23 April 2024: We are investigating problems with ecommerce on Cambridge Core. We apologise for any inconvenience and hope to have full functionality restored shortly.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
On 14 July 1786, representatives of the Kings of Spain and England signed the Convention of London by which His Britannick Majesty undertook to evacuate all British subjects from the northern coast of Central America, thereby putting an end to over a half-century of conflict in that remote corner of the Caribbean.
Although Article I of the Convention referred to the territory to be evacuated simply as “the Country of the MOSQUITOS …,” the intention was to secure the removal of a string of small British settlements extending from sixty miles east of Trujillo in what is now Honduras along some 550 miles of coast to Cape Gracias a Dios, and then south and east to Nicaragua’s San Juan River. The area was called then, as now, the Mosquito Shore, and had been a British sphere of influence since the 1730s.
1 “Convention between His Britannick Majesty and the King of Spain. Signed at London, the 14th of July, 1786,” in Parry, Clive, ed., The Consolidated Treaty Series, vol 50, (Dobbs Ferry: 1969) p. 47.Google Scholar
2 About one-third the size of Portugal, inland the Shore was separated from Spanish settlements in Honduras and Nicaragua by mountains extending diagonally from Cape Honduras to the San Juan River. Wright, John, Memoir of the Mosquito Territory as Respecting the voluntary Cession of it to Great Britain, (London: 1808), pp. 10–11.Google Scholar For modern treatments of the British-Spanish rivalry on the Shore in the years preceding the Convention, see Floyd, Troy S., The Anglo-Spanish Struggle for Mosquitia, (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1967)Google Scholar; Naylor, Robert A., Penny Ante Imperialism, The Mosquito Shore and the Bay of Honduras 1600–1914: A Case Study in British Informal Empire (Cranbury: Fairleigh Dickenson University Press, 1989) pp. 27–72;Google Scholar Dozier, Craig L., Nicaragua’s Mosquito Shore, The Years of British and American Presence, (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1985), pp. 6–29.Google Scholar
3 See Burdon, John Alder (ed), Archives of British Honduras I (London: Sifton Praed & Co 1931) pp. 1–16.Google Scholar
4 Hodgson, Robert, Some Account of the Mosquito Territory, (Edinburgh: 1822), p. 17;Google Scholar Pedrote, Enrique S., “El Coronel Hodgson y la Expedición a la Costa de Mosquitos,” Anuario de Estudios Americanos, 23 (1967), pp. 1205 and 1215.Google Scholar
5 In this article the term “Mosquito” includes not only the pure-blood Indians of that name, but also the “Zambos,” an African-Indian mixture formed when shipwrecked or escaped slaves mixed with the Indians on the Shore and were assimilated into their social and political structure.
6 For early accounts of the origins of the Mosquito-English friendship, see M.W. “The Mosquito Indian and his golden river … being a description of the Mosquito Kingdom in America,” first published in 1699 and included in Churchill, Awnsham and Churchill, John (eds) A Collection of Voyages and Travels, 6, (London: 1732) p. 288.Google Scholar Sloane, Hans, A Voyage to the Islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica, 1, (London: 1707), pp.66–68 Google Scholar; Long, Edward, The History of Jamaica, 1, (London: 1970) pp. 315–16.Google Scholar The first edition was published in 1774.
7 Memorial of Lieut. Robert Hodgson to His Grace, the Duke of Newcastle, to Succeed Capt. Robert Hodgson as Superintendent on the Mosquito Shore, (1760), British Museum, London, Newcastle Papers, CCCLXX, Add. 33055, fol. 294; Squier, Ephraim G., The States of Central America, (New York, 1858), pp. 744–745.Google Scholar
8 Consulta del Consejo de Indias sobre los Mosquitos y los establecimientos ingleses en la Costa, Archivo General de Indias, Seville, (hereinafter “AGI”) Estado 65, Exp. 6, Leg. 33; de Garaycoechea, Pedro, Relación de las poblaciones que tienen los ingleses en la Costa de Mosquitos, perjuicio que causan a los españoles con la union de los Indios y el modo de desalojarlos, (1746),Google Scholar Museo Naval, Madrid (hereinafter “MNM”), MS 487, fol. X243. The cost of defending its main outposts on the Shore at Trujillo and Omoa drained Central American resources and left little capital for economic development, let alone for outstanding English. Floyd, Troy S., “Bourbon Palliatives and the Central American Mining Industry, 1765–1800,” The Americas 18 (October 1961) 103–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9 Hodgson, , Some Account, at pp. 16–18.Google ScholarPubMed Salvatierra, Sofonías, Contribución a la Historia de Centroamérica 2, (Managua: 1939) p. 452.Google Scholar The effects the monopoly enjoyed by the Cádiz and Guatemalan merchants on prices elsewhere in Central America is explored in Floyd, Troy S., “The Guatemalan Merchants, the Government, and the Provincianos, 1750–1800,” Hispanic American Historical Review 41:1 (Feb, 1961) 90–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10 “Razon Individual de la que comprende la situación donde habita don Guillermo Pitt, de nacion inglés, llamado Río Tinto …” reprinted in Boletín del Archivo General del Gobierno, V, (Guatemala: 1940), pp. 137–140.
11 The report is summarized in Salvatierra, , Contribución, 2, pp. 462–463.Google Scholar
12 Calderón Quijano, José A., “Un Incidente Militar en los Establecimientos Ingleses en el Río Tinto (Honduras) en 1782,” Annuario de Estudios Americanos, 2, pp. 761, 766–768 (1945).Google Scholar
13 Sánchez, Mario Rubio, Historia de Trujillo 2, (Guatemala: 1975), pp. 273–276,Google Scholar quoting from original documents in the AGI.
14 “Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and Spain, signed at Versailles, 3 September 1783” in Parry, , ed., Consolidated Treaty Series vol. 48, p. 481.Google Scholar
15 The Liston Papers, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, MS 5528, fols. 59-62; fols. 63-140; MS 5531-2.
16 “Some Thoughts relative to the Trade lately carried on in the Bay of Honduras,” Liston Papers, MS 5528, fols. 88–95.
17 Articles II, III, IV, VI. Article III forbad, however, the establishment of sugar, coffee and cacao plantations, and in Article IX it was agreed that “Every possible Precaution shall be observed to prevent Smuggling; …”
18 “Disposal of Mosquito Shore Settlers” (July 1787), Public Record Office, London (hereinafter “PRO”), CO. 123, fol. 6.
19 Gonzalo Vallejo, “Descripción del Río Tinto y del de Mustees, delineado por disposición de D. Juan de Nepumoceno de Quesada … en el Mes de Mayo de 1787,” MNM, Ba. XI-Ca-C-No. 17–18.
20 Vallejo, Gonzalo, Diario de Ocurrencias Particulares en dos Viajes a la Costa de Mosquitos (1787), Biblioteca Hidrográfica de Madrid, fols. 159–172 Google Scholar (Noticias Hidrográficas de la América Septentrional, C. Za., tomo iii), reprinted in y Sanz, Manuel Serrano, Relaciones Históricas y Geográficas de América Central; (Madrid, 1908), pp. 223–224 and 229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21 The Edict is reprinted in Revista del Archivo y Biblioteca Nacional, XVI, (Tegucigalpa: 1937), p. 231. See also Salvatierra, , Contribución, 2, pp. 483–485.Google Scholar
22 A list of the emigrants, with names, sexes, ages, occupations and places of origin is provided from original AGI documents reprinted in Sánchez, , Historia de Trujillo, 3, Annex 3, pp. 515–585.Google Scholar The disastrous history of the colonization attempt, and the events leading up to it, are detailed in Sorsby, William S., “Spanish Colonization of the Mosquito Coast, 1787–1800,” Revista de Historia de América 13–74 (January-December 1972) 145.Google Scholar
23 Sánchez, , Historia de Trujillo, 3, Annex 4, pp. 587, 623–627.Google Scholar
24 Hervías to Estachería, 24 April 1787, Río Tinto, Archivo General de Simancas (hereinafter AGS), Guerra, Leg. 6947, Exp. 2, fol. 1.
25 “Traducción del Memorial de Dn. Colvilo Cairns … 7 Feb 1787,” AGS, Guerra, Leg. 6945, Exp. 9, fol. 239.
26 “Nomina Lista de los generos que se podrían regalar a los Indios de la Costa de Mosquitia, 7 Feb 1787,” AGS, Guerra, Leg. 6945, Exp. 9, fol. 240.
27 “Noticia de lo que puede producir la Colonia de la Costa de Mosquitos, 10 February 1787,” AGS, Guerra, Leg. 6945, Exp. 9, fol. 241.
28 Memorandum, 28 February 1787. Guerra, Leg. 6945, Exp. 9, fol. 244; Floridablanca to Marqués de Sonora, El Pardo, 12 March 1787, AGS, Guerra, Leg. 6945, Exp. 9, fol. 233.
29 Memorandum, AGS, Guerra, Leg. 6945, Exp. 9, fol. 242.
30 Floridablanca to del Campo, 12 March 1787, El Pardo, AGS, Guerra, Leg. 6945, Exp. 9, fol. 246; Floridablanca to Estachería, 14 March 1787, El Pardo, Guerra, Leg. 6945, Exp. 9. fol. 248.
31 Traditionally the Mosquito Kingdom was divided into four administrative districts under the authority of the King, a Governor, an Admiral and a General. Hervías to Estachería, Río Tinto, 20 September 1787, AGS, Guerra, Leg. 6948, Exp. 14, fol. 63.
32 Estachería to Valdés, Guatemala, 13 November 1787, AGS, Guerra, Leg. 6948, Exp. 14, fol. 62.
33 Del Campo to Floridablanca, London, 13 July 1787, AGS, Guerra, Leg. 6948, Exp. 4, fol. 14.
34 “Factura de los efectos embarcados … a bordo del Adriatico Capitan Ricardo Berwick con destino a la Costa de Mosquitos por órden del Sr. Marqués del Campo,” Guerra, Leg. 6948, Exp. 3, fol. 162.
35 Hervías to Nepumoceno, Río Tinto, 4 January 1788, AGS, Guerra, Leg. 6948, Exp. 14, fol. 19.
36 Estachería to Valdés, Guatemala, 31 March 1788, AGS, Guerra, Leg. 6948, Exp. 14, fol. 67.
37 Estachería to Valdés, Guatemala, 15 April 1788, AGS, Guerra, Leg. 6948, Exp. 14, fols. 68–69.
38 Meany to del Campo, Río Tinto, 20 May, 1791, AGS, Estado, Leg. 8135, no folio number.
39 “Articles of Copartnership,” Archivo General de Centro América, Guatemala City (hereinafter AGCA), SA 1.43, Leg. 2700, Exp. 23001.
40 Hervías to Estachería, 20 September 1787, see also note 31.
41 Meany to del Campo, 20 May 1791, see also note 38.
42 “Sundry Merchandise shipped by Bridgeman, Coombe & Bridgeman to Black River … on account and risque of Francis Meany & Co. by virtue of a Trading Grant from the Court of Spain …” AGS, Estado, Leg. 8135, no folio number.
43 Receipt dated 1 September 1794, AGCA, SA 1.43, Leg. 2700, Exp. 23001.
44 “Last Will and Testament,” AGCA, SA 1.43, Exp. 13463, Leg. 1977, no folio number.
45 “Mantual del Inglés Don Roberto Kaye, que falleció en Río Tinto,” AGCA, SA 1.43, Leg. 2700, Exp. 23001, no folio number.
46 Meany to Dambrine, Río Tinto, 8 July 1794, AGCA, SA 1.43, Leg. 2699, Exp. 22999, no folio number.
47 Meany and Sivelly prepared a day-by-day 109 page (unnumbered) report of their trip, “Diario que han llevado Don Francisco Meani vecino de Río Tinto y Don Juan Sivelly, subteniente del Real Cuerpo de Artilleria, en el viaje y en virtud de orden del Exmo. Sr. Dn. Bernardo Troncoso … que dío principio en quince de Mayo de mil setecientos noventa y uno.” AGS, Guerra, Leg. 6950, Exp. 6, fol. 25. (Hereinafter “Diario”).
48 Pedrote, , “El Coronel Hodgson,” p. 28.Google Scholar King George was a brutal tyrant who terrorized his own subjects. Not surprisingly, he was himself eventually murdered. Henderson, George, An Account of the British Settlement of Honduras (London: 1809), p.184.Google Scholar
49 Sproat to Hervías, Black River, 24 November 1787, AGS, Leg. 8135 no folio number; Sproat to Dambrine, Río Tinto, 25 October, 1794, AGCA, A 1.7, Exp. 00140, Leg. 9, no folio number.
50 Azuvaluaga to Sproat, Río Tinto, 26 April 1788, AGS, Leg. 8135, no folio number.
51 Sproat to Dambrine, Río Tinto, 25 October 1794, AGCA, A 1.7, Exp. 00140, Leg. 9, no folio number. This letter accompanied the letter of the same date which Sproat sent to Dambrine requesting his third contract renewal, and was written to explain his long absence.
52 Sproat to del Campo, London, 6 March 1794, AGS, Estado, Leg. 8135, no folio number.
53 Sproat to del Campo, London, 15 May, 1794, AGS, Estado, Leg. 8135, no folio number.
54 Sproat to Dambrine, Río Tinto, 25 Oct, 1794, AGCA, A 1.7, Exp. 00140, Leg. 9, no folio number, and annotation thereon.
55 Luttrel to Sproat, St Georges Cay, 1 August 1795, AGCA, A 1.7, Exp. 00140, Leg. 4, no folio number.
56 Dambrine to Sproat, Río Tinto, 19 August 1795, AGCA, A 1.7, Exp. 00140, Leg. 4, no folio number.
57 Dambrine to del Valle, Río Tinto, 8 October 1795, AGCA, A 1.7, Exp. 00140, Leg. 4, no folio number.
58 Sproat to Luttrel, Río Tinto, 20 August 1795, AGCA, A 1.7, Exp. 00140, Leg. 4, no folio number.
59 The Magistrates to Earl Balcarres, Burdon, Archives, I, p. 219.
60 Pedrote, , “El Coronel Hodgson,” p. 1205.Google Scholar
61 See Hodgson, Robert, The Defense of Robert Hodgson, Esq, Late Superintendent and Commander in Chief of the Mosquito Shore, Humbly Addressed to the Right Honourable Lords of Trade and Plantations (London: 1779).Google Scholar
62 Details of Hodgson’s capture and interrogation in Cartagena and Bogotá is documented in Pedrote, , “El Coronel Hodgson,” pp. 1212–1219.Google Scholar
63 Pedrote, , “El Coronel Hodgson,” p. 1216;Google Scholar Hodgson’s brother-in-law, John Pitt, as a result had nothing more to do with him. Hervías to Estachería, Río Tinto, 20 September 1787, AGS, Guerra, Leg. 6948, Exp. 14, fol. 63.
64 Francisco Gil y Lemos to Antonio Valdés, Cartagena, 6 October 1789, AGS, Estado, Leg. 6149, Exp. 5, fol. 18; Salvatierra, Contribución, pp. 496–517; Naylor, , Penny Ante Imperialism, pp. 7–71.Google Scholar
65 See, especially, AGS, Guerra, Leg. 6948, Exp. 29; Leg. 6949, Exp. 15. There are thirteen Expedientes on Hodgson at Simancas, collected in Guerra, Legajos 6945, 6947, 6948 and 6949. There is also extensive mention of him in the correspondence of the Viceroy of Nueva Granada in the files pertaining to the Audiencia of Santa Fé in the Archivo General de Indias, and upon which Pedrote relied in “El Coronel Hodgson.”
66 “Informe” at AGCA, A.z.z., Exp. 158, Leg. 9, fols. 15, 16, and 82.
67 Porta Costas, A., Relación del Reconocimiento Geométrico y Político de la Costa de Mosquitos (1790),Google Scholar Biblioteca del Depósito Hidrográfico de Madrid; Noticias Hidrográficas de América Septrional, C. Za., tomo III, fols. 82–88, reprinted in Serrano, M. y Sanz, , Relaciones Históricas y geográficas de América Central, (Madrid: 1908), pp. 257 and 274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
68 Costas, Porta, Relación, pp. 274–275.Google Scholar
69 Costas, Porta, Relación, pp. 275–276.Google Scholar
70 Costas, Porta, Relación, pp. 277–78.Google Scholar
71 Diario, 8 July 1791.
72 Diario, 9 July, 14 July, 18 July, and 13 August 1791.
73 Troncoso to Count Campo Alegre, Guatemala, 19 June 1791, AGS, Guerra, Leg. 6949, Exp. 16, fol. 7.
74 AGCA, A 2.2, Exp. 158, Leg. 9, fol. 27.
75 Troncoso to Camp Alegre; see also note 73.
76 AGCA, Exp. 6809, Leg. 301, fols. 15–20.
77 Reprinted in Sánchez, Historia de Trujillo, III, Annex 3, p. 640.
78 Costas, Porta, Relación, p. 283.Google Scholar
79 Costas, Porta, Relación, pp. 281–86;Google Scholar Salvatierra, , Contribución, 2, pp. 529–31.Google Scholar
80 Balcarres to Duke of Portland, Kingston, 30 April 1798, PRO CO 137/99.
81 Extracts from a journal kept by Dr. Gray, PRO, FO 53/7. fol. 236.
82 Sánchez, , Historia de Trujillo III, Annex 6, p. 699 Google Scholar; Young, Thomas, Narrative of a Residence on the Mosquito Shore (London: 1842), p.54.Google Scholar The events leading up to the attack are described in Sorsby, , “Spanish Colonization,” pp. 151–52.Google Scholar
83 Quoted in Coello, A.C., El Tratado de 1843 con los Indios Moscos (Tegucigalpa: 1938), p. 25.Google Scholar
84 Sproat to Basset, 23 September 1800, Belize, PRO, CO 137/105.
85 See documents reprinted in Sánchez, , Historia de Trujillo, 3, Annex 6, pp. 661–682.Google Scholar
86 Henderson, George, An Account of the British Settlement of Honduras … pp. 145–46.Google Scholar
87 For a concise history of post-1800 British involvement on the Mosquito Shore, see, Naylor, Robert A, Penny Ante Imperialism, pp. 103–167;Google Scholar Also, Rodríguez, Mario, A Palmerstonian Diplomat in Central America: Frederick Chatfield, Esq. (Tuscon: 1964), pp. 128–129,Google Scholar 242–246, and 285–286, and Van Alstyne, Richard W., “The Central American Policy of Lord Palmerston, 1846–1848,” Hispanic American Historical Review, 16 (1936) 339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
88 “Treaty between Great Britain and Honduras respecting the Bay Islands, the Mosquito Indians and the Rights and Claims of British Subjects signed at Comayagua, 28 November, 1859,” and “Treaty between Great Britain and Nicaragua relative to the Mosquito Indians and the Rights and Claims of British Subjects, signed at Managua, 28 January 1860,” in Parry, , Consolidated Treaty Series, vol. 121, pp. 209 Google Scholar and 317, respectively.
89 Sorsby, , “Spanish Colonization,” p. 148.Google Scholar
