Palacios, located on Honduras's Caribbean coast in the department of Gracias a Dios (historically part of the Mosquitia), carries the layered legacy of its 18th-century incarnation as Black River, a British-aligned settlement and one of the most important political and commercial centers on the Mosquito Shore. Founded in 1732 by English merchant William Pitt, Black River quickly became a node of regional power, shaped by Afro-descendant labor, Indigenous Miskitu alliances, and transimperial trade. This history continues to shape Palacios, a town that remains central to Mosquitia's Afro-Indigenous memory and territorial claims.
Located on Honduras's eastern coast in the department of Gracias a Dios, Palacios (formerly known as Black River) carries the layered legacy of its 18th-century prominence as a British-aligned settlement and one of the most important political, military, and commercial centers in the Mosquitia, or Mosquito Shore. Founded in 1732 by English merchant William Pitt, Black River quickly emerged as a regional power, shaped by Afro-descendant labor, Indigenous Miskitu alliances, and transimperial trade. The settlement played a pivotal role in resisting Spanish colonial encroachment and operated as a center of commerce that rivaled other major ports in Central America. Though later renamed "Palacios" by Spanish forces, the town remains central to Afro-Indigenous memory and territorial claims in the Honduran Mosquitia.
Afro-descendant presence in the region dates back to the 1600s, when shipwrecked enslaved Africans and maroons integrated with Miskitu communities. These Afro-Indigenous alliances were foundational to the region’s defense and development, shaping local governance, cultural practices, and territorial autonomy. Afro-descendants labored in shipyards, worked plantations, and harvested mahogany, turtle shell, sarsaparilla, and medicinal plants bound for transatlantic markets. By 1769, Black River’s population included 3,000 Miskitu, 600 enslaved Black people, and 200 settlers of white or mixed-race background.
William Pitt, the town's founder, was the son of Thomas "Diamond" Pitt, a wealthy East India Company trader. His fortune helped establish Black River, and his marriage to a Spanish noblewoman from Tegucigalpa further integrated the settlement into transimperial trade networks. Yet despite these imperial entanglements, Afro-Indigenous communities sustained their cultural worlds through oral traditions, spiritual practices, and collective forms of governance.
After the British were expelled from Roatán in 1781, the Spanish set their sights on Black River, capturing the settlement with an army of over 1,400 troops. In 1782, a coalition of Jamaican Rangers, British militia, and Miskitu warriors recaptured the town; however, in 1786, under the Convention of London, Britain agreed to evacuate the Mosquito Shore in exchange for expanded rights in Belize. More than 2,600 British settlers left Black River for Belize and Jamaica. The town was formally handed over to the Spanish by William Pitt's grandson, William Pitt Lawrie. Renaming the town "Palacios" for its elegant homes, the Spanish attempted to re-colonize it with 240 settlers from the Canary Islands. However, these settlers lacked agricultural knowledge and, forbidden from trading with the Miskitu, struggled to survive. Their presence was decisively ended in 1800 when Miskitu General Perquin Tempest launched a surprise raid, killing most of the remaining settlers and restoring Mosquitian control. Palacios was left largely abandoned for nearly a century.
Historically, Black River/Palacios was a multiethnic center of Afro-descendant, Miskitu, and British settlement. It operated as a key node in commercial and cultural networks that stretched from the Caribbean to Europe. In its 18th-century heyday, it was larger and more economically dynamic than nearby colonial cities like Trujillo and Puerto Caballos. While the evacuation in 1786 significantly altered its demographic composition, the legacy of the town's former Afro-Indigenous residents lives on in contemporary Garífuna and Creole communities. Today, Palacios is one of the largest towns in the Honduran Mosquitia, second only to Puerto Lempira. It remains home to a majority Miskitu population alongside Garífuna and Ladino residents. Many of its families trace their ancestry to the original inhabitants of Black River. However, the town’s isolation—exacerbated by the closure of its airstrip and shifting boat routes—has limited its regional connectivity in the contemporary moment.
Palacios is part of a broader network of Afro-Indigenous struggle across the Mosquitia. Local organizing is anchored by groups like MASTA (Mosquitia Asla Takanka), which advocates for Indigenous land rights, marine resource governance, bilingual education, and environmental protection. While Palacios does not yet have the same infrastructural investment as other centers in the Mosquitia, it remains a living site of historical consciousness. The ruins of Fort Dalling, old British sugar mills, and cannon batteries are physical reminders of the region’s historical legacy. In recent years, community efforts have sought to restore these sites, develop heritage-based tourism, and promote educational curricula that center Afro-Indigenous resistance.
● MASTA (Mosquitia Asla Takanka) — The leading political federation representing Miskitu and Afro-Indigenous interests in Honduras.
● Griffith Dawson, Frank. "William Pitt’s Settlement at Black River on the Mosquito Shore: A Challenge to Spain in Central America, 1732-87." Hispanic American Historical Review 63, no. 4 (1983): 677–706.
● Offen, Karl. "Mapping Amerindian Captivity in Colonial Mosquitia." Journal of Latin American Geography 14, no. 3 (2015): 35-65.
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