| George Augustus Frederic II | |
|---|---|
 | |
| King of the Mosquito Nation | |
| Reign | 1845-1864 |
| Coronation | 7 May 1845 |
| Predecessor | Robert Charles Frederic |
| Successor | William Henry Clarence |
| Born | c. 1833 |
| Died | 1864 (aged 30–31) |
| Father | Robert Charles Frederic |
George Augustus Frederic II was King of the Mosquito Nation from 1845 to 1864. He ruled at a time when the kingdom was subject to international rivalry.
He was born around 1833, the son of King Robert Charles Frederic. In 1840 King Robert Charles, established a will which created a council to oversee the affairs of the country in the last years of his reign, and to insure that his heir be advised during a regency, and that the education and support of his family be maintained. The will granted considerable power to the Superintendent, Alexander MacDonald, to appoint councilors, and gave the council full power to institute and change laws, aside from the law establishing the Church of England as the official church. [1]
George Augustus was only about 9 when his father died, and the Regency Council created by his father and MacDonald, having been rejected in Great Britain, was resumed with a different composition, this time under Superintendent Patrick Walker. However, in addition to this council, there was also a regency organized within the kingdom itself, consisting of "Prince" Wellington, "Colonel" Johnson and "General" Lowrey, recognized by the British government on 4 May 1843. [2] He was crowned in Belize on 7 May 1845, when only 12 years old. [3] The next year, 1846, the king abolished the regency council and appointed a new one with the original councilors appointed in honorary positions and a new staff, composed of Creole inhabitants of Bluefields to continue the regency. [4]
The Council, acting in his name, passed a number of laws establishing a militia under local command and control, and abolishing land grants given by his father which were claimed to be irregular, as well as abolishing "Indian Laws and Customs," primarily judicial procedures, which were to be handled by royally appointed magistrates, and regulating woodcutting. [5]
King George supported Great Britain and allowed a variety of Superintendents to operate within the kingdom to advance its interests, and in turn he received their political support. As a part of this support, the English declared a Protectorate over the Miskito Kingdom in 1844, and used the kingdom as a cover for the expansion of British strategic interests in Central America. Perhaps the most notable of these initiatives was the expansion of the kingdom's center to the south, first to Bluefields and then to San Juan del Norte, where he cooperated, with the support of British naval forces, with the expulsion of the Nicaraguan garrison and the annexation of the town to the Miskito Kingdom in 1848. Holding this town gave Britain and the Miskito Kingdom control of an important point in a canal to connect the Atlantic and Pacific.
The southern expansion met strong resistance from the Republics of Nicaragua and Honduras, as well as the United States, who wished to limit British influence in Central America. Potential violence took place as the United States and Britain squared off between 1850 and 1854 around San Juan del Norte, ultimately leading to Britain renouncing its Protectorate role at the Treaty of Managua in 1860. Under the terms of the treaty, Britain would recognize Nicaraguan sovereignty over the Miskito kingdom, while reserving for its people the right to self-government, and payment of an annual stipend to the king. [6] The treaty withdrew international recognition of George as "king" and held him to be only the "hereditary chief" of an entity called the "Reserva Mosquita."
While the treaty was significant as far as the international standing of the Miskito Kingdom was concerned, neither Nicaragua nor Britain had been able to occupy, tax or collect revenue from the kingdom. Consequently, the treaty had little internal significance either to the inhabitants or the domestic status of King George. In 1861, George Augustus, now calling himself "Hereditary Chief" and giving his residence as Bluefields, Mosquito Reservation, summoned a council to enact what amounted to a constitution of the new entity. It recognized the boundaries as established by the Treaty of Managua, reiterated the existing laws passed in 1846, and establish a two tier governing body with power exercised by qualified elected officials (male gender, literacy and property being specified as qualification). This system allowed for shared power between the largely Creole population and the indigenous population. [7]
George Augustus was frequently characterized as being a simpleton and incompetent by detractors, both from within the British government and by United States writers, especially E. G. Squier. These writers were inclined to present him as a puppet of British interests, and to suppose that his kingdom was not actually capable of governing itself. [8]
The Mosquito Coast is the area along the eastern coast of present-day Nicaragua and Honduras. It was named after the local Miskito Nation and was long dominated by British interests and known as the Mosquito Kingdom. From 1860 suzerainty of the area was transferred to Nicaragua with the name Mosquito Reserve, and in November 1894 the Mosquito Coast was militarily incorporated into Nicaragua. However, in 1960, the northern part was granted to Honduras by the International Court of Justice.
The Miskitos are a native people in Central America. Their territory extends from Cape Camarón, Honduras, to Río Grande de Matagalpa, Nicaragua, along the Mosquito Coast, in the Western Caribbean Zone. Their population is estimated at 700,000 people as of 2021, according to the official Miskito Database.
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 Regions. It is located on Bluefields Bay at the mouth of the Bluefields River in the municipality of the same name.
The Misumalpan languages are a small family of languages spoken by indigenous peoples on the east coast of Nicaragua and nearby areas. The name "Misumalpan" was devised by John Alden Mason and is composed of syllables from the names of the family's three members Miskito, Sumo languages and Matagalpan. It was first recognized by Walter Lehmann in 1920. While all the languages of the Matagalpan branch are now extinct, the Miskito and Sumu languages are alive and well: Miskito has almost 200,000 speakers and serves as a second language for speakers of other indigenous languages in the Mosquito Coast. According to Hale, most speakers of Sumu also speak Miskito.
Mískito Coast Creole or Nicaraguan Creole English is an English-based creole language spoken in coastal Nicaraguan region of Mosquito Coast on the Caribbean Sea; its approximately 40,000 speakers are spread over the RAAN and RAAS regions of Nicaragua. The region, known before 1986 as the Zelaya department, is today administratively separated into two autonomous regions: North Caribbean Coast (RAAN) and South Caribbean Coast (RAAS). Mosquito is the nickname that is given to the region and earlier residents by early Europeans who visited and settled in the area. The term "Miskito" is now more commonly used to refer to both the people and the language.
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 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.
The Corn Islands are two islands about 70 kilometres (43 mi) east of the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, constituting one of 12 municipalities of the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region of Nicaragua. The official name of the municipality is Corn Island.
The Treaty of Senock Dawkra, also known as the Treaty Friendship and Alliance, was signed on 16 March 1740, between King Edward I of Mosquitia and the British. Based on the terms of the treaty, King Edward relinquished his kingdom to King George II in return for British military protection. Moreover, the accord dictated that King Edward adopt all English laws throughout his territories.
The Black River settlement was a British settlement on the Mosquito Coast in Central America. It was established in 1732 by a British colonist named William Pitt. The settlement, made on territory claimed but never really controlled by Spain, was evacuated in 1787 pursuant to terms of the Anglo-Spanish Convention of 1786. The Spanish then attempted to colonize the area, but the local Miskitos massacred most of its inhabitants on September 4, 1800. The settlement was abandoned, and its remains can still be seen near the village of Palacios in the Honduran department of Gracias a Diós.
The western Caribbean zone is a region consisting of the Caribbean coasts of Central America and Colombia, from the Yucatán Peninsula in southern Mexico to the Caribbean region in northern Colombia, and the islands west of Jamaica are also included. The zone emerged in the late sixteenth century as the Spanish failed to completely conquer many sections of the coast, and northern European powers supported opposition to Spain, sometimes through alliances with local powers.
The Treaty of Managua, also known as the Zeledon-Wyke treaty, was an 1860 agreement between the United Kingdom and Nicaragua, in which Britain recognised Nicaraguan sovereignty over the Kingdom of Mosquitia, but reserved, on the basis of historical rights, a self-governing enclave known of the Mosquito Reservation for the people, citing earlier treaty arrangements and historical circumstances.
Robert Charles Frederic was the King of the Mosquito Nation, 1824–1842.
George Frederic Augustus I served from 1801 to 1824 as a mostly titular king of the mixed-race Miskito, as the Spanish called them, a Native people of Honduras. Although the title and office were hereditary, the "kings" held no real power, with all political power held by British superintendents in the region instead.
George I was king of the Miskito Kingdom from 1755 to 1776. He was brother of King Edward and son of Jeremy II and was chosen king because Edward's eldest son was still too young to rule.
The battle for Río San Juan de Nicaragua was one of several battles that took place during the Anglo-Spanish War, a subconflict of the Seven Years' War, which lasted from December 1761 until February 1763. The conflict, which took place in July–August 1762, began when William Lyttelton, the British governor and commander-in-chief of Jamaica, sent a naval expedition to Nicaragua with the primary objective of capturing the town of Granada.
Afro-Nicaraguans are Nicaraguans of Sub-Saharan African descent. Five main distinct ethnic groups exist: The Creoles who descend from Anglo-Caribbean countries and many of whom still speak Nicaragua English Creole, the Miskito Sambus descendants of Spanish slaves and indigenous Central Americans who still speak Miskito and/or Miskito Coast Creole, the Garifunas descendants of Zambos expelled from St. Vincent who speak Garifuna, the Rama Cay zambos a subset of the Miskito who speak Rama Cay Creole, and the descendants of those enslaved by the Spanish.
Afro-Hondurans or Black Hondurans are Hondurans of Sub-Saharan African descent. Research by Henry Louis Gates and other sources regards their population to be around 1-2%. They descended from: enslaved Africans by the Spanish, as well as those who were enslaved from the West Indies and identify as Creole peoples, and the Garifuna who descend from exiled zambo Maroons from Saint Vincent. The Creole people were originally from Jamaica and other Caribbean islands, while the Garifuna people were originally from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Garifunas arrived in the late seventeen hundreds and the Creole peoples arrived during the eighteen hundreds. About 600,000 Hondurans are of Garífuna descent that are a mix of African and indigenous as of Afro Latin Americans. Honduras has one of the largest African community in Latin America.
Frederick Chatfield was the United Kingdom's consul in Central America from 1834 to 1852, a key period in the decolonisation of the region.
The Nicaragua Crisis of 1894–1895 was triggered by the Nicaraguan annexation of the Mosquito Coast, leading to the temporary British occupation of Corinto.
The House of Miskito, also called the Miskitu or the Miskut, was a noble family from the Miskito coast that came to reign over part of the current territories on the Caribbean coast of Honduras and Nicaragua between 1687 and 1894, under the Kingdom of Mosquitia. Their kingdom became a British protectorate and was one of the last existing ruling monarchies in the Americas.
We have set up a king of Mosquitia—a savage chief whom we took to Jamaica to crown and anoint & then set up as "his majesty" over a few thousand wandering uncivilized Indians... Of course he is only a puppet in our hands, & virtually we are the rulers of the Mosquito coast...