South & Central America
Highlights - Essential Info - Itineraries - History
After the decline of Mayan settlements in Belize, the British and their Caribbean slaves were the first to colonise the country. Known as ‘Baymen’, they settled at the mouth of the river, where Belize City stands today. The lush forests that spread before them, proved a valuable resource, and the timber trade with Europe blossomed with the growing demand for mahogany and fabric dyes.
It was the British Admiral Sir William Burnaby, commander of the British navy in Jamaica, who first established the basis of a legal system in Belize. “Burnaby’s Code” was instigated in 1768 and within two decades the first British administrator had taken up his post, in what was to become ‘British Honduras’.
The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries brought tension, as clashes with Spanish forces in neighbouring Guatemala were frequent. British pirates took advantage of the sheltered waters off Belize and used them as harbours from which to attack the rich Spanish galleons. However, on the 10th September 1798 a decisive sea battle saw victory for the British at St. George Caye.
By 1802, Spain had been forced to acknowledge British supremacy over Belize in the Treaty of Amiens. Such confidence was short-lived as when Guatemala and Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, both countries laid claim to Belize.
It was not until after the Second World War that the People’s United Party (PUP), under the leadership of George Price, began the struggle for independence from the U.K. Self government was granted in 1964, and saw Price as the first Belizean prime minister, but independence from the U.K came only in 1981 with the last British garrison departing in 1993.
The infamous disaster of October 1963, Hurricane Hattie, devastated much of Belize, destroying swathes of the capital city and killing hundreds of people. It was decided that a new capital city was needed away from the coast, and so Belmopan, named after Mopa, the ancient Mayan tribe who resisted the Spanish conquistadors, was founded, and today strives to be the symbol of a new and independent Belize.
