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Honduras Other Non-Ladino Groups
The non-Hispanic (nonladino) groups in Honduras consist
of
the Black Carib, the Miskito, the black population in the
Islas de
la Bahía, and a sizeable number of Arab immigrants. The
Black Carib
(also known as Garifuna in Belize and Guatemala) settled
in the
early 1800s in coastal villages along the Caribbean.
Originally
descendants of freed black slaves and native Carib from
the island
of Saint Vincent in the Caribbean, they arrived in
Honduras when
they were deported from Saint Vincent by the British in
1797 and
resettled in the Islas de la Bahía off the coast of
Honduras. From
there, they moved to the mainland coast of northern
Honduras. Their
language, which they continue to speak, is a Carib-based
creole.
Their cultural practices are similar to those of the Black
Carib
who live in Belize and Guatemala.
The approximately 10,000 Miskito are a racially mixed
population
of indigenous, African, and European origin. Their
language, still
spoken by several thousand, is a creole based on Bahwika
(in the
Misumalpan family of languages), with contributions from
West
African languages as well as Spanish, English, and German.
Spain's
failure to conquer and colonize the eastern Caribbean
lowlands of
Central America made this area attractive to
English-speaking
buccaneers, traders, woodcutters, and planters during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This remote area
also became
a refuge for black slaves and freed slaves. In the
northern coasts
of Honduras and Nicaragua, unions of indigenous people and
the
African and British immigrants produced a racially mixed
group
known as Miskito, who have a predominantly indigenous
language and
culture. Miskito settlements are situated near the Laguna
de
Caratasca and the banks of the Río Patuca in
northeasternmost
Honduras and are an extension of the larger Miskito
communities in
eastern Nicaragua. When the Nicaraguan Miskito population
near the
Río Coco was uprooted by the Nicaraguan government for
security
reasons in the early 1980s, many Nicaraguan Miskito
migrated to
Honduras.
Interestingly, although the Miskito and Black Carib
peoples have
similar racial origins, the Miskito are generally
considered by
Hondurans to be indigenous people, whereas the Black Carib
are
generally considered to be black. This difference in
ethnic
identification is probably a reflection of the different
cultures
of the two groups; Black Carib culture retains more
African
elements in its folklore, religion, and music than does
the culture
of the Miskito.
The Miskito and Black Carib peoples have traditionally
been
economically self-sufficient through subsistence
agriculture and
fishing. In the early 1990s, the men, however, were often
forced to
seek supplementary income by working outside their own
regions.
Thus, Miskito and Black Carib men often spend long periods
separated from their families.
The population of the Islas de la Bahía is a black or
mixed
white-black population. The inhabitants are descendants of
Englishspeaking whites and of blacks who came from Belize and the
Cayman
Islands during the middle of the nineteenth century. This
population speaks mostly creole or Caribbean English, and
their
traditions are distinctly West Indian.
Another distinct ethnic group is the thriving Arab
community.
Arab immigrants from the Middle East (especially Palestine
and
Lebanon) began arriving in Honduras during the early part
of the
twentieth century. Because they held passports issued by
the
Ottoman Empire, they came to be called turcos in
Honduras.
This community retains many of its traditions and
continues to be
perceived as culturally distinct, although this
distinctiveness is
becoming blurred through increased intermarriages with
other
groups. Economically, the Arab community prospered first
as
merchants in the area of the banana plantations on the
Caribbean
coast. Following their success, many moved to the larger
cities,
where they became powerful economically, especially in
manufacturing and commerce.
Data as of December 1993
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