Overview
Country, Central America.
Area: 8,867 sq mi (22,965 sq km). Population (2007 est.):
306,000. Capital: Belmopan. Most Belizeans are of mixed ancestry
(Maya and Spanish; African and British), with smaller groups of
Maya and Garifuna. Languages: English (official), Creole,
Spanish. Religion: Christianity (Roman Catholic, Protestant).
Currency: Belize dollar. The country is bounded to the north by
Mexico, to the east by the Caribbean Sea, and to the west and
south by Guatemala. Belize is a land of mountains, swamps, and
tropical jungles. The northern half consists of swampy lowlands
drained by the Belize and Hondo rivers; the latter forms the
boundary with Mexico. The southern half is more mountainous and
contains the country’s highest point, Victoria Peak (3,681 ft
[1,122 m]). Off the coast lies Belize Barrier Reef, the world’s
second largest barrier reef. Belize is relatively prosperous and
has a developing free-market economy with some government
participation. It is a constitutional monarchy with two
legislative houses; its head of state is the British monarch
represented by a governor-general, and the head of government is
the prime minister. The area was inhabited by the Maya (c. 300
bce–900 ce); the ruins of their ceremonial centres, including
Caracol and Xunantunich, can still be seen. The Spanish claimed
sovereignty from the 16th century but never tried to settle
Belize, though they regarded the British who did as interlopers.
British loggers arrived in the mid-17th century; Spanish
opposition was finally overcome in 1798. When settlers began to
penetrate the interior, they met with Indian resistance. In 1871
British Honduras became a crown colony, but an unfulfilled
provision of an 1859 British-Guatemalan treaty led Guatemala to
claim the territory, a situation still unresolved. Belize became
independent on Sept. 21, 1981. Although Guatemala officially
recognized the territory’s independence in 1991, a British
force, stationed there to ensure the new country’s security, was
not withdrawn until 1994.
Profile
Official name Belize
Form of government constitutional monarchy with two legislative
houses (Senate [121, 2]; House of Representatives [312])
Chief of state British Monarch represented by Governor-General
Head of government Prime Minister
Capital Belmopan
Official language English
Official religion none
Monetary unit Belize dollar (BZ$)
Population estimate (2008) 323,000
Total area (sq mi) 8,867
Total area (sq km) 22,965
1All seats nonelected.
2Excludes speaker, who may be designated from outside either
legislative house.
Main
country located on the northeast coast of Central America.
Belize, which was known as British Honduras until 1973, was the
last British colony on the American mainland. Its prolonged path
to independence was marked by a unique international campaign
(even while it was still a British colony) against the
irredentist claims of its neighbour Guatemala. Belize achieved
independence on Sept. 21, 1981, but it has retained its
historical link with the United Kingdom through membership in
the Commonwealth.
Belize is often thought of as a Caribbean country in Central
America because it has a history similar to that of
English-speaking Caribbean nations. Indeed, Belize’s
institutions and official language reflect its history as a
British colony. However, its culture is more typical of that of
other Central American countries. Belize’s small population is
ethnically diverse and includes a large proportion of
immigrants. Since the 1970s, migration has shifted Belize’s
ethnic composition from a predominantly Creole (mixed African
and British descent) population to one in which mestizos (in
Belize, people of mixed Mayan and Spanish ancestry) make up half
of the total inhabitants. Belize has one of the most stable and
democratic political systems in Central America. After its
original capital, Belize City, was ravaged by a hurricane in
1961, a new capital, Belmopan, was built inland, about 50 miles
(80 km) west of Belize City, which remains the country’s
commercial and cultural centre as well as its most populous
city.
The name Belize is traditionally believed to have been
derived from the Spanish pronunciation of the last name of Peter
Wallace, a Scottish buccaneer who may have begun a settlement at
the mouth of the Belize River about 1638. It is also possible
that the name evolved from the Mayan word belix (“muddy water”)
or belikin (“land facing the sea”).
Land
Situated south of the Yucatán Peninsula, Belize is a land
of mountains, swamps, and tropical jungle. It is bounded by
Mexico to the north, Guatemala to the west and south, and the
Caribbean Sea to the east. The country has a 174-mile (280-km)
coastline.
Relief
The southern half of the country is dominated by the rugged
Maya Mountains, a plateau of igneous rock cut by erosion into
hills and valleys that stretch in a southwesterly to
northeasterly direction. The Cockscomb Range, a spur of the Maya
Mountains, runs toward the sea and culminates in Victoria Peak,
which at an elevation of 3,681 feet (1,122 metres) is the
highest point in Belize. The northern half of the country
consists of limestone lowlands and swamps less than 200 feet (60
metres) above sea level.
Drainage and soils
The lowlands are drained by the navigable Belize River (on
which stands Belize City), the New River, and the Hondo River
(which forms the northern frontier with Mexico). Both the New
and the Hondo rivers drain into Chetumal Bay to the north. South
of Belize City the coastal plain is crossed by short river
valleys. Along the coast is the Belize Barrier Reef, the second
largest barrier reef in the world, which is fringed by dozens of
small islands called cays. The reef reserve system was
designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996. Belize’s most
fertile soils are the limestone soils found in the northern half
of the country and in the coastal plain and river valleys in the
south.
Climate
Belize has a subtropical climate, with a well-marked dry
season from late February to May and a wet season from June to
November that is interrupted from August to September by another
dry season. The mean temperature in Belize City is about 74 °F
(23 °C) in December and 84 °F (29 °C) in July. The mean annual
rainfall increases sharply from about 50 inches (1,270 mm) at
Corozal on the northern frontier to 175 inches (4,445 mm) at
Punta Gorda in the south, while at Belize City rainfall amounts
to about 75 inches (1,900 mm). There are, however, considerable
yearly variations throughout the country. Trade winds blow
onshore most of the year, and from September to December
northerly winds bring cooler, drier air. Hurricanes (tropical
cyclones) are a threat from July through November. A hurricane
in 2000 devastated the country’s infrastructure and displaced
tens of thousands of Belizeans.
Plant and animal life
About three-fifths of Belize is forested. There are at least
50 different forest tree species, including mahogany, Santa
Maria (Calophyllum brasiliense), cedar, and ironwood. In the
north, limestone soils support deciduous forests, and sapodilla
and mahogany predominate. In the south, the forest is taller and
is evergreen. Santa Maria, rather than mahogany, flourishes on
the plateau, and oak and pine grow on some of the plateau
ridges. The rivers are largely bordered by swamp forests. On the
southern coastal plain and inland from Belize City, open savanna
(grassland) is marked by scattered oaks, pines, and palmetto
palms. The coast is fringed with mangrove trees. The highlands
are mostly forested and are largely uninhabited.
The abundant wildlife of Belize includes such animals as
tapir, deer, jaguar, puma (known locally as “red tiger”),
American crocodile, and manatee, as well as many species of
turtles, tortoises, birds, reptiles, insects, and fish. The
herbivorous Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii), which is
colloquially named the “mountain cow” and can weigh as much as
600 pounds (270 kg), has protected status as the national animal
of Belize. In the shadow of Victoria Peak lies the Cockscomb
Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, which covers about 150 square miles
(390 square km). The sanctuary, founded in 1986, has the most
concentrated jaguar population in the world.
People
Ethnic groups
Many Belizeans are of mixed ancestry, most of them
descendants of immigrants. Those of mixed Mayan and Spanish
heritage (mestizos) constitute the largest ethnic group (half of
the population) and predominate in the more sparsely inhabited
interior, along with the Maya (Yucatec Maya in the north and
Mopán and Kekchí Maya in the south), who account for about
one-tenth of the population. English-speaking people of largely
African and British ancestry, who are called Creole, account for
nearly one-fourth of the population and predominate in the
central coastal regions. Several thousand Garifuna (Garinagu),
who are descendants of the Carib Indians and Africans deported
from Saint Vincent by the British to the Gulf of Honduras in
1798, live in communities on the south coast. People of European
and South Asian ancestry are also present, as are smaller
numbers of immigrants from China, the Middle East, and
elsewhere. Mennonite farmers began to migrate to Belize in the
1950s from Canada and Mexico to escape religious persecution,
and Mennonite communities have been allowed to settle in rural
areas throughout the country. Although this group makes up a
tiny percentage of the population, its contribution to the
Belizean economy, largely through farming, has been significant.
Refugees from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador began
migrating to Belize in the 1980s to escape civil war and
political unrest in their countries. Throughout the 1990s, these
refugees made up the largest immigrant group in Belize. At the
beginning of the 21st century, the number of these refugees
significantly decreased, but their descendants account for about
four-fifths of the total foreign-born population in Belize.
Languages
English is the official language of Belize, but most of the
population also speaks a creole patois, and many Belizeans are
multilingual. Yucatec, Mopán, and Kekchí are spoken by the Maya
in Belize. Mestizos speak Spanish, and the Garifuna speak an
Arawak-based language and generally also speak either English or
Spanish. The Mennonites in Belize speak Plautdietsch, an archaic
Low Saxon (Germanic) language influenced by the Dutch.
Religion
Anglicans, who established the first church in Belize in the
early 19th century, were soon followed by Baptist and Methodist
missionaries. The Roman Catholic Church was established in
Belize in 1851, and about one-half of the population adheres to
that religion. Protestants account for about one-third of the
population, with the largest denominations being Anglican,
Pentecostal, Methodist, Seventh-day Adventist, and Mennonite.
Evangelical and Christian fundamentalist churches have been
growing rapidly since the 1990s.
Settlement patterns and demographic trends
About half of Belizeans live in urban areas. Belize City is
home to roughly one-fifth of the population and contains a
mixture of colonial structures, wooden frame buildings, and
newer concrete houses. Other towns include Orange Walk and
Corozal, in northern Belize along the New River; Dangriga and
Punta Gorda, on the central and southern coastlines,
respectively; San Ignacio, Santa Elena, and Benque Viejo, in the
west of the country; and Belmopan, near the centre of the
country. Belmopan, founded as the national capital in 1970, is
home to many immigrants from other Central American countries
and about one-eighth of Belize’s population.
Migration patterns have altered the ethnic composition of the
population. The Mennonites who migrated from Mexico and Canada
in the 1950s established agricultural settlements to the north
and west of Belize City. In the 1980s, Belize received an
estimated 25,000 Spanish-speaking immigrants—equivalent to
nearly one-seventh of the country’s population at the time—as
refugees fled war-torn Guatemala and El Salvador, while an even
larger number of Belizeans, mostly English-speaking Creoles,
immigrated to the United States. Continuing immigration and a
high birth rate contributed to the country’s net gain in
population at the beginning of the 21st century.
Economy
Belize has a developing free-market economy. Commercial
logging and the export of timber were for years the basis of the
Belizean economy, but by 1960 the combined value of sugar and
citrus exports had exceeded that of timber. Owing to destruction
of forests and price fluctuations of traditional export
products, Belize had opened up its economy to nontraditional
agricultural products and manufacturing activities by the end of
the 20th century. Since the 1990s the Belizean government has
attempted to expand the economy, but heavy borrowing led to debt
restructuring in the mid-2000s. As is the case with many modern
economies, services have become Belize’s dominant economic
activity. Tourism is a major source of foreign income, partly as
a result of an increase in cruise ship arrivals.
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
Only a small proportion of Belize’s land is actively used
for agriculture, which employs about one-fifth of the
population. Most farms are smaller than 100 acres (40 hectares),
and many of them are milpas (temporary forest clearings). On
most of these farms, traditional shifting cultivation is
practiced, largely because of the nutrient-poor soils of the
lowlands. The remaining farms or plantations are devoted to the
raising of crops for export, such as sugarcane, citrus fruits,
and bananas.
Sugarcane is grown around the towns of Corozal and Orange
Walk, and sugar is exported to the United States and the
European Union (EU). Some sugar is converted into molasses for
rum distillation. In the latter part of the 20th century, sugar
production increased 10-fold, but it decreased in the 21st
century because many sugarcane fields were destroyed in 2000 in
a hurricane. At the same time, the production of corn (maize)
and kidney beans for export became more profitable. Citrus crops
(oranges and grapefruit) and bananas, which are grown mainly in
the Stann Creek and Cayo areas, south and west of Belize City,
have been affected by world price fluctuations but are still
produced for export. Rice is cultivated on large mechanized
farms in the Belize River valley, while corn, roots and tubers,
red kidney beans, and vegetables are raised throughout the
country, mostly on smaller plots. Increased production of
nontraditional agricultural products such as papayas and
habanero peppers has aided the economy.
Marijuana is widely, though illegally, grown in Belize, and,
in the 1980s and ’90s, isolated Belizean airstrips became
transshipment or refueling points for cocaine smuggling. At the
onset of the 21st century, marijuana was used mainly for local
consumption, but money laundering related to drug trafficking
was prevalent.
Large-scale chicken farming was introduced by the Mennonite
community in Belize. That community gained a national reputation
for its strong work ethic, largely by transforming uninhabited
land into productive farms and dairies. Beef cattle and pigs are
raised in many parts of Belize.
Much of Belize’s forest has been destroyed by logging;
however, mahogany, pine, cedar, and rosewood have increased in
economic importance, and chicle, used in the manufacture of
chewing gum, is obtained from the sapodilla tree. Furniture and
timber for utility poles are the major products of the forestry
industry, which includes many sawmills. As part of efforts to
increase foreign income in the 1990s, the Belizean government
granted long-term contracts to foreign logging companies.
Thousands of trees were destroyed in traditional Mayan
territory, sparking protests among Maya communities, two of
which won a case in the Belizean Supreme Court in 2007 that
granted them greater autonomy over their communal landholdings.
(Earlier, in 2004, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
had determined that, in opening this land for logging, the
Belizean government had violated the rights of the Maya in the
southern part of the country by denying them secure land
tenure.)
Fishing for lobster, shrimp, scale fish, conch, and sea
turtles is conducted mainly by several cooperatives, some of
which have freezing plants. Exports of seafood to the United
States are substantial. Aquaculture, especially shrimp farming,
is significant.
Resources and power
Although Belize generally lacks natural resources, mineral
production includes clays, limestone, marble, sand, and gravel
for the construction industry. There is also some placer mining
of gold. Belize relies heavily on imports for its mineral fuels,
fossil fuels, and electricity but also generates some of its
electricity domestically through the use of fuelwood, firewood,
and other biomass products. Bagasse, a by-product of sugarcane,
has been used for fuel. Belize has adopted renewable-energy
technologies and is connected to a power grid in Mexico. In the
early 21st century the Chalillo hydroelectric dam, covering
about 3 square miles (8 square km), was built on the Macal River
in western Belize, despite the safety and environmental concerns
of certain groups. The Chalillo Dam’s reservoir has enough water
storage capacity to power its own hydroelectric plant and that
of nearby Mollejon Dam.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing (mainly food products, fertilizers, and
textiles) accounts for about one-eighth of the gross national
product (GNP). In the latter part of the 20th century, the
Belizean government stressed import substitution to promote
industrial development. This initiative was not successful,
however, because Belizean industry’s overall development
strategy remained export-oriented. Fertilizer and animal-feed
plants were opened, as well as numerous sawmills, a wire and
nail plant, and a roofing-materials plant that serve the
construction and furniture-manufacturing industries. Footwear,
rum, beer, soft drinks, and cigarettes are also produced.
Central to the food-processing industry is the sugar refinery at
Tower Hill, the output of which contributes to sugar making up
about two-thirds of total exports. Processed citrus, beef, rice,
and canned fish are also important. Garment factories utilizing
imported fabric produce clothing for the export market.
Finance, trade, and services
The Central Bank of Belize oversees the country’s banks and
issues the country’s currency, the Belize dollar. Chief trading
partners include the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico,
the EU, and certain members of the Caribbean Community and
Common Market (Caricom), which Belize joined in 1974. The
country’s main exports are seafood, sugar, citrus products,
bananas, and clothing, and its chief imports include machinery
and transport equipment, food, fuels and lubricants, and
chemicals. Since the 1990s, Belize has had a substantial trade
deficit in goods.
The service sector of the economy has accounted for the
largest share of the GNP since the early 1980s, when it
surpassed the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors. Nearly
one-half of the labour force and the GNP are sustained by
services. Tourism became a major source of foreign exchange as
the industry expanded rapidly in the 1990s, and the number of
visitors increased fivefold from the late 1990s to the
mid-2000s. Fishing, boating, swimming, and diving along the
Belize Barrier Reef are popular, and ecotourism in the interior
has grown. The country’s many Mayan ruins are also popular
tourist sites; the most notable are Caracol, Xunantunich, El
Pilar, and Cahal Pech.
Transportation and telecommunications
Agricultural and forest produce is usually transported by
road, although rivers are still used. The road network extends
west to the Guatemalan border and north to the Mexican border.
All-weather roads link Belize City and Belmopan with other towns
in the central and northern areas of Belize and with Punta Gorda
on the southern coast.
Belize City is the main port but does not have modern
facilities; vessels with more than the allowable cargo limit
must anchor more than a mile offshore. Barges are available to
transport sugar for export, and tenders carry passengers to and
from cruise ships. Another port, at Commerce Bight, handles the
citrus exports of the Stann Creek district, and a port at Big
Creek is used primarily for banana exports. Punta Gorda handles
seaborne trade with Guatemala and Honduras.
An international airport is about 9 miles (14 km) from Belize
City; scheduled flights link it to the United States, Mexico,
and other countries of Central America. There is also regular
domestic service to a number of local airports throughout the
country.
Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL), a private company, provides
telephone, cellular, Internet, and other services to about half
the population. Many Belizeans communicate by cellular phone and
Internet, but others are still physically isolated by poor roads
and services.
Government and society
Constitutional framework
Belize’s government is based on the British parliamentary
system. The 1981 constitution provides for a bicameral National
Assembly composed of an elected House of Representatives and an
appointed Senate. Members of the House and the Senate both serve
five-year terms. The governor-general, a Belizean national who
represents the British crown, nominally appoints the prime
minister (the leader of the majority party in the House) and the
opposition leader (the leader of the principal minority party).
The prime minister appoints the cabinet.
Local government
Local government consists of the Belize City Council and
town boards with authority over most municipal affairs. Most
villages have councils, and some Mayan villages have an alcalde
(a traditional community-elected leader) with limited powers.
The Mennonite community administers its own form of local
government.
Justice
The legal system is modeled on English common law. A chief
justice heads the Supreme Court, but the Court of Appeal is the
country’s highest court; both are independent of the national
government. In 2001 Belize joined most members of Caricom to
establish a Caribbean Court of Justice, which was inaugurated in
2005. Civil and criminal cases that are heard in the Court of
Appeal may be brought before the Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council, while cases regarding Caricom treaties may be appealed
in the Caribbean Court of Justice.
Political process
There is universal suffrage for Belizean citizens age 18 and
older. The country’s ethnic diversity affects political issues
but is not reflected in its political parties, which are not
ethnically oriented. There are no restrictions on the right to
organize political parties. There is little ideological
difference between the two major parties, the centre-right
United Democratic Party (UDP) and the centre-left People’s
United Party (PUP).
Health and welfare
The majority of Belizeans have access to government
hospitals, clinics, and maternal, child-care, and dental
facilities. Infant-mortality rates have been reduced by improved
water supplies, waste-disposal systems, and disease-control and
vaccination programs. Malaria, however, remains a problem.
Nurses are trained locally, but there remains a shortage of
doctors and dentists, especially in the rural areas. A social
security program was created in the 1980s to provide pensions
for senior citizens and to extend assistance to pregnant, sick,
disabled, and unemployed workers and to the survivors of insured
workers.
Since World War II, Belizeans have created a variety of
institutions to meet their social needs, including trade unions,
credit unions, cooperatives, and many other nongovernmental
organizations that address health care, social services, women’s
and indigenous rights, education, and community development. The
National Trade Union Congress of Belize is an umbrella
organization representing workers from different occupations.
Education
More than nine-tenths of the population aged 14 and older is
literate. Primary schooling is compulsory between ages 5 and 12.
Most schools are government-subsidized parochial (principally
Roman Catholic) schools. The Mennonite community runs its own
schools without government interference. One-half of primary
school graduates continue on to secondary school, and only a
small elite receive any form of higher education. The University
of Belize (2000) in Belmopan is the country’s only full-fledged
university. A centre of the University of the West Indies School
of Continuing Studies (1949) in Belize City provides continuing
adult education. There are also a community college, a school
for arts and sciences, and Galen University, an independent
school in the west of the country.
Cultural life
Cultural milieu
Belize’s small but culturally diverse population is
reflected in the country’s multiplicity of ethnicities,
languages, religions, cuisines, styles of music and dress, and
folklore. There are many ethnically distinct communities, but
people of different groups also mix in many social contexts,
with the exception of the Mennonite community, which sets itself
apart from other groups. Social class often determines whether
Belizeans will have amenities such as a car or a television set
or if their children will complete secondary school.
Daily life and social customs
Belizean cuisine reflects ethnicity and international
influences, but corn tortillas, stewed chicken, and rice and
beans are widespread staples. Other assorted fare may include
Creole-style stews, barbecued chicken, beef, and pork;
Mayan-style tamales (cornmeal with a chicken or vegetable
stuffing that is steamed in banana leaves); and Mexican-style
chilies and roasts. Typical Garifuna dishes include hudut,
mashed green plantains in a fish stew steeped in coconut milk. A
common dish in coastal regions is seviche. One of the game
dishes is the tailless gibnut (Agouti paca; a relative of the
guinea pig), called “royal rat” on many Belizean menus because
the British press had objected to its being served to Queen
Elizabeth II in 1985. Locally produced rum and beer are common,
and rum is often mixed with coconut water. Soft drinks and fruit
juices are popular.
Among the numerous celebrations in Belize are the Christian
religious holidays. Baron Bliss Day (March 9) is a national
festival honouring a British resident who died while on vacation
in Belize and donated his fortune to the construction of local
libraries, schools, and other institutions (including the Baron
Bliss Institute). St. George’s Cay Day (September 10) recalls a
sea battle in 1798 off the coast of Belize between Great Britain
and Spain, and Independence Day is celebrated throughout the
country on September 21. Garifuna Settlement Day (November 19)
commemorates the arrival in 1832 of a group of Garifuna people.
The San Pedro Costa Maya Festival is a multicultural celebration
that takes place on Ambergris Caye each August.
The arts
The music to which Belizeans listen largely reflects the
traditions of their ethnic group, though recorded music from the
Caribbean and the United States is widely enjoyed by young
people. One hybrid musical form, “punta rock,” blends Caribbean
soca, calypso, and reggae styles with merengue, salsa, and
hip-hop. One of the country’s best-known and most honoured
musicians, Andy Viven Palacio (1960–2008), blended traditional
Garifuna music with punta rock to stimulate interest in the
Garifuna culture and language. The traditional sounds of
brukdown—the tapping of assorted bottles, tables, cans, or other
objects—an energetic percussion that originated in the logging
camps, are heard less often now than in the past. The Belize
National Dance Company (1990) performs throughout the country
and internationally.
Belize’s best-known contemporary author is Zee Edgell. Her
most widely read novel, Beka Lamb (1982), describes the emerging
sense of nationalism in the 1950s in Belize City through the
eyes of a young Creole girl. Another of Edgell’s novels, Time
and the River (2007), looks at the slave society of Belize in
the early 19th century.
Cultural institutions
The National Institute of History and Culture manages
archaeological and cultural sites throughout the country. Most
cultural institutions are in Belize City, including the Baron
Bliss Institute for the Performing Arts, the Belize City Museum
(housed in a former colonial prison), and the Image Factory Art
Foundation (1995), which features contemporary art by Belizean
artists. The National Library Service of Belize also has its
headquarters in Belize City but operates mobile libraries
throughout the country. Its national archives are in Belmopan.
Sports and recreation
Belize’s sports culture reflects the historical influences
of Britain (football [soccer] and, to a lesser extent, cricket)
and the United States (basketball and softball). Despite poor
facilities and little sponsorship or professional training, many
Belizeans participate in regional and international
competitions. In 1986 Belize became a member of the Fédération
Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). Semiprofessional
football teams from each of the country’s districts compete with
each other, and a women’s league was started in the late 1990s.
Other popular sports include athletics (track and field),
boxing, tennis, and volleyball. Cross-country cycling has been
popular since 1928, and there are now two significant annual
road races. After participating three times as British Honduras,
Belize made its first Olympic appearance as an independent
country at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
With more than 3,000 square miles (7,770 square km) of
protected waters, Belize is one of the best places in the world
for recreational diving. There are an abundance of cays and an
underwater cave system. Bird-watching, hiking, snorkeling, and
fishing are also popular activities.
Alfred E. Alford
Media and publishing
The Belize Broadcasting Network, which was privatized in
1998, provides television programming in English and Spanish and
operates many radio stations; however, it does not broadcast
news on weekends or holidays. Belizeans also have satellite
access to U.S. television broadcasts, and those who own a
television watch mostly foreign programs, such as Mexican soap
operas and North American sports. The country has no daily
newspapers, and most of the country’s several weekly newspapers
are politically affiliated. The Belize Times is the organ of the
PUP, and The Guardian is the official newspaper of the UDP. The
Reporter and Amandala are independent newspapers. There is no
press censorship, but Belize relies heavily on external news
sources, chiefly from the United States. Belizean Studies, a
journal published three times a year by St. John’s College (a
secondary school), is an outlet for local research and writing,
as are Cubola Productions, which publishes both fiction and
nonfiction, and the Angelus Press. The Society for the Promotion
of Education and Research (SPEAR) publishes books and reports as
well as a quarterly publication on Belizean issues.
O. Nigel Bolland
History
Early history
The following is a history of Belize focusing on events
since European settlement. For further treatment, see Central
America; Latin America, history of; and pre-Columbian
civilizations: Mesoamerican civilization.
The Maya lived in the area now known as Belize for centuries
before the arrival of Europeans, as manifested by more than a
dozen major ruins such as La Milpa, Xunantunich, Altun Ha, and
Caracol. The Spanish penetrated the area in the 16th and 17th
centuries and tried to convert the Maya to Christianity, but
with little success. The Maya population had begun to decline
long before the Spaniards arrived, and the remaining Maya lived
in politically decentralized societies. Although the Maya did
not have the resources to defeat the Spaniards, they could not
be decisively beaten.
British buccaneers and logwood cutters settled on the
inhospitable coast in the mid-17th century. Spain regarded the
British as interlopers in their territory. By treaties signed in
1763 and 1783, Spain granted British subjects the privilege of
exploiting logwood and, after 1786, the more valuable mahogany,
though only within specified and poorly surveyed territories.
Indeed, Spain retained sovereignty over the area, which Britain
called a settlement, as distinct from a formal colony. The
Spanish also prohibited the settlers from establishing a formal
government structure, so the British conducted their affairs
through public meetings and elected magistrates. However,
superintendents, appointed by the British government after 1786,
slowly established their executive authority at the expense of
the settlers’ oligarchy. In 1798 the British overcame Spain’s
final attempt to remove them by force, and Belize became a
colony in all but name. The British government instructed the
superintendent to assume authority over the granting of land in
1817, and he assumed the power to appoint magistrates in 1832.
In 1854 a constitution formally created a Legislative Assembly
of 18 members, who were elected by a limited franchise, and the
next year the Laws in Force Act validated the settlers’ land
titles.
Guatemala challenged the British occupation on the grounds
that it had inherited Spanish interests in the area, and from
time to time Mexico also asserted a claim to part of Belize.
Great Britain and Guatemala appeared to have settled their
differences in 1859 by a treaty that defined boundaries for
Belize. The final article of the treaty, however, bound both
parties to establish “the easiest communication” between
Guatemala and Belize. (Conflict between Guatemala and Belize
over land boundaries would persist into the 20th and 21st
centuries; the dispute became intractable after 1940 when
Guatemala declared that the treaty was null and void because
such communication had never been developed.)
Belize became the British colony of British Honduras in
1862—which was ruled by a governor who was subordinate to the
governor of Jamaica—and a crown colony in 1871, when the
Legislative Assembly was abolished. British Honduras remained
subordinate to Jamaica until 1884, when it acquired a separate
colonial administration under an appointed governor.
The British settlers, who called themselves Baymen, began
importing African slaves in the early 18th century to cut
logwood and then mahogany. Although the conditions and
organization of labour in timber extraction were different from
those on plantations, the system was still cruel and oppressive.
There were four slave revolts in Belize, and hundreds of slaves
took advantage of the terrain and the freedom offered over the
frontiers to escape.
Trade with Spain’s colonies in Central America flourished,
even after those colonies attained independence in the 1820s;
however, the development of plantations in Belize was forbidden
by the treaties with Spain. After emancipation in 1838, the
former slaves remained tied to the logging operations by a
system of wage advances and company stores that induced
indebtedness and dependency. When the old economy, based on
forest products and the transit trade, declined in the mid-19th
century, these freedmen remained impoverished.
Beginning in the early 19th century, a mixed population of
Carib Indians and Africans exiled from British colonies in the
eastern Caribbean (formerly called Black Caribs, now referred to
as Garifuna) settled on the southern coast of Belize. The Caste
War, an indigenous uprising in the Yucatán that began in 1847,
resulted in several thousand Spanish-speaking refugees’ settling
in northern Belize, while Mayan communities were reestablished
in the north and west. These immigrants introduced a variety of
agricultural developments, including traditional subsistence
farming and the beginning of sugar, banana, and citrus
production. In the 1860s and ’70s the owners of sugar estates
sponsored the immigration of several hundred Chinese and South
Asian labourers. In the late 19th century Mopán and Kekchí Maya,
fleeing from oppression in Guatemala, established largely
self-sufficient communities in southern and western Belize.
By the early 20th century the ethnic mixture of the area had
been established, the economy was stagnant, and crown colony
government precluded any democratic participation. In the 1930s
the economy was hit by the worldwide Great Depression, and
Belize City was largely destroyed by a hurricane in 1931. A
series of strikes and demonstrations by labourers and the
unemployed gave rise to a trade union movement and to demands
for democratization. The right to vote for the Legislative
Assembly was reintroduced in 1936, but property, literacy, and
gender qualifications severely limited the franchise. When the
governor used his reserve powers to devalue the currency at the
end of 1949, leaders of the trade union and the Creole middle
class formed a People’s Committee to demand constitutional
changes. The People’s United Party (PUP) emerged from the
committee in 1950 and led the independence movement. The PUP
would be the dominant political party for the next 30 years.
Independence
Belize evolved through several stages of decolonization,
from universal adult suffrage in 1954 to a new constitution and
internal self-government in 1964, when George Price, a
middle-class Roman Catholic intellectual of mixed Creole and
mestizo ancestry, became premier. (Price became leader of the
PUP in 1954.) Unrelenting Guatemalan hostility, however, impeded
independence. In the 1970s Belize took its case for
self-determination to the international community, appealing to
the United Nations (UN) and joining the Nonaligned Movement (see
neutralism). Although the dispute between Guatemala and Great
Britain remained unresolved, Belize became independent on Sept.
21, 1981, with a British defense guarantee, and was admitted to
the UN. The British military presence was withdrawn in 1994, and
border security became the sole responsibility of the Belize
Defence Force, which had been created in 1978. By the early
1990s Guatemala had formally recognized Belize as an independent
state, and Belize had joined the Organization of American States
(OAS); however, the territorial dispute heated up again in the
late 1990s. In 2002 an OAS-assisted facilitation process
formally proposed a solution, but Guatemala refused to accept
it. In 2005 the two countries agreed that if a negotiated
settlement proved to be impossible, the dispute could be settled
by an international legal entity. In 2008 the governments of
Belize and Guatemala agreed to submit their case to the
International Court of Justice, subject to referenda in both
countries.
In domestic politics the United Democratic Party (UDP),
formed in 1973 and led by Manuel Esquivel, won the general
election in 1984, but in 1989 the PUP won the election and Price
again became prime minister (as the office was now called). The
UDP won in a close election in 1993, and Esquivel again assumed
leadership. In 1998, however, the PUP won by a landslide and its
new leader, Said Musa, became prime minister.
William J. Griffith
Musa’s decision to raise taxes to pay off foreign debt
sparked riots throughout Belize in 2005, and his administration
was accused of corruption. The UDP, now led by Dean Barrow,
triumphed in the 2008 general elections, and Barrow became the
country’s first black prime minister. His party promised to end
crime and government corruption and to create an elected Senate.
Although a democratic tradition has been established in Belize,
the country has struggled to develop under a dependent economy,
and it has been pressured politically by the pervasive influence
of the United States. The discovery of abundant quantities of
oil near the Mennonite community at Spanish Lookout in the early
2000s was a boon for the country’s ailing economy, but, because
Belize has no oil refineries, most of its crude oil is exported
to the United States.
O. Nigel Bolland
