Miskito Phrasebook Project
Bookum Bila Miskito

About the Project

Research for the Lonely Planet Nicaragua – El Salvador guide required me to investigate enormous and little-explored eastern expanse of Nicaragua, sometimes referred to as the Mosquitia. The Mosquitia, which also includes the Honduran Atlantic Coast, has a very different history and culture than Central America's much more thoroughly Hispanicized Pacific Coast.

The Pacific side is dryer, and was therefore easier for European colonists to settle and survive than the swampy, malaria-ridden jungles of the indigenous-controlled east. With the help of pirates, the indigenous nation that is today known as the Miskitos, managed to resist the Spanish incursion and retain control of the Mosquitia well into the 19th century. Indeed, since 1987 the Nicaraguan Mosquitia has been legally managed as two largely independent provinces, the RAAN (North Atlantic Autonomous Region) and RAAS (South Atlantic Autonomous Region).

Although Spanish is the Nicaragua’s official language, Caribbean English is still spoken in throughout the region (and remains the primary language of the Corn Islands), while several indigenous languages, including Mayangna (Sumo), Rama and various Creoles, also survive. But Miskito remains the most widely spoken indigenous tongue in Nicaragua, and many people, particularly those in rural areas, speak it exclusively. I wanted to learn enough Miskito to navigate these small villages while on the job.

Happily, one of my coworkers at Hotel Liberia in Costa Rica, Miskito Indian Jonny Nixon, could not only fix just about anything, but was also willing to teach me a little Miskito during his downtime. We had so much fun that my goal of building a small phrasebook quickly grew out of control. This little lexicon, which features the dialect of the tongue spoken in the Bluefields area, is the result of those lessons.

Please keep in mind that I am not a professional linguist; you may notice that even my Spanish isn’t perfect. If you do speak Spanish, there’s another free Miskito dictionary available online, compiled by Dr. Danilo Salamanca. And f you’re feeling really ambitious, you could take classes from Professor Dionisio Melgara Brown (brownmelgara@hotmail.com, in Spanish only), who runs the Museo Auka Tangki in Waspám, Nicaragua, close to the Honduran border. He also sells his comprehensive, self-published Diccionario Práctico Español-Miskito (US$18) and a workbook of grammar exercises, Aprendamos El Miskito (US$7.50) at the museum.

A Short History of the Mosquitia

This article was originally published in Lonely Planet Nicaragua-El Salvador

Some legends say that the Miskito Nation, which for two centuries controlled more territory than any other indigenous group in American history (other than the Mayans), originated in the Miskito Keys. The small group of islands first appeared on a European map in 1630, labeled the Musquitu Islands, '14 leagues from Cabo de Gracias,' where the Miskitos first made contact with pirate captain Sussex Camock in 1633. Following an alliance with the pirates, who used the natural deep-water port to relax between raids on the Spanish treasure fleet, the Miskitos took control of the entire Miskito Coast, from Northern Honduras to well into Costa Rica, the bulk of which is today known as the Mosquitia.

The Miskitos quickly grasped the potential for firearms, and in return for the new technology aided in the sacking of Spanish strongholds up and down the Rio San Juan and Rio Coco. In 1687, the English monarchy was pleased enough with their new allies to help found the Miskito Monarchy, a system of government that would endure into the 19th century; descendents of the Miskito Royal Family still live in the regions surrounding Waspám. But when the British brought one of the Miskito Kings to England, to learn more about his English benefactors, the young man’s tutors were surprised that he looked more African than Indian.

Miskito culture has historically embraced outsiders, and not always figuratively. Most trace their obviously African roots to a Portuguese slave ship that wrecked on the keys in 1640, though waves of escaped slaves, pirates of African descent, and West Indian banana workers are almost certainly part of the mix. Other important outside influences include the German Moravian church, whose missionaries arrived in 1849, and built pretty red-roofed wooden churches that are now at the physical and cultural heart of most Miskito communities. To this day many Miskito festivals and handicrafts have a distinctly Saxon flavor, not to mention plenty of blue and green eyes in the crowd.

The Mosquitia did not submit willingly to Nicaraguan rule in 1894, so the Spanish-speaking government sent in troops that could hold major cities, but never penetrate the fiercely independent smaller towns. The Miskito’s discontent at their domination by the 'Spaniards' in Managua was brought to a head by one of the most horrific chapters of Sandinista rule.

US-backed Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza had been popular since 1960, when starving Miskito refugees pouring into the country following a bloody border dispute with Honduras. Instead of turning the starving and destitute illegal immigrants away, as some Nicaraguan politicians had wanted to do, President Somoza ordered houses and Moravian churches built. For the remainder of his rule, Somoza would randomly appear on the coast for enormous free barbecue parties, enjoying the one region in Nicaragua where he was popular enough to relax without worrying about being assassinated. This was despite an apartheid system that the Somoza government maintained, which required Miskito workers have a special, difficult-to-obtain passport before traveling to Pacific side of the country, where the jobs were.

Thus, when the Sandinista revolution marched triumphantly into Managua in 1979, the Miskitos' loyalties were split. Many of them joined MISURASATA (MISkito, SUmo, RAma, Sandinista & AslaTAlanka), an indigenous political party founded by the FSLN (Sandinista National Liberation Front). These volunteers were eager to help with the national literacy campaign, among other admirable projects that promised to improve the area’s woefully substandard education and infrastructure.

Literacy workers were soon informed, however, that the Sandinista-led government had decreed Spanish as Nicaragua’s sole, official language. More Miskitos still spoke English than Spanish, and they were furious that their own indigenous language had been completely sidelined. Then, adding more fuel to the fire, the FSLN declared the Mosquitia's natural resources to be public property, 'to be exploited efficiently and reasonably.' By Spanish speakers in Managua, that is. Tensions built.

At the same time, members of Somoza's defeated National Guard were regrouping in the Mosquitia. The Sandinistas received intelligence that the soldiers would be meeting in San Carlos, near the Honduran border, on December 23, 1981. FSLN leadership assumed, probably incorrectly, that dissatisfied Miskito Indians were already working with the hated National Guard to return the Somoza dynasty to power.

Some 7000 Sandinista troops received their orders: Evacuate the people, burn the houses, kill the animals, raze the farms and orchards, even destroy the wells. No one was given time to pack or think, just flee the columns of smoke rising from the riverbanks, the squeals of dying animals behind them. Every single town on the Rio Coco was burned to the ground, and no one knows how many civilians died. It is remembered as Red Christmas.

Some 20,000 Miskito Indians became refugees, trying to eke out a new life Honduras, Puerto Cabezas (now called Bilwi) and San Jose de Bocay, most finally settling in what's now known as Tasba Pri or "Free Land," the impoverished string of towns that cling to the rough dirt road between Rosita to the Pacific Coast. If the majority Miskitos hadn’t previously sympathized with the National Guard, at this point backed by the administration of US President Ronald Reagan, they did now. Thousands of young men and women joined the Contras, thirsty for revenge.

After surveying the scorched earth they’d left behind, Sandinistas backpedaled, issuing apologies and even offering to make Miskito an official language, but it was too little, too late. The region became the center of the Contra insurgency, with multiple US-run military bases, landing strips and a thriving cocaine trade that paid for much of the operation.

After the Contras lost US support, in the wake of the Iran-Contra Affair, Miskito soldiers and politicians agreed to begin peaceful talks with the Sandinista-led central government. Managua passed National Autonomy Law in 1987, which granted the RAAN and RAAS nominal independence, but in reality continued to allow the central government to exploit the region's natural resources – but without any legal responsibility to help build infrastructure.

Unemployment hovered at 50% for a decade, and the region remained the poorest in the nation.

Shortly after autonomy, former Contras and MISURASATA members formed YATAMA (YApTi MAsrika Nani, or "Descendants of Mother Earth"), a nationwide political party the today gets about 90% of the indigenous vote in every election – and in the RAAN and RAAS, that means the majority of the electorate.

YATAMA was barred, however, from participating in the 2000 elections because of The Pact, an agreement between Sandinista Party strongman Daniel Ortega and disgraced former Liberal Party (which represents most non-Native former Contras) President Arnoldo Alemán that effectively limits Nicaragua to a two-party system. YATAMA called on its constituency to abstain, and the Sandinista candidate actually became mayor of Bilwi/Puerto Cabezas. YATAMA took their complaints to the World Court, which ruled in 2003 the elections were indeed tainted. In 2005, YATAMA returned to the ballot and won the mayorships of RAAN’s three largest cities, Waspam, Prinzapolka and Bilwi.

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