by D. Arróglia
Genesis of English in Nicaragua
Perhaps the first people to utter Anglo-Saxon words in Nicaragua were the dreaded British corsairs who set foot on our Caribbean Coast in the XVII century as they waged an undermining war against the Spanish. These pirates pillaged Spanish villages up and down the Coco River, as well as the main towns of León, Granada, and El Realejo. Famous buccaneers such as William Dampier, John Davis (from Jamaica), and the famous Henry Morgan wreaked havoc along the isthmus. Morgan was a rookie pirate at the age of 30 when, along with the infamous buccaneer John Morris, he attacked Granada in June 1665. It would not be the only time. In their attacks, they used the fierce Mayangna and Zambo or Miskito warriors, who included some English words into their vocabulary. However, the first historical landfall and contact with the Nicaraguan Caribbean indigenous population by subjects of the British Crown occurred in Cabo Gracias a Dios, in northeastern Nicaragua in 1633. The British Capitan Sussex Camock laid anchor in the Miskito Cays to barter with the natives.
