Battle for the Río San Juan de Nicaragua

Battle for the Río San Juan de Nicaragua
Part of Anglo-Spanish War (1761–1763)
Fortress of the Immaculate Conception, site of the Battle for the Río San Juan de Nicaragua
Date 26 July – 3 August 1762 Location San Juan River, Province of Nicaragua 11°01′04″N 84°24′04″W / 11.01778°N 84.40111°W / 11.01778; -84.40111Coordinates: 11°01′04″N 84°24′04″W / 11.01778°N 84.40111°W / 11.01778; -84.40111 Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Great Britain	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Colonel William Seethal	Lieutenant Don Juan de Aguilar y Santa Cruz
Strength
2,000	100
Casualties and losses
unknown (high)	unknown (low)
Location of the Battle for the Río San Juan de Nicaragua

The Battle for the Río San Juan de Nicaragua was one of several important battles that took place during the Anglo-Spanish War, a subconflict of the Seven Years' War which lasted from December 1761 until February 1763. The conflict, which took place in July — August 1762, began when William Lyttelton, the British governor and commander-in-chief of Jamaica, sent a naval expedition to Nicaragua with the primary objective of capturing the town of Granada.

Because it represented a potential route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans as well as the possibility of expanding their colonization of Central America beyond the Miskito Coast, Nicaragua was a major target of attacks by the British during the 18th century. Due to the economic interests of the British in Central America, the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance was signed on March 16, 1740 between King Edward I of the Miskito Kingdom and King George II of Great Britain of the Great Britain. Under the terms of the treaty, a protectorate was established over the Mosquito Coast and the British supplied modern weapons to the Miskito people. The Miskito Kingdom later aided Britain during the American Revolutionary War by attacking Spanish colonies and gained several victories alongside the British.

Between 1739 and 1748, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Bourbon Spanish Empire had been at war over a series of trading disputes in a conflict known as the War of Jenkins' Ear, which was later subsumed by the wider War of the Austrian Succession. Most of these disputes were more or less settled by the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 and the Treaty of Madrid in 1750.