Editing Bluefields (section)

==History==
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2021}}
The origin of the city of Bluefields is connected with the presence of [[Europe]]an pirates on the [[Nicaragua]]n Caribbean coast, subjects of powers at the time hostile to [[Spain]].  These pirates used the Escondido River to rest, to repair damages and to be provisioned. By then, the territory of the present municipality was populated by the native towns of Kukra and Branch.

In 1602, a [[Dutch people|Dutch]] soldier of fortune named [[Abraham Blauvelt]] chose the bay of the Escondido River as his center of operations due to its tactical advantages. The name of the municipality is a literal but pluralized translation of his surname, 'blau' (modern Dutch 'blauw') meaning 'blue' and 'velt' (modern Dutch 'veld') meaning 'field'.

African slaves first appeared in the Caribbean coast in 1641, when a [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portuguese]] ship that was transporting slaves wrecked in the Miskito Cays. [[British Empire|English]] subjects started emigrating to the region in 1633. Beginning in 1666, they were organized into colonies and by 1705, governmental authorities had been established. In 1730, the [[Mosquito Coast|Kingdom of Moskitia]] came to depend on the British administration in [[Jamaica]]. The British supplied the [[Miskito people]] with armaments which the Miskito used to fend off attacks by the other groups of the Caribbean coast, including the [[African diaspora|Afro-descendant]] Creoles and the indigenous tribes of [[Sumo people|Mayangnas, Ulwas]], and [[Rama people|Ramas]].

In 1740, the Miskitos yielded to [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] [[sovereignty]] over the territory, and in 1744, a transfer of [[White Jamaicans|White]] colonists was organized from Jamaica to the [[Mosquito Coast|Kingdom of Moskitia]]; they brought black slaves with them. [[Kingdom of France|French]] colonists also arrived at this time. The area was a [[British protectorate]] until 1796, when Britain, with an offer from the [[Monarchy of Spain|Spanish Monarch]] to extend the territory in the [[Yucatán Peninsula]] for the cutting of logwood for the British settlers, decided to remove all English settlers from the [[Mosquito Coast|Kingdom of Moskitia]]; the British subjects also abandoned the islands, but the Spaniards did not take firm positions in them.

With the independence of the [[Viceroyalty of New Granada]], the [[Mosquito Coast|Kingdom of Moskitia]] became [[de jure]] part of [[Gran Colombia]] until its dissolution in 1831. Thereafter it became part of the [[Republic of New Granada]], now [[Colombia]], until, through the [[Esguerra-Bárcenas Treaty]], the Colombian state formally ceded the territory to Nicaragua.

The [[Moravian Church]] was installed in 1847. In 1860, the Harrison-Altamirano Treaty, also known as the [[Treaty of Managua]], created the Miskito Reserve from the territory of the [[Mosquito Coast|Kingdom of Moskitia]] by an agreement between the British and Nicaraguan governments. The city of Bluefields was chosen as capital of the Reserve.

The "Europeanization" of the Indians was completed by the 1880s, when British and Americans expanded the production of bananas and wood, creating a prosperous enclave [[economy]]; by the 1880s, Bluefields was already a city of [[Multicultural|cosmopolitan]] character, with an intense commercial activity.

[[Economic growth]] also brought a marked process of social differentiation, by which the races and [[ethnic group]]s were distributed spatially and in terms of work: the white population represented the interests of the foreign businesses; those of mixed race worked as [[artisan]]s and in working-class occupations; the darker-skinned Creoles had their niche in physical work, and the native population were employed as servants and for other smaller works.  In 1894, the government of Nicaragua incorporated the Miskito Reserve into the national territory, extinguishing the Miskito [[monarchy]], and on October 11, 1903, Bluefields was proclaimed capital of the Department of Zelaya.

Due in part to US Coast Guard patrols attempting to intercept Colombian drug smugglers, salvaging cocaine (often referred to locally as "white lobster") has become an important part of the local economy. When threatened with potential boarding by US Coast Guard ships, cocaine smugglers try to dispose of their illegal cargo by throwing it overboard, simultaneously lightening their load for a faster escape and eliminating the evidence in case of capture. A percentage of the cocaine bales are carried by ocean currents into the lagoon around Bluefields. Residents may find the bales washed up on the beach or seek them by boat in the lagoon or at sea. In recent years, stricter legislation has led to a decrease in these activities.

Bluefields remains a deeply impoverished city with extremely high rates of unemployment.