Map - Corn Island (Corn Islands)

The Corn Islands are two islands about 70 km east of the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, constituting one of 12 municipalities of the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region. The official name of the municipality is Corn Island (the English name is officially used in Spanish-speaking Nicaragua).

According to Edward Conzemius, a French ethnologist from Luxembourg, in 1929 he stated in his article Les Îles Corn du Nicaragua («The Corn Islands of Nicaragua»),that the first inhabitants of Corn Island were the indigenous Kukras, who were exterminated by the also indigenous Miskitos in alliance with the English buccaneers.

They used the island to resupply firewood, water, repair their ships and as a support for their fishing activities. Puritan settlers of British origin arrived on the island in the mid-18th century, bringing with them their slaves of African origin. It is known that they came from Jamaica, settling in British Honduras (now Belize) until they reached the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua.

The first settler inhabitants inhabited preferably the southeastern part of the island. This had its reasons: Quinn Hill's height offered a panoramic view of the sea, from where they could see the arrival of pirate ships as they approached "Insurance Harbor", a strategic port on the Island, which provided facilities for anchoring and unloading boats. This port "Insurance Harbor" also has historical importance since Colonel Alexander McDonald, superintendent of British Honduras (today Belize), landed on August 27, 1841.

This superintendent was the one who ordered to call the slaves, at the point called South West Bay, to declare them free from slavery, in the name of Queen Victoria of Great Britain and King Robert Charles Frederick of the Mosquitia.

After the establishment of the English colonists in the Corn Island Islands, a process of acculturation began. Most of the settlers came to these Islands as adventurers and explorers in search of fortunes and riches. They settled permanently interrelating with the slaves. Product of this relationship arises the Creole descent of Corn Island. Over time, this descendant gradually assimilated and adapted the customs and traditions of English culture. This is how the genetic anthro profile of the Corn Island Creole ethnic group emerged.

11 years after the emancipation from slavery, on August 25, 1852, Reverend Edward Kelly from British Honduras founded the Ebenezer Baptist Church and School, the first church and educational center on the Island. Kelly was the one who evangelized the Cornaileños, since in previous years the Moravians made the attempt but could not.

Corn Island along with the eastern half of Nicaragua was a protectorate of the British Empire from 1655 to 1894, a period in which the region was called the Mosquito Coast. At some point, the islands were frequented by Caribbean pirates. In 1894 the Nicaraguan government claimed the area. The islands were handed over to the United States for a 99-year lease under the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty of August 5, 1914: under the terms of that treaty they were subject to US law but Nicaraguan sovereignty was maintained.

In 1940 Corn Island was elevated to a municipality in the Zelaya Region (as the region was known at the time) by presidential decree.

The Americans maintained the right to the actual or potential use of the islands until April 25, 1971, the date on which the agreement was officially canceled with the repeal of the Chamorro-Bryan treaty, under the presidency of Anastasio Somoza Debayle, from 14 July 1970.