Compagnie Lyonnaise Des Banneries De Bluefields - 1913 dated France & Nicaragua Stock Certificate

Stock printed by Charles Skipper & East. Bluefields, the capital of the South Caribbean Autonomous Region in Nicaragua, was once the capital of the former Kingdom of Mosquitia and later the Zelaya Department. The region was subsequently divided into the North and South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Regions. Bluefields is situated on Bluefields Bay, at the mouth of the Bluefields River, within the municipality of the same name. The town was named after Abraham Blauvelt, a Dutch-Jewish pirate, privateer, and explorer of Central America and the western Caribbean.

As of 2022, it has an estimated population of 56,005, with inhabitants mostly being Afro-descendant Creoles, Miskitu, Mestizo, as well as smaller communities of Garinagu, Chinese, Mayangna, and Rama. Functioning as Nicaragua’s chief Caribbean port, Bluefields exports hardwood, seafood, shrimp, and lobster. Historically, the town served as a meeting point for European buccaneers in the 16th and 17th centuries and later became the capital of the English protectorate of the Kingdom of Mosquitia in 1678. During United States interventions in Nicaragua (1912–15, 1926–33), US Marines were stationed in Bluefields. Furthermore, in 1984, the United States mined the harbor, including those of Corinto and Puerto Sandino, as part of the Nicaraguan Revolution. Despite being destroyed by Hurricane Joan in 1988, Bluefields was rebuilt.