2017/01/25 by John K. Thornton · 1 voice · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Botany and Geology in Latin America and Caribbean #Colonialism, slavery, and trade #Historical Studies in Central America
paper · doi:10.1215/00182168-3727364
openalex publication_date 2017/01/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
The early eighteenth century witnessed the rise to power of the Miskitu Zambos within the Miskitu Kingdom on the Caribbean coast of Honduras and Nicaragua. The Zambos were the offspring of African slaves from a pirated slave ship and the indigenous inhabitants of the region engaged in long-range raiding. Their rise is explained here by showing that the original core of the group, some 200 slaves taken from two Portuguese vessels by Dutch privateers in 1636, were prisoners of war captured from the army of Mbwila, a small kingdom in today's Angola. Their cohesion and military skills helped them maintain a special identity within the Miskitu Kingdom and then wage a civil war against its indigenous leaders. The subsequent history of the Miskitu Kingdom involved rivalry between the Zambos and the indigenous Miskitu (Tawira) components of the population, involving the English and Spanish in their ongoing conflict.