The Anglo-Spanish Struggle for Mosquitia

Floyd, Troy S., The Anglo-Spanish Struggle for Mosquitia, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 1967.

Reviewed in Caribbean Studies © 1969.

From the book cover:

The author traces for the first time the history of the Anglo-Spanish struggle for the immense "Kingdom of Mosquitia," a struggle that began in the seventeenth century with the short naval war between the Spanish and the British Providence Company and ended during the War of the American Revolution with Spain's historic and little known return to Trujillo and her desperate and dramatic counterattacks to prevent England from splitting the Spanish Empire at the San Juan River. Although Professor Floyd emphasizes the military aspects of the rivalry, he also treats in detail the origins of the English alliance with the Sambo-Miskitos, the intricate connections between buccaneering , slave raids, and contraband, and the relations between the Spanish missionary movement and military offensive. From this account, it can be seen that Belize is only the ultimate compromise resulting from two centuries of warfare over a much larger area, and that the British encroachment in Central America during the nineteenth century maintained a traditional friendship with the Sambo-Miskitos and an ancient rivalry with the Spanish-speaking inhabitants.

.