The Awakening Coast

An Anthology of Moravian Writings from Mosquitia and Eastern Nicaragua, 1849-1899

Karl Offen, Terry Rugeley

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9780803254589
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Native American Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

The indigenous and Creole inhabitants (Mosquitians of African descent) of the Mosquito Reserve in present-day Nicaragua underwent a key transformation when two Moravian missionaries arrived in 1849. Within a few short generations, the new faith became so firmly established there that eastern Nicaragua to this day remains one of the world's strongest Moravian enclaves.
The Awakening Coast offers the first comprehensive English-language selection of the writings of the multinational missionaries who established the Moravian faith among the indigenous and Afro-descendant populations through the turbulent years of the Great Awakening of 1881 to 1882, when converts flocked to the church and the mission's membership more than doubled. The anthology tracks the intersection of religious, political, and economic forces that led to this dynamic religious shift and illustrates how the mission's first fifty years turned a relatively obscure branch of Protestantism into the most important political and spiritual institution in the region by contextualizing the Great Awakening, Protestant evangelism, and indigenous identity during this time of dramatic social change.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Translator’s Note
• Introduction
• 1. Extract of a Letter from H. G. Pfeiffer, 1849
• 2. Extract from the Diary of Bluefields, 1854
• 3. Establishing a Mission at Rama Key
• 4. Report on a Journey North in 1859
• 5. The Hurricane of October 1865
• 6. A Visit to the Tungla Indians of Walpasiksa River, 1869
• 7. Trade among the Miskito Indians, 1870s
• 8. Mythology of the Miskito Indians
• 9. Sorcery at Kukalaya, 1877
• 10. Trading with the Sumu Indians, 1878
• 11. Life in Tasbapauni (Bethany), 1870s
• 12. An Early Awakening at Karata, 1879
• 13. Bluefields Coup and Kukalaya Awakening, 1881–1882
• 14. The Awakening at Karata, 1883
• 15. Visit to Nicaraguan Territory, 1883
• 16. Kaisa! Travel to Nicaragua, 1886
• 17. Proposing Timber over Gold, 1889
• 18. Pictures Tell the Story, 1891
• 19. Christian Law, 1891
• 20. Visions of the Prophet Wima, 1891
• 21. The Sambo and Tawira Miskito, 1892
• 22. Political Disturbances at Sandy Bay, 1892
• 23. The Indians of Dakura and the Wangki River, 1893–1894
• 24. Nicaraguan Occupation of the Mosquito Reserve, 1894
• 25. Commencing Work along the Wangki River, 1896
• 26. A New Mission at Sandy Bay, 1897
• 27. Sandy Bay and Wasla, 1898
• 28. The Gospel in Miskito Territory, 1881–1882
• 29. Changes in Dakura, 1890s
• 30. The Sumu Indians of Prinzapolka River, 1899
• 31. Quamwatla
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index
• About the Editors