Welcome to Bluefields!
Bluefields is a city on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. Bluefields is the capital of the South Caribbean Autonomous Region in Nicaragua. It was also the capital of the former Miskitu Kingdom, and lately, Zelaya Department, which was divided into North and South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Regions. It is located on Bluefields Bay at the mouth of the Bluefields River in the municipality of the same name.
It was named after Abraham Blauvelt, a Dutch-Jewish pirate, privateer, and explorer of Central America and the western Caribbean. It has a population of 54,532 (2019 estimate) and its inhabitants are mostly Afro-descendant creoles, Miskitu, and Mestizo, as well as smaller communities of Garifuna, white people, Chinese, Mayangna, and Rama, English is the city's most spoken language. Bluefields is the chief Caribbean port, from which hardwood, seafood, shrimp, and lobster are exported. Bluefields was a rendezvous for European buccaneers in the 16th and 17th centuries and became the capital of the English protectorate of the Mosquito Coast in 1678.
During United States interventions (1912–15, 1926–33) in Nicaragua, US Marines were stationed there. In 1984, the United States mined the harbor (along with those of Corinto and Puerto Sandino) as part of the Nicaraguan Revolution. Bluefields was destroyed by Hurricane Joan in 1988 but was rebuilt.