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ensure the new country’s security, was not withdrawn until 1994.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
