At the beginning of the XVII century the pirates and English merchants began to populate the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua attracted by the natural conditions of the area that serve them for refuge and as a source of supply.

This situation allowed the formation of small establishments along the east coast of Nicaragua, this way they made contacts with the natives of the area. For this time the town that achieved bigger development was Bluefields, the buccaneers affirmed that this was the home of the tribe of The Kukra Indians, leaving testimony of their existence in objects found in the place.

The most accepted version of the origin of the current name of the city of Bluefields it is “Campos Azules”, that is due to the translation of the pirate's name.

In 1663 the first English establishments were created. In the year 1705 the English establishments in the Mosquitia conformed a new society with English authorities. In 1730 they establish a colony that depended directly on the Jamaican Government.

This way the British established their selves in the area with the help of the Miskitos, aided by the protection of England the Miskitos gave their territories and rights and a British Colony was established.

On April 7, 1740 the Miskitos gives the territory to England. The English flag is hoisted on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua. In 1744 they move English colonies from Jamaica toward the coast. Bluefields then became the capital of the Mosquitia.

Product of this situation Bluefields become a Cosmopolitan city, since the population around 1790 was conformed by Black slaves' groups, British, Americans and French’s.

On May 2, 1847 the first Moravians arrived to the city representing the first religious organization that worked in the city. They made the first schools and churches in the city.

Bluefields, was officially raised to on October 11, 1903 according to the legislative ordinance on September 24 of the same year, being recognized also as the Zelaya Departmental Headquarter.

There are 3 of the six ethnic groups residing in the municipality of Bluefields on the South Atlantic Coast of the country: They are The Ramas, The Creoles and The Mestizos (who form most of the population).

The Ramas are descendants of the Amerindian group who speak Chibcha. The Ramas were affected by the European penetration, being constantly forced to move because of the hostile activities of the British, Miskitos and Spaniards.

By the beginning of the XIX century, the domain of The Ramas had been reduced to the area that actually occupies Rama Cay Island and Punta Gorda.

The Creole population is mostly concentrated in the urban area of Bluefields. This Population is genetic and culturally a mixture of Africans, Amerindians and European. The interaction of these towns on the Atlantic Coast, began at the end of the XVI century, ending up being constant after the foundation of the English colony of Province in 1630.

In 1787, when the British left after the Treaty of Versalles, they took most of the slaves. However, they were this ethnic population's members, creating communities in Bluefields, Pearl Lagoon and Río Negro.

When the Atlantic Coast became an economic enclave, in the last part of last century, they began to bring a force of black workers, from the South of United States and Panama. The Creole population continued growing in the twentieth century, with Bluefields the most important center.

The first great migration of Mestizos to the territory of Bluefields happened for the manpower necessity for the rubber gathering in the years 1860 -1890 and for the banana production that began in 1880.

However most of the Mestizo migration to the Atlantic Coast happened more recently, in the decade of the 50s, as a consequence of the expansion of the agricultural industry in the departments of the Pacific of Nicaragua. In the search of lands, small producers moved from their rural origins; farmers dedicated to the trade also advanced toward the Atlantic.

In the Municipality of Bluefields farmers have settled; Mestizos in some of the old lands of the Creoles. At the moment in the urban area the mestizos constitute the 57% of the population.

The expansion of the industry of the banana and of the wood in the decade of 1880 a series of social-economic changes that increased the North American capital took place and they accelerated the commercial growth of the city, originating a stratification of the social layers what caused the space and racial segregation that had reflection in the acting of the works: the White population represented the foreign companies; the Black population worked as load carriers and merchandise dischargers; the Mulatos and Zambos acted as machinists, mechanics, etc.; and the Indians were used as rowers and servants.

In 1894 President Zelaya incorporated the area definitively to the national territory. On October 5, 1903 Bluefields city was declared City, so much for its category, and for the inheritance of the foreign capital to exploit the riches of the area, this made it become the center of more commercial development quickly.

The Municipality along their existence had to face a series of disasters so much Natural, as caused by the Man.

October 21, 1988 the city was completely devastated by Hurricane Joan leaving thousands of people without homes, work, and destroying in the majority of the equipment, services, and infrastructure of the city.