The Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua is (economically speaking) the poorest region of a very poor country.
It has a distinctive history of conquest, colonization and resource exploitation that has left it underdeveloped and environmentally depleted, with high levels of unemployment and poverty, and low levels of schooling, health and other social services.
This area of Nicaragua now comprises two autonomous regions: R.A.A.N (Región Autónoma Atlántico Norte – North Atlantic Autonomous Region) and R.A.A.S. (Región Autónoma Atlántico Sur – South Atlantic Autonomous Region), whose respective capitals are Bilwi (formerly Puerto Cabezas) and Bluefields.
The Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua comprises 57% of the national territory and has a vast supply of natural resources. The marine life on the Caribbean coast is unparalleled, the coastal rainforests are second only to those in Brazil, and the region’s mineral resources have the potential to yield $5 billion. Foreign companies, with concessions granted by the central government in Managua, have extracted vast amounts of these resources – leaving behind only massive pollution, erosion, and contamination. URACCAN intends to provide the basis for the ecologically sound development of abundant seafood, mining, and forestry resources for the benefit of people who live on the Coast.
In contrast to the Pacific Coast region of the country, the social and cultural distinctness of the Caribbean Coast is striking. While the Pacific Coast population is quite homogeneous: 96% Mestizo (of mixed indigenous and Spanish ancestry), almost 100% Spanish-speaking, and predominantly Roman Catholic, the Caribbean Coast is home to six different ethninc groups speaking four different languages.
The Mayangna (Sumu) and Rama are direct descendents of indigenous peoples now much-reduced in number; only the Mayangna still speak their own language. The indigenous Miskitu people have, since the 17th Century, undergone a process of inter-marriage with people of African origin and Afro-Caribbean immigrants. They represent the largest of the Coast’s ethnic minorities, and still speak their own language. Next in size is the population of English-speaking Creoles, descendents of white settlers on the Coast and their African slaves imported in the 18th Century, and of further migrations of Afro-Caribbean workers from Jamaica and Belize. Spanish-speaking Mestizos, who have migrated from the Pacific Coast region at various periods in search of land or work, now constitute the majority group. There is also a small population of Black Caribs, descended from black slaves, who ran away or were shipwrecked along Central America’s Caribbean Coast in the 18th and 19th Centuries, and who inter-bred with indigenous Carib indians. Their language (Garifunu) is still alive in the larger Caribbean settlements of Belize and the Bay Islands of Honduras, but the Nicaraguan Caribs speak Creole English.
A Brief History of the Coast
Nicaragua is unique in that it is the only country in Latin America that was colonized by two powers. The western side was colonized by Spain, which implemented a policy that resulted in the complete annihilation of indigenous peoples. The evidence of their culture is now minimal and limited mostly to folklore. Years of colonization has resulted in the destruction of their identity, language and social organization. In their place, a Mestizo, Spanish-speaking, Catholic culture has evolved.
The eastern, or Caribbean coast, however, has a different history. It was colonized by Great Britain, and for its own reasons, which had nothing to do with the interests of indigenous people, Great Britain implemented a policy that in the end resulted in the survival of three indigenous groups, including the Miskitu, Sumu, and Rama, and three multi-ethnic communities, including the Creole and Garifunu.
The differences between the two regions were exacerbated when, in 1894, the Nicaraguan military – with the help of the U.S. military – invaded the Caribbean coast, forcing territorial integration, to which Costeños (people of the Caribbean coast) were resolutely opposed. From that moment on, successive Nicaraguan administrations began implementing policies that sought to impose the primacy and dominance of Mestizo culture. Indigenous cultures and languages of the Caribbean coast were delegitimized by governmental decree. Economic policies based on the granting of licenses and concessions to foreign companies to exploit the natural resources of the region fostered increased resentment and antagonism, as Costeños witnessed the extraction of great wealth without any tangible benefit to the region.
The Autonomy Law, first implemented under the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) government in 1987, sought to redress the injustices created by centuries of foreign and internal colonialism. The autonomy process legitimizes and acts upon the demands of the Costeños to reclaim their historic right to the natural resources of the region as well as the right to defend, preserve, and promote their identity, history, culture and traditions
Indigenous Rama People
The Rama people are the smallest ethnic group living on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua. The assessment of the Rama population was never very high. It was estimated at 500 by 1827 and 285 in 1909, with a lowest citation of 164 by 1865. The total Rama population today in 2003 is said to be above 1000.
The Ramas may have been relatively late comers to Nicaragua. The name Rama did not appear in the colonial documents until the eighteenth century. The Ramas are considered descendants of the Votos, who at the time of the conquest occupied a territory extending from the Rio Escondido north of Bluefields lagoon to the Rio San Juan which forms today the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Traditionally the Ramas lived in small scattered settlements, moving about and hiding from intruders in the tropical forest.
At the turn of the XVIIth century the Miskitus granted the Ramas a small island in the lagoon of Bluefields in recognition of their help in fighting off Terraba Indians from the south. An estimated 200 Ramas from the coastal area of Punta Gorda moved to the island which became known from then on as Rama Cay. The island is thirteen kilometers south of Bluefields. (The trip from Rama Cay to the market town of Bluefields takes about four hours on average by dug-out canoe (`dory’ in Creole), and from an hour and a half to thirty minutes by motor boat.). Today the vast majority of the Rama population lives on Rama Cay.
By the mid-eighties, the Ramas found themselves in the midst of discussions for the autonomy of their region, which included claims by all ethnic groups of the region to the use and development of their ethnic languages. This is how a delegation of Ramas from Rama Cay approached the Sandinista authorities of Bluefields in 1984 to ask for help in saving their Rama language. A “Rama Language Project” (RLP) originally aiming at the revitalization of the Rama language was initiated in the mid-eighties. It was sponsored by CIDCA (Centro de Investigación y Documentación de la Costa Atlántica), the institution in charge of research in the region, including all language programs.
