Corn Islands

The Corn Islands are a municipality of the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region of Nicaragua, lying roughly 70 kilometres east of the Caribbean mainland. The municipality consists of two islands, Big Corn Island and Little Corn Island, with a population of about 7,912. Big Corn Island covers around 10 square kilometres and Little Corn Island about 3; the terrain is low with gentle hills, the highest point being Mount Pleasant on the larger island, and both are ringed by coral reefs and seagrass beds. The islands were part of the British protectorate of the Kingdom of Mosquitia from 1740 to 1860, were leased to the United States under the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty of 1914 until the agreement was cancelled in 1971, and were made a municipality in 1940. The climate is tropical maritime, and the economy has moved from coconut growing to lobster and shrimp fishing and tourism built on diving and snorkelling. English-based Creole and Spanish are widely spoken.