Corn Islands

The first known inhabitants of the islands were the Indigenous Kukra, who were wiped out by Miskito raiders allied with English buccaneers. Pirates and passing ships used the islands for firewood, water and repairs, and in the mid-18th century British settlers arrived from Jamaica by way of British Honduras, bringing enslaved Africans. They lived mainly in the south-east, where Quinn Hill gave a view of ships approaching the anchorage called Insurance Harbour. The islands formed part of the British protectorate over the Mosquito Coast, and on 27 August 1841 the superintendent of British Honduras landed and declared the enslaved people of the island free, at Southwest Bay. From the descendants of settlers and the freed population came the islands' Creole people.

Churches followed: the Ebenezer Baptist Church and School was founded in 1852, the first Christian institution on the islands, and Episcopal, Moravian and Adventist churches came in the early 20th century. Nicaragua occupied the coast militarily in 1894. Under the Bryan–Chamorro Treaty of 1914 the islands were leased to the United States for 99 years, though they stayed Nicaraguan; the lease ended when the treaty was cancelled in 1971. Corn Island became a municipality in 1940.

Storms have marked the islands' modern history. Hurricane Joan in 1988 destroyed more than four-fifths of the vegetation, above all the coconut palms; the erosion that followed hurricanes Eta and Iota in 2020 consumed much of the historic beach at Southwest Bay; and Hurricane Julia caused serious damage in October 2022, especially on Little Corn and the south-east of Great Corn.

The islands belong culturally to the English-speaking Caribbean as much as to Nicaragua. British and Jamaican migration in the 19th century shaped a strong Afro-Caribbean identity, many islanders carry English surnames, and the everyday language of native families is an English-based Creole with a Caribbean accent. Spanish is spoken too, by islanders and by the many people who have moved over from the mainland, and Miskito is also heard. The islands' flag remembers the emancipation of 1841.

Religion is part of daily life, in a pattern different from the Catholic Pacific side: the Baptist church came first, and Moravian, Adventist and Episcopal congregations followed. Music, cooking and church life all carry the Afro-Caribbean inheritance.

Baseball, Nicaragua's national sport, is among the most popular here; the main ground is the Karen Tucker Baseball Stadium, and the islands have sent at least one player to the major leagues. Volleyball and football are played as well. Visitors find the pace slow and easy.

About 7,900 people live in the municipality, which covers both islands, and almost all of them live in its settlements. Brig Bay, beside the airport, is the municipal seat; Great Corn holds five of the six neighbourhoods into which the municipality is divided, and Little Corn makes up the sixth.

For most of the 20th century the economy rested on coconuts. From the 1960s commercial fishing, above all for lobster and shrimp, took over, and lobster is still the main industry; there is a closed season, and undersized tails may not be taken. Tourism has grown considerably on the back of the reefs, with diving and snorkelling the main draw, and Little Corn in particular now lives largely from its visitors.

Life is shaped by the sea and the supply boats. Most cars on Great Corn are taxis, fresh vegetables are scarce, power cuts are common enough that many hotels run their own generators, and weather decides when boats and planes come and go. Coastal erosion is a pressing concern after recent hurricanes.

The islands' cooking is built on seafood and coconut. The signature dish is crab soup, and the other everyday plates are rondón — a stew of fish or meat with root vegetables, simmered in coconut milk — fried fish, rice with shrimp, beef soup and gallo pinto, the Nicaraguan rice and beans, made here with coconut.

Lobster is the islands' great product and their main industry, so it is on the menu at almost every restaurant and inexpensive while the season is open; prices rise a little once it closes in early spring. Conch is plentiful too, and small taco stands near Long Bay sell cheap meals. Menus tend to repeat the same seafood dishes, fresh vegetables have to be shipped in and are scarce and costly, and vegetarian food is limited to a few simple dishes.

Coconut runs through the cooking — in the rice, the gallo pinto and the rondón — and coconut production was the islands' livelihood for most of the 20th century. To drink there are fresh fruit frescos, cold Nicaraguan beer and rum, and the beach bars of both islands are the places to drink them.