THE MISKITU, MILITARY LABOUR, AND THE SAN JUAN EXPEDITION OF 1780

Abstract

Abstract This article examines the contributions of the Miskitu people of colonial Nicaragua and Honduras to Britain's largest military intervention in interior Central America – the invasion of Spanish Nicaragua in 1780. Lacking the local skills and knowledge essential to offensive operations in the region, the expedition relied on an existing alliance with the Miskitu. Charting the evolution of this alliance, this article reveals not only the importance of indigenous manpower to colonial endeavours but also how intercultural campaigns generated powerful assumptions about martial skills and racial categorizations. These assumptions were highly vulnerable to misunderstandings that, in turn, had a profound effect on supposedly rigid European concepts of national policy, military planning, and strategic interests. The failure of British officials to appreciate the needs of their allies ended hopes of defeating the Spanish empire. But the failure also shaped understandings of the Miskitu and broader British interests in Central America. The raising of military labour was much more than the process of hiring soldiers. It was a broader process of negotiation, understanding, and misunderstanding that helped define the expansion of European empires in the new world.

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