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 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 ...

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 ...

. It is the most important town of the largest coastal lagoon also by the name of Pearl Lagoon in the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region of Nicaragua and which the name of the town is derived from. As of 2022, Pearl Lagoon Municipality had a population of 21,360.

History

18th century cannon on Pearl Lagoon municipal wharf

Pearl Lagoon, along with the eastern half of present-day Nicaragua, was a

British protectorate British protectorates were protectorates under the jurisdiction of the British government. Many territories which became British protectorates already had local rulers with whom the Crown negotiated through treaty, acknowledging their status wh ...

from 1655 until 1860, a period when the region was called 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 the period before 1894, eastern Nicaragua was a British protectorate, ruled through a line of Miskito kings. About a century ago, Pearl Lagoon was considered to be the second capital of the Moskitian Kingdom when the last Miskito King took up residence in the town of Pearl City, the capital of the municipality. At that time, Pearl Lagoon was called "the Granada of the Mosquitia" by one of the

conquistadores Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

of the Pacific Coast because of its beauty and the booming ship traffic. An 18th century cannon situated on the municipality wharf of Pearl Lagoon has an inscription commemorating battles between liberal and conservative factions. The cannon was never fired in anger, it was used only for celebrations.

Culture

Most of the inhabitants are Creole, but a large number of Miskito,

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 ...

and some

Garifuna The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu in Garifuna) are a people of mixed free African and Amerindian ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and traditionally speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language. The Garifuna ...

are also present. The

people started migrating in the late 90s, some from the city of El Rama and some from the northern part of the municipality of Pearl Lagoon. Similar to

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 ...

, May Pole is a big celebration among the people. Now within the same month of May, people from all over the municipality would come together in the community of Pearl Lagoon to celebrate and share their different cultures and traditions. The main communities are Haulover, Kakabila, Marshall Point, Pearl Lagoon, Orinoco, La Fe, Raitipura, Brown Bank, Tasbapauni, Set Net Point, Wawashan, San Vicente, Awas and Pedregal.

Sports

The Harry and Maggie Taylor municipal stadium

Pearl Lagoon was the home to four local baseball teams that played during the dry seasons on Sundays. The four teams were: Sweet Pearly, First Stop, The Young Brave, and the Haulover Tigers. Pitchers Albert Williams and Devern Hansack, both natives of Pearl Lagoon, played in the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. Although those teams no longer exist, baseball is still one of the main sports in the community which is also played in the dry season on Sundays at the Harry and Maggie Taylor municipal stadium.

Transportation

Highway between Pearl Lagoon and Haulover

The municipality of Pearl Lagoon is located just north of Bluefields, the capital of the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, and can be reach by boat and Panga boat. In 2006, the IDR initiated the construction of a new rural road of 17 km from Kukra Hill to Pearl Lagoon. The road is now reconstructed and as of today, it permits direct access to Managua from Pearl Lagoonhttp://www.idr.gob.ni/notas%20de%20prensa/laguna%20de%20perla.pdf and was financed by the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

(WB) through the

International Development Association The International Development Association (IDA) () is a development finance institution which offers concessional loans and grant (money), grants to the world's poorest developing country, developing countries. The IDA is a member of the World ...

(IDA). For more than 10 years, there has been a bus that travels every day from Pearl Lagoon to Kukra Hill and back. Around three years ago, the owner of that same bus started a new destination directly from Pearl Lagoon to

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, ...

one time per week.

Education

In Pearl Lagoon, there are three schools. The Beulah Light Burn school which is only for primary and pre-escolar students, the Pearl Lagoon National Institute only for Secondary students and the Pearl Lagoon Academy of Excellence (PLACE) for pre-escolar, primary and secondary students.

References