove all "authorities" that were set up there under "the imprudence of the Federalist in office that then occupied that port; for which cause I am now come here with a division to compel them to quit this quarter all together."

1839

26th January

• A decree was issued by King Robert Charles Frederic to “all merchants at Moin, or to those who may hereafter touch there as such”, “which was sent to the Government of the State of Costarica by its officer there, and published in the official gazette, asserting his right of sovereignty to the port, and forbidding the payment of either import duties or port charges to the Costarica Government”, “because the authorities of Cartago have no right or title whatever to make such levies upon our territory, but on the contrary they are obliged, and for a length of time have been accustomed, to pay to our ancestors or predecessors, certain tribute for the privilege of introducing goods into Costarica by our port of Moin: and it is our intention to place, on some future day, an officer or functionary, to collect our duties in Moin, and to forbid all merchants and others from paying or even recognizing the demands of any authority of Cartago on account of the trade by our port of Moin.”

August

• Princess Lydia killed by Deverin.

1840

25th February

• King Robert issued his Will, wherein it was established "that the affairs of my kingdom shall be continued in the hands of the Commissioners appointed by me upon the nomination of his Excellency Colonel Macdonald, Her Majesty's Superintendent, to be by them managed, conducted, and administered, under the sanction and approval of the said Colonel Macdonald, with the functions and powers of Regents, during the minority of my heir." That he "constitute the said Colonel Macdonald and the said Commissioners guardians to my children, the Princes George, William Clarence, and Alexander, and the Princesses Agnes and Victoria, charging them, the said Colonel Macdonald and the said Commissioners, as guardians, that they do cause the said children to be educated in the doctrine and discipline of the United Church of England and Ireland".

29th September

• The Free State of Costa Rica directly and formally acknowledge the independence of the Kingdom of Mosquitia, stating that "The State of Costa Rica, which, during its dependence under the Spanish Government and also under the Federal Government of Central America, could not enter into treaties with the nations of this continent, nor with those of Europe, now wishes to celebrate them with all, but especially with the Mosquito Government, and is desirous that it should be in the most friendly manner, in order that the subjects of both nations may be allied both commercially and in the most intimate terms."
• The Free State of Costa requested from the Moskitian Government to relinquish its rights to the territories south of the San Juan River, stating that "they come to demand duties from the ships which anchor there, maintaining that the said coast belongs to the Mosquito Nation."

1841

27th August

• Slaves on the Corn Islands emancipated by King Robert Charles Frederic.

1842

8th October

• King Robert Charles Frederic passed away.
• The Regency Commission, as established under the Will of King Robert on February 25, 1840, with Alexander Macdonald as chairman, came into effect.

1843

4 May

• Prince Wellington, Colonel Johnson, and General Lowry Robinson assumed the regency of the Kingdom of Mosquitia.

16th December

• The Robinson-Chavez Treaty was signed between the Kingdom of Mosquitia and Honduras by General Lowry Robinson for Mosquitia and Coronado Chávez for Honduras.

1844

• The Kingdom of Mosquitia got its first royal standard and national ensign.

Royal Standard

National Ensign

9th April

• Mr. Patrick Walker appointed as British Agent and Consul-General to the Kingdom of Mosquitia.

1845

7th May

• Coronation of King George Augustus Frederic took place in Belize by Rev. Mr. Newport, Commissary to the Bishop of Jamaica.
• The Royal Standard was used for the first time at the coronation of King George Augustus Frederic.

1846

10th September

• The Royal Commission was proclaimed by King George Augustus Frederic, constituting the Supreme Local Government of the Kingdom of Mosquitia and, therein, the Council of State.
• The country was officially named the Kingdom of Mosquitia under the political constitution proclaimed by King George Augustus Frederic.

11th September

• The first meeting of the Council of State was held, where "George Hodgson, Alexander Hodgson, William Halstead Ingram, James Porter, John Dixon, and James Green, members of the Council of State," first took an oath of allegiance before the king. "The Council then entered into a discussion on the subjects of land, militia, and municipal regulation, which resulted in Councillor George Hodgson undertaking to draw up a bill relating to land; Councillor Alexander Hodgson, a Bill relating to Militia; and Councillor William Ingram, a Bill relating to Municipal Regulations." And in order to give the "councillors time to prepare their Bills, the Council of State adjourned until 12 o'clock of Friday, the 18th of the [same] month."

King of Mosquitia in Council

5th October

• An Act for Raising and Training Regiments of Militia, written by Councillor of State Alexander Hodgson, was passed by the Council of State of the Kingdom of Mosquitia.

17th November

• An Act for regulating the cutting of mahogany and other woods, written by Councillor of State George Hodgson, was passed by the Council of State of the Kingdom of Mosquitia.

1847

30th January

• Viscount Palmerston, Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1846–1851), wrote to Mr. Frederick Chatfield, the British Agent to Central America, and Mr. Patrick Walker, the British Agent and Consul-General to the Kingdom of Mosquitia (1844–1848), to acquire information relating to its territorial boundary.

Viscount Palmerston

15th April

• Mr. Frederick Chatfield, British Agent to Central America, replied to Viscount Palmerston upon his request to acquire information relating to the territorial boundary of Mosquitia.

20th May

• Mr. Patrick Walker, British Agent and Consul-General to the Kingdom of Mosquitia (1844-1848), replied to Viscount Palmerston upon his request to acquire information relating to the territorial boundary of the Kingdom of Mosquitia.

29th June

• Mr. Daniel Florence O'Leary, British Chargé d'Affaires to the Republic of New Granada (1843–1854), replied to Viscount Palmerston upon his request to acquire information relating to the territorial boundary of the Kingdom of Mosquitia.

10th September

• Mr. Frederick Chatfield, British Agent to Central America (1834–1840, 1842–1850), informed the states of Honduras and Nicaragua that the territory of the Kingdom of Mosquitia extends from "Cape Honduras down to the mouth of the river San Juan," "without prejudice to the right of the Mosquito King to any territory south of the river San Juan."

Mr. Frederick Chatfield

24th September

• Mr. Daniel Florence O'Leary informed the State of New Granada that the territorial jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Mosquitia extends from "Cape Honduras down to the mouth of the river San Juan".

Daniel Florence O'Leary

22nd October

• Her Majesty’s ship "Alarm", under the command of Captain Loch, arrived at Bluefields to inform Mr. Patrick Walker of the Nicaraguan invasion of San Juan and to provide King George a passage to Jamaica.

25th October

• Notice by the Council of State of the Kingdom of Mosquitia was sent to the Government of Nicaragua "to withdraw the Nicaraguan establishment from the mouth of the River St. John" before the 1st day of January 1848, or "that forcible means will be employed to maintain the King's rights and authority."

28th October

• Treaty signed between Princess Agnes Frederic and the State of Nicaragua.

8th December

• King George "expressed to the council the very regal reception he had met with in Jamaica and the particularly friendly and kind treatment he had received from the Governor, his Excellency Sir Charles Grey, it was resolved that the town at the mouth of the St. John’s should be called for the future Grey Town."

1848

• Moravian missionaries arrived and began working in Mosquitia.

1st January

• As was expressed by the Council of State to the Government of Nicaragua on October 25, 1847, the port of Grey Town was surrendered by Nicaragua with help from a British force.

10th January

• Nicaraguans took forcibly possession of Grey Town again and made prisoners the Honourable George Hodgson and Commander Little, the Mosquitian agents at that port and town.

17th January

• Her Majesty’s steamer "Vixen," commanded by Captain Rydeer, appeared in front of Bluefieds to notify Mr. Patrick Walker of Nicaragua's forcible occupation of Grey Town and the imprisonment of Honourable George Hodgson and Commander Little under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Antonio Salas of the Nicaraguan Army.

11th February

• The British agent and Consul General to Mosquitia, Mr. Patrick Walker, drowned near the river Sarapiqui.

7th March

• The Treaty of Cuba was signed by Captain Loch for Britain and the Nicaraguan authorities, by which the latter bound themselves for the future to secure to Mosquitia on their parts the peaceable possession of its port and town of Grey Town (San Juan).

• Honourable George Hodgson and Commander Little were freed from the Nicaraguan Army after the signing of the Treaty of the Island of Cuba.

25th May

• William Dougal Christie was appointed as the British Agent and Consul-General to the Kingdom of Mosquitia following the death of his predecessor, Mr. Patrick Walker.

William Dougal Christie

June

• James Green, Esq., was appointed as the British Vice-Consul for Bluefields.

3rd July

• The 'Correspondence respecting the Mosquito territory' was presented to the House of Commons.

1850

19th April

• The Clayton Bulwer Treaty was signed between Great Britain and the United States of America to facilitate the construction of a canal across the Grey Town River; agreeing "that neither the one nor the other will ever obtain or maintain for itself any exclusive control over the said ship canal; agreeing that neither will ever erect or maintain any fortification commanding the same or in the vicinity thereof, or occupy, or fortify, or colonize, or assume, or exercise any dominion over Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito Coast, or any part of Central America; nor will either make use of any protection which either affords or may afford, or any alliance which either has or may have to or with any State of people, for the purpose of erecting any such fortification, or of occupying, fortifying, or colonizing Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Mosquito Coast, or any part of Central America, or of assuming or exercising dominion over the same". (1)

1851

20th September

• James Green, Esq., the then-acting British Vice-Consul for Bluefields, Mosquitia, was appointed as the British Consul for Grey Town.

1852

• A Baptist church and school were established in the Corn Islands, and a Baptist church was established in Bluefields. The former was established by Reverend Edward Kelly of British Honduras.

15th April

• The ‘Constitution of the City of Grey Town’, containing 10 articles and an amendment section, was adapted, making Grey Town an autonomous city of the Kingdom of Mosquitia.

1854

13th July

• Grey Town was bombarded by the US sloop-of-war USS Cyane.

1856

8th February

• The American Filibuster Government of Nicaragua under William Walker, in an attempt to annex Moskitia, issued a decree claiming that "the title of Nicaragua to the territory called Mosquito, including the port of San Juan del Norte, [is] notorious and 'incontestable." His colonisation project in Central America ended in tragedy.

William Walker

5th May

• Prince William Henry Clarence was born.

William Henry Clarence

1857

19th June

• The Bombardment of Grey Town was debated in the British Parliament.

1859

28th November

• The Treaty of Comayagua was signed between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Honduras.

1860

28th January

• The Treaty of Managua was signed between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Nicaragua.

1861

13th September

• The 'Municipal Constitution for the Government of the Mosquito Reservation' was adapted, officially bringing the Kingdom of Mosquitia to an end and establishing the Mosquito Reservation (1861-1905).

Sources include, but are not limited to:

1) THE BRITISH SUPERINTENDENCY OF THE MOSQUITO SHORE, 1749 - 1787, by William Shuman Sorsby.

2) William Pitt’s Settlement at Black River on the Mosquito Shore: A Challenge to Spain in Central America, 1732-87.

3) The Rise and Fall of George Frederic Augustus II: The Central American, Caribbean, and Atlantic Life of a Miskitu King, 1805–1824.

4) Correspondence respecting the Mosquito territory. Presented to the House of Commons, July 3, 1848, in pursuance of their address of April 3, 1848.