The Mayagna are a people who live on the eastern coasts of Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

 and Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

, an area commonly known as the Mosquito Coast

Mosquito Coast

The Caribbean Mosquito Coast historically consisted of an area along the Atlantic coast of present-day Nicaragua and Honduras, and part of the Western Caribbean Zone. It was named after the local Miskito Indians and long dominated by British interests...

. Their preferred autonym is Mayagna, as the name "Sumo" is a deragatory name historically used by the Miskito

Miskito

The Miskitos are a Native American ethnic group in Central America. A substantial number of them are mixed race, especially those in the northern end of their territory, where an African-Indigenous mixture was predominant. Their territory extends from Cape Camarón, Honduras, to Rio Grande,...

 people.

Their language

Sumo language

Sumo is the collective name for a group of Misumalpan languages spoken in Nicaragua and Honduras. Hale & Salamanca classifies the Sumu languages into a northern Mayangna, composed of the Twahka and Panamahka dialects, and southern Ulwa...

 belongs to the Misumalpan language family. Their culture is more similar to that of the indigenous peoples of Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia than the Mesoamerican cultures to their north. The Mayagna inhabited much of the Mosquito Coast in the 16th century. Since then, they have become more marginalized following the emergence of the Miskito

Miskito

The Miskitos are a Native American ethnic group in Central America. A substantial number of them are mixed race, especially those in the northern end of their territory, where an African-Indigenous mixture was predominant. Their territory extends from Cape Camarón, Honduras, to Rio Grande,...

 as a regional power. Today, most people speak Mayagna at home but can also speak Miskito in order to interact with the communities around them.

In 2001 the Mayagna of the small community of Awas Tingni

Awas Tingni

Awas Tingni is an indigenous Mayagna community of some 2,400 members on the Miskito Coast of Nicaragua, in the municipality of Waspam in the Región Autónoma del Atlántico Norte. Awas Tingni is located near the junction of the Rio Wawa and the river Awas Tingni. In Mayagna, "Awas Tingni" means...

 (then 1100 people) won an important ruling from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Inter-American Court of Human Rights

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it makes up the human rights protection system of the Organization of American States , which serves to uphold and...

, established in 1979 by agreement among the signatories of the Organization of American States

Organization of American States

The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...

(OAS). The ruling established that indigenous peoples had rights to the land where they had traditionally lived and had tenure.