Moskitian Creole is an

English-based creole language An English-based creole language (often shortened to English creole) is a creole language for which English was the '' lexifier'', meaning that at the time of its formation the vocabulary of English served as the basis for the majority of the cr ...

spoken on Moskitian Shore in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, with approximately 100,000 speakers. ''Mosquitia'' or ''Mosquito'' is the name that is given to the region and earlier residents by early Europeans who visited and settled in the area. The term "''Moskitian''" is now more commonly used to refer to both the people and the language. Moskitian Creole is nearly identical to, and hence

mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intellig ...

with,

Belizean Creole Belizean Creole (, ) is an English-based creole language spoken by the Belizean Creole people. It is closely related to Moskitian Creole, San Andrés-Providencia Creole, and Jamaican Patois. Belizean Creole is a contact language that developed ...

, and retains a high degree of intelligibility with all other

n English creoles. It is also sometimes classified as a dialect of

Jamaican Patois Jamaican Patois (; locally rendered Patwah and called Jamaican Creole by linguists) is an English-based creole language with influences from West African, Arawak, Spanish and other languages, spoken primarily in Jamaica and among the Jamaican ...

creole but this classification has been disputed. It also includes influences from the

Miskito language Miskito ( in the Miskito language) is a Misumalpan language spoken by the Miskito people in northeastern Nicaragua, especially in the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, and in eastern Honduras. With around 150,000 speakers, Miskito is th ...

and West/Central

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Geographic distribution

Speakers of Moskitian Creole are primarily persons of

Amerindian In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...

, and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an descent in the towns and on the offshore islands of the Moskitian Shore. The main concentration of speakers in Honduras is around Puerto Lempira, and La Mosquitia region of Honduras. In Nicaragua

Bluefields Bluefields is the capital of the South Caribbean Autonomous Region in Nicaragua. It was also the capital of the former Kingdom of Mosquitia, and later the Zelaya Department, which was divided into North and South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Reg ...

, and a smaller portion in, Prinzapolka, Bilwi,

Pearl Lagoon Pearl Lagoon () is a municipality that is often time called just Lagoon and was historically known as English Bank. It is located in the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region of Nicaragua. It is the most important town of the largest coastal lag ...

, the offshore

Corn Islands The Corn Islands are two islands about east of the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, constituting one of 12 Municipality, municipalities of the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region of Nicaragua. The official name of the municipalit ...

, as well as other smaller communities in both regions. Bluefields is the largest area of the

South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region The South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region is one of two autonomous regions in Nicaragua. It was created along with the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region by the Autonomy Statute of 7 September 1987 through a division of the former Zelay ...

, where a large amount of inhabitants of the city are

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

-speaking Nicaraguans from the Pacific Coast. Most of the creole speakers are located along the banks of the large rivers and lagoons that surround the area. Inland, the language is spoken in the "mining triangle" which compromises

Siuna Siuna is a county-sized administrative municipality in Nicaragua, located approximately northeast of the capital city of Managua and west of the coastal city and regional capital Puerto Cabezas in the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region ...

Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 12, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running Western, the second-longest-running Western series on ...

and Rosita on the Prinzapolka River. On the Pacific coast, there are small numbers of speakers in Corinto, Puerto Sandino, and the Nicaraguan capital of

Managua Managua () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the List of largest cities in Central America, largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1, ...

. A smaller portion of the population stays in large towns along the northern Caribbean coast of

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

, as well as other neighboring Central American countries.

Rama Cay Creole Rama Cay Creole is a Creole language spoken by some 800 to 900 people on the island of Rama Cay in eastern Nicaragua. It is based on Miskito Coast Creole with additional elements of the Chibchan language Rama and purportedly some elements of En ...

is a variety of the language spoken by the

Rama people The Rama are an indigenous people living on the eastern coast of Nicaragua. Since the start of European colonization, the Rama population has declined as a result of disease, conflict, and loss of territory. In recent years, however, the Rama po ...

Rama Cay Rama Cay is an island in the Bluefields Lagoon on the eastern coast of Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population ...

, an island in the Bluefields Lagoon. The environment is that of a

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

with an average rainfall of 448 centimeters and temperatures that range 26.4 °C (79 °F) and up.

History

African slaves were shipwrecked on the Moskitian Shore as early as 1636, which started the interaction between them and the local

Miskito Miskito may refer to: * Miskito people, ethnic group in Honduras and Nicaragua ** Miskito Sambu, branch of Miskito people with African admixture ** Tawira Miskito, branch of Miskito people of largely Indigenous origin * Miskito language, original la ...

population.

17th to 19th centuries

The modern-day Creoles' ancestors came as escapees from shipwrecked

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting Slavery, slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea ( ...

s from

between the 17th and the late 18th centuries. The escapees went to the jungles and soon formed relations with the local Indigenous tribes and intermarried. The Coast was officially under British

protection Protection is any measure taken to guard something against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although ...

from 1740 to 1787 according to the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance with the Kingdom of Mosquitia and remained under British influence until the late 19th century. While they were here, the African population renewed and transformed ita culture and traits by taking elements of its African culture and mixing it with

European culture The culture of Europe is diverse, and rooted in its art, architecture, traditions, cuisines, music, folklore, embroidery, film, literature, economics, philosophy and religious customs. Definition Whilst there are a great number of pers ...

along with the local Indian tribes which created a new culture. In 1787, the British abandoned their claims on the

Mosquito coast The Mosquito Coast, also known as Mosquitia, is a historical and Cultural area, geo-cultural region along the western shore of the Caribbean Sea in Central America, traditionally described as extending from Cabo Camarón, Cape Camarón to the C ...

in a treaty that was put forth. Slaves who ran away or were abandoned on the Miskito Coast of Honduras would build their own maroon communities along the coast and inlan

Slaves in Nicaragua who ran away or who were abandoned had made their own African communities at Bluefields. Many escaped slaves from other islands had also come over to the area to settle down. Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain signed the Treaty of Managua which gave a portion of an area to the natives there and allowed it to be self-governed. That allowed for the African communities to grow and flourish. Their culture became solid after it had gained economic, political and social control over the Mosquito Coast. The people in the communities then began to start calling themselves Creoles. In the mid-19th century, more English- or Creole-speaking laborers, primarily from Jamaica, were brought to the Coast as laborers. However, following the 1894 formal annexation of the Miskito Kingdom by Nicaragua, an increasing number of Spanish-speakers migrated to the area.

20th and 21st centuries

The 1987

Constitution of Nicaragua The Constitution of Nicaragua was reformed due to a negotiation of the executive and legislative branches in 1995. The reform of the 1987 Sandinista Constitution gave extensive new powers and independence to the National Assembly, including perm ...

granted autonomy to the

Zelaya Department Zelaya is a former department in Nicaragua. The department was located along the Mosquito Coast bordering the Caribbean Sea and was named after former President of Nicaragua José Santos Zelaya, who conquered the region for Nicaragua from the M ...

as two autonomous regions of the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and the South Caribbean Coast. The autonomous status has allowed for the promotion and the development of the languages of the Caribbean Coast and , there was an education in English and Spanish, as well as education in indigenous languages. By the late 20th century, the coast was becoming more integrated economically and socially. The Creole people have now become a minority in the areas in which they had previously predominated. Many Creoles now speak mostly

as well as creole and consider themselves to be only Nicaraguan. There are many Creoles who have now intermarried with

mestizos ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to ...

even though many Creoles still protest on how they lost their political and economic power to the mestizos.

Culture and identification

The Creoles of Nicaragua are said to be an Afro-Caribbean population that are mixed with Europeans, Africans and

Amerindians In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...

. Their culture is influenced by West African and British roots along with

mestizo ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...

s and miskito. Some food that is used in their cooking consists of

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

(in its many forms),

taro root Taro (; ''Colocasia esculenta'') is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in A ...

yuca ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although a perennia ...

, manioc and other elements such as wheat flour and other processed foods. They have their own musical style which can be compared to West Indian calypso. Very little literature has been produced in Nicaraguan Creole. The most regarded author has been June Beer, who was a poet, and artist. As an advocate for Nicaraguan Creole, In 2008 she was honored with an annual literary award bearing her name, the June Beer Literary Prize in Mother Tongues (Premio Literario Internacional en Lenguas Maternas "June Beer"), which is awarded to authors who produce works in indigenous or Creole languages.

Language details

The Nicaraguan Creole English language is spoken as a primary first language by only 35,000 to 50,000 Creoles, Nicaraguan Garifuna, and some Miskitos. The language is being quickly replaced with Spanish with fewer and fewer people speaking it.

References

Bibliography

*Ken Decker and Andy Keener.
A Report on the English-Lexifier Creole of Nicaragua, also known as Miskito Coast Creole, with special reference to Bluefields and the Corn Islands
" Summer Institute of Linguistics. February 1998.