For five decades, indigenous Miskitu communities have fought for legal title of their lands in the Muskitia region of eastern Honduras. The central geopolitical force of this territorial movement has been the Miskitu federation, MASTA (Muskitia Asla Takanka, or Unity of Muskitia). This descriptive case study shows how Miskitu engagement with state and other actors, amid a sea of powerful and sometimes dangerous local and global forces, has led to the peaceful development of twelve new indigenous territorial jurisdictions (ITJs). These ITJs, called concejos territoriales (CTs) or territorial councils, have newly designed intercommunity titles that recognize the overlapping land uses and broader functional habitats (subsistence zones) of Miskitu communities. These features-inherent in their customary practices-were first plotted through participatory research mapping (PRM) in 1992 and thereafter becoming requisites for titling. The Miskitu example demonstrates how indigenous territoriality can be peacefully accommodated within the context of the state.

As indigenous groups claim a fundamental role in the governance and management of the territories they inhabit, the evolution of digital and Web-based maps continues to offer tools that support these activities, while demonstrating to state governments, educators, and others the distinct indigenous concepts and practices inscribed on the Earth's surface. However, making map vector files available to the public can be problematic, because the indigenous stakeholders and their academic colleagues must relinquish control of how the data are displayed by the end user. The indigenous Miskitu, Tawahka, and Pech of Honduras, with university-based geographers, are developing a solution for keeping the original and intended design: transparent static maps (overlays) created in a GIS and made publicly viewable as raster tiles over a free virtual globe. The pioneering Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve participatory research mapping (PRM) project produced and published large-scale paper maps of the communities and their land use in and around the reserve in 1998–1999. Due to their limited circulation and use, and requests from indigenous authorities for the information they contained, in 2010 indigenous Miskitu and Tawahka leaders and University of Kansas geographers agreed to convert them to digital format for use in the long-term management of their lands, digitizing the PRM hard copy maps into GIS vector files first by 2012, and then finally to Web-based transparent static maps in 2013–2014. The PRM mapping experiences parallel contemporaneous shifts in political and territorial strategies among Honduras' indigenous peoples.

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Understanding the large-scale spatial patterns of natural resource use in indigenous homelands is critical for guaranteeing indigenous peoples' ancestral land rights, designing effective conservation policies, and promoting good governance in Central America. However, few studies have mapped the diachronic distribution of indigenous communities' resource use in these areas. Here we present a case study describing the spatial functionality of the Concejo Territorial Katainasta (CTK)--the first indigenous territorial jurisdiction in Honduras to receive an intercommunity land title. Two participatory research mapping (PRM) studies--the first in 1992 and the second in 2014-15--mapped the spatial patterns of Miskitu subsistence activities in CTK. The results were subsequently converted into a geographic information system (GIS) that allowed for spatial and temporal comparisons of Miskitu subsistence livelihoods in CTK before and after the titling process. Here we focus on the spatial parameters of three Miskitu subsistence livelihoods: agriculture, hunting and fishing. Analysis of results suggests that 1) the 2014-15 subsistence use areas for Miskitu communities in CTK have not diverged dramatically from those of the 1992 study, and 2) the new legal boundaries of CTK adequately encompass the subsistence use areas of its constituent communities and recognize the historical overlaps in Miskitu resource use and tenure patterns. de los cambios de usos de subsistencia de la tierra en el Concejo Territorial Miskito, Katainasta, Honduras ResumenComprender los patrones espaciales a gran escala del uso de los recursos naturales en las tierras de origen indígenas es fundamental para garantizar los derechos ancestrales sobre la tierra de los pueblos indígenas, diseñar políticas de conservación eficaces y promover el buen gobierno en América Central. Sin embargo, pocos estudios han mapeado la distribución diacrónica del uso de los recursos de las comunidades indígenas en estas áreas. Aquí presentamos un estudio puntual que describe la funcionalidad espacial del Concejo Territorial Katainasta (CTK) -la primera jurisdicción territorial indígena en Honduras en recibir un título de tierra intercomunitario. Dos estudios de investigación cartográfica participativa (ICP o PRM por sus siglas en inglés) -el primero en 1992 y el segundo en 2014-15 -mapearon los patrones espaciales de las actividades de subsistencia de las comunidades miskitas en CTK. Los resultados se convirtieron posteriormente en un sistema de información geográfica (SIG) que permitió comparaciones espaciales y temporales de los medios de subsistencia miskitos en CTK antes y después del proceso de titulación. Aquí nos enfocamos en los parámetros espaciales de tres medios de subsistencia miskita: agricultura, caza y pesca. El análisis de los resultados sugiere que 1) las áreas de uso de subsistencia en 2014-15 para comunidades miskitas en CTK no divergieron dramáticamente de las del estudio de 1992, y 2) los nuevos límites legales de CTK abarcan adecuadamente las áreas de...

This chapter describes the geographies of indigenous populations and their territories in Central America, past and present. A brief discussion of previous archaeological research provides a context for the region’s pre-Columbian populations and settlement distributions prior to an examination of the territorial and demographic collapse precipitated by European conquest. The chapter chronicles a twenty-first-century resurgence of indigenous populations and their territorial rights in Central America, including the emergence of geopolitical units that we call indigenous territorial jurisdictions (ITJs), the likes of which represent new strategies for accommodating indigenous land ownership and governance within the context of modern states. Archival and census research, in situ field experience, and geographic information system (GIS)-based land use and cadastral mapping inform the understanding of indigenous peoples’ past and contemporary demographic trends, settlement patterns, and territorial challenges.