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The Rama are an indigenous people living on the eastern coast of Nicaragua. Since there migration to Central America, the Rama population has declined as a result of disease, conflict, and loss of territory. In recent years the Rama population has increased to around 2,000 individuals, with a majority of the population living on the island of Rama Cay, which is located in the Bluefields Lagoon. Additional small Rama communities are dispersed on the mainland from Bluefields to Greytown. The Rama represent one of three main indigenous groups on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast.

Due to centuries of colonial suppression the Rama people’s native language is facing extinction. Language revitalization efforts have been made in recent years and have achieved early success in Rama communities. Rama territory is currently being threatened by the the Nicaraguan government and foreign investors, who are seeking to develop an interoceanic canal and to extract resources from the region.

Language:

The Rama language is part of the Chibchan family and is considered moribund since less than 30 elders can still speak the language fluently. Playing an important role in colonizing the region, the Moravian church was a major force behind the the loss of the Rama Language on Rama Cay. The church influenced the formation of a negative attitude towards traditional speakers, resulting in the reference to Rama as the "Tiger language." The population that inhabits Rama Cay today speaks a unique version of Rama-Creole which is similar to   Creole English. Only two individuals are thought to still speak traditional Rama on the island. The Rama language had previously survived in mainland communities, however modern developments are threatening the loss of traditional customs and the language.

In 1985 the Rama Language Program (RLP) was launched in response to requests to "save the Rama language." Initial efforts to locate and communicate with native speakers proved challenging for linguists because the inhabitants of Rama Cay still rejected any use of the Rama Language. In recent years language revitalization efforts have achieved some success, as the Rama people move increasingly to associate their traditional language with their identity. This movement by the indigenous Rama to reclaim their language has led many speakers to label the language as "rescued".

Religion:

In 1847 German Moravian missionaries started work in Bluefields, Nicaragua. The missionaries worked with the different ethnic groups and became a firmly established colonial institution on the Atlantic coast. The first Moravian mission was established on Rama Cay in 1857, and began the shift away from the use of the Rama language by teaching the natives English. Today, the Rama people predominantly practice in the   Moravian church. Individuals in the southeastern portion of Nicaragua alone make up 96% of the Moravian church's membership.

Land Rights

The Rama people currently occupy the Autonomous Region of the Southern Atlantic (RAAS). Both this region and the Autonomous Region of the Northern Atlantic (RAAN) were established with the 1987 Constitution and Autonomy law. The 1987 Constitution and the Autonomy law recognized indigenous existence in Nicuragua, the right of indigenous peoples to determine their own ethnic identity, and indigenous communal property as belonging to the community. Implementing of indigenous autonomy has proved to be difficult due to regional group conflict and lack of government support. The RAAN and RAAS make up approximately half of the nation's landmass, while Atlantic coast inhabitants make up only ten percent of the nation's population.

Social disruption resulting from 1980's civil war has caused a wave of colonization advancing Nicaragua's agriculture frontier. Ex-combantants and Mestizo families displaced by the war, are migrating east to renew their former lives and and engage in subsistence farming. Due to the poor quality of rainforest soil and increasing social unrest on the Pacific coast, more individuals move east each year and come into contact with ingenious communities. Much of central and eastern Nicaragua is protected   rainforest, yet the government lacks the resources to halt the extensive environment destruction associated with the recent migrations. The advancing agriculture frontier is responsible for large amounts of deforestation and ecological devastation in the region.

The Nicaraguan government has long sought out investors to finance the building of an Nicaraguan interoceanic canal. It is hoped that a new canal will be able to rival the Panama Canal and will be able to accommodate larger size ships and the growing demand for inter-ocean passage. The Chinese company Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co Ltd (HKND) has been contracted to build the canal for the cost of $40-$50 billion. The canal is expected to run from Punta Gordon on the Atlantic coast to Brito on the Pacific coast, traveling through Lake Nicaragua. Construction for the canal began in December 2014 and the project is expected to be completed by 2019. Indigenous populations are protesting the building of this canal on the grounds that they were not consulted prior to a contract being negotiated with HKND by the Nicaraguan government. Construction of the canal would require the relocation of 80% of the indigenous Rama population and would destroy traditional communal life for many other indigenous communities. International groups are protesting construction of the canal because they fear the environmental impact that the project will have on Nicaragua's endangered species and delicate ecosystem. Despite controversy surrounding the project the Nicaraguan government is going ahead with the canal's construction, hoping the infrastructure and revenue that the canal brings in will lift the nation out of poverty.

Additional sources:

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/41800417?sid=21105593721421&uid=62&uid=70&uid=3739256&uid=3&uid=41124&uid=2&uid=41125&uid=67&uid=2129&uid=3739912

http://calpi.nativeweb.org/proyectos_english.html

http://cuslar.org/2014/10/31/nicaraguas-proposed-interoceanic-canal-a-threat-to-the-environment-and-indigenous-peoples/

http://elar.soas.ac.uk/deposit/0210

http://www.turkulka.net