Encounters of Moravian Missionaries with Miskitu Autonomy and Land Claims in Nicaragua, 1894 to 1936

Abstract

Abstract This article analyzes the responses of Moravian missionaries in Nicaragua when they encountered colonial and national competition over sovereignty and internal strife and challenging conditions in indigenous communities, from the 1890s to the 1930s. The focus is on Moravian missionaries who settled in the northern portion of Miskitu territory, which is located in the Mosquitia on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast. Diaries and notes, as well as official reports and accounts to the Moravian Church, provide a unique historical lens through which to examine how the missionaries navigated indigenous resistance, land claims, foreign competition, and economic booms and busts. Although not acting according to an explicit political agenda, missionaries systematically constructed religious, educational, and medical institutions that overcame Miskitu resistance to Christian conversion and became integral to Miskitu lives and welfare. Despite this, the Miskitu people preserved a tradition of self-government during the period under consideration. A change of religious beliefs did not constitute a fundamental transformation of Miskitu ideas and aspirations about political and cultural autonomy. The consolidation of Moravian influence contributed to the intensity of Miskitu nationalist sentiments and land claims when demands for indigenous autonomy resurged later in the twentieth century. This article examines Moravian perspectives on disunity and anxiety in coastal and savannah communities on the Tawira side of Miskitu geographic and ethnic divisions. Moravian accounts of the foundation of the Tawira community of Tuara elucidate ancestral roots and communal struggles during the ebb and flow of Miskitu autonomy and vulnerability.