Imprints on Native Lands: The Miskito-Moravian Settlement Landscape in Honduras

Conclusion

the first moravians to arrive on the Mosquito Coast could not have envisioned the profound changes that they and subsequent missionaries would have on the region. Moravians did much more than change Miskito religious beliefs. This book demonstrates that Moravians made significant alterations to the Miskito settlement landscape in eastern Honduras—especially in settlement form, churches, housing, agriculture , and cemeteries. Missionaries altered settlement form by constructing airstrips, streets, churches, and compounds—some of which were patterned after Moravian settlements in Europe and North America. Moravian modifications to Miskito dwellings included changes to house form and construction materials. As part of the process of effecting these adaptations, the missionaries taught Miskito men carpentry and a technique for sawing lumber. Missionaries introduced new crops and livestock , such as the pelipita banana and the Rhode Island Red chicken. Moravian contributions to Miskito agriculture transformed the Miskito diet and resulted in increased fruit tree, rice, and bean cultivation. Their emphasis on increased food production impacted settlements by creating larger and denser fruit tree canopies and larger dooryard gardens. The missionaries modified Miskito burial practices by discouraging the isingni ceremony and property destruction, by propagating the use of the cross as a grave marker, and by instituting their Easter dawn service. Today, many aspects of the Miskito-Moravian cultural landscape are more Moravian than Miskito. Missionary adaptations to Miskito society, particularly regarding housing, agriculture, and diet, were so pervasive that they even affected non-Moravian Miskito. Moravian influence resulted in a Protestant cultural region and landscape that is strikingly different from the Catholic landscapes found in the rest of the country and even those found throughout Central America. Conclusion The Moravian church compound in Honduras shows similarities but also exhibits important differences when compared with the Roman Catholic Church and colonial Spanish town planning implemented in the New World during the conquest. The typical colonial Spanish town contained a gridiron of north–south-, east–west-running streets that were centered on a plaza. The church was often located on the east side of the plaza, while the city hall, businesses, and residences were located along the remaining sides (Stanislawski 1947). Moravian town planning and Spanish colonial town planning are similar in that they are typified by a central square and a visually dominant church centrally located within the settlement. They have several important differences, however, because in the fully developed Moravian plan the principal settlement road bisects the central square, and the church is usually located within the square adjacent to the main road. Moreover, the Moravian compound contained only buildings that were used for church-related purposes, instead of privately owned stores or government offices. Furthermore, although Moravian missionaries in Honduras frequently constructed compounds, and occasionally constructed streets and landing strips, they did not implement a grid pattern. Finally, Catholic churches in Honduras are almost always oriented east–west and located on the east side of the plaza, but Moravian churches are not oriented to specific compass headings or cardinal directions. Instead, Moravian churches are commonly oriented to natural or manmade features such as rivers, lagoons, plazas, and roads (Tillman 2005, 2008). Protestantism in Latin American countries such as Chile and those in Central America has grown to the extent that now there may be more Protestant chapels than Catholic churches, more Protestant pastors than Catholic priests, and more practicing Protestants than practicing Catholics (Clawson 2006). Future studies of this Latin American Protestant reformation should examine changes in the cultural landscape, both urban and rural, produced by Protestant growth in these areas. Scholars could use the findings in this study as a starting point to examine and compare changes in settlement landscapes of other indigenous groups in Central America where Protestant missionaries worked. This research examined material culture change over time through the prism of landscape. The methods used in this study, namely, the documentation of the cultural landscape through extensive fieldwork, interviews 146 CONCLUSION with Miskito villagers, and archival research, are especially effective when there is little historical record available. Because of the Mosquitia’s isolation (even the Honduran government did not have a strong presence in the region until relatively recently), there is little historical documentation of any kind. Many of the scant records that do exist originate from non-Miskito and other sources foreign to Honduras, such as archived British government reports, buccaneer and traveler accounts, and the writings of early Moravian...