Mosquito

MOSQUITOS

BRIEF HISTORY

The Mosquito Indians first came into contact with the English when the Earl of Warwick established his colony at Providence. He persuaded their King to send his son to England. This prince, known to his descendants as Oldman, was received in audience by King Charles I. He returned to the Mosquito coast to find that his father had died during his absence, and that he was now King. His son and successor, Jeremy I, visited Jamaica in February 1688 and placed himself and his people under English protection. Thereafter, all his successors were confirmed in their successions by virtue of a certificate from the Governor of Jamaica.

In the years that followed, small numbers of English and American settlers, escaped convicts and slaves, settled in several centres along the coast. Relations between the Mosquitos and the Spanish had always been poor, but the increasing number of settlers increased tensions further. English commercial interest in hardwood logging in nearby Honduras, exacerbated Spanish antagonism. Consequently, official British involvement in the region steadily increased. The Mosquito King and the British concluded a formal Treaty of Friendship and Alliance in 1740, followed by the appointment of a resident Superintendent in 1749. His brief included the establishment of a more formal protectorate over the Mosquito nation, advising the King, and the codification of laws and land grants.

The Mosquito's were especially useful to the British during the American Revolutionary Wars. They attacked and harried the Spanish colonies, gaining several significant victories alongside the regular British Forces. However, at the conclusion of the peace in 1783, Britain had to relinquish control over the coast. Formal withdrawal was completed at the end of June 1787.

Despite this withdrawal, Britain maintained an unofficial protectorate over the kingdom, often intervening to protect Mosquito interest against Spanish encroachments. Relations were always close, with a number of British advisers, teachers and missionaries continuing to serve on the coast. Several members of the Royal family received their education either in Jamaica, British Honduras, or England and several kings were crowned according to Anglican rites.

From the middle of the nineteenth century onwards, British interest in the region began to wane. The Spanish had long since left the region and the old antagonisms between the rival colonial powers had evaporated. However, the Republic of Nicaragua, as successor-state in the region, continued to the old practice of encroaching on the Mosquito territories. However, Britain intervened less frequently, and negotiated away its rights in successive treaties. They Nicaraguan sovereignty over the Mosquito, though with some important guarantees, by the Treaty of Managua of 1860. Thereafter, the consecrated King, George Augustus Frederic II, ceased to be recognised as a sovereign, merely a "Chief" and his kingdom a "reservation".

The rest of the nineteenth century simply saw the Mosquito Nation quietly strangled out of existence. Finally, in 1894 they intervened with a large military force, drove the young king out of his domains and extinguished the kingdom. He escaped aboard a British warship to Jamaica, where, in consideration of the old alliance, he received a government pension for the rest of his life. He died after an operation at the Kingston General Hospital, aged 34 and leaving an only daughter.

SALUTE:
21-guns.

STYLES & TITLES:
The sovereign: King of the Mosquito Nation, with the style of His Majesty.
The principal wife of the sovereign: Queen, with the style of Her Majesty.
The sons of the sovereign, by his Queen: Prince.
The daughters of the sovereign, by his Queen: Princess.

RULES OF SUCCESSION:
Election by the Council of State from amongst the closest male blood relatives of the deceased ruler.

ORDERS & DECORATIONS:
An Order of chivalry is known to have existed during the reign of Robert Henry Clarence, but details are not known.

SOURCES:
The Honduras Almanack, For the Year of Our Lord 1826, 1827, 1829 and 1830. Printed by Authority of the Legislative Assembly, Belize 1826-1830.
Auguste Brindeau, A Histoire de la Mission Morave a la Cote des Mosquitos (Nicaragua) de 1849 a 1921. Impremerie Centrale Ch. Hillier, Strasbourg, 1922.
Dr. John Holm, "Mosqitia's King Jaaj Kraas", The Flag Bulletin. XVIII, No. 2. The Flag Research Center, Winchester, Mass., USA, 1979.
Robert N. Keely, jr., M.D. "Nicaragua and the Mosquito Coast". The Popular Science Monthly. 1894, No. 45, pp. 160-174.
Sir Harry Luke, KCMG, Caribbean Circuit. Ivor Nicholson & Watson Ltd., London, 1950.
Mosquito, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Second Edition. Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange, London, 1849.
Olien, M. D., 1983, The Miskito Kings and the Line of Succession. Journal of Anthropological Research 39:198-241.
Olien, M. D., 1987, Micro/Macro-Level Linkages: Regional Political Structures on the Mosquito Coast, 1845-1864. Ethnohistory 43:256-287.
Olien, M. D., 1988, Imperialism, Ethnogenesis and Marginality: Ethnicity and Politics on the Mosquito Coast, 1845-1864. The Journal of Ethnic Studies 16:1-29.
Sorsby, W. S., 1969, The British Superintendency of the Mosquito Shore, 1749-1787. Ph.D. diss., London: University of London.

SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
Javier Williams Slate.

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