History of Belize

History of Belize

Mayan civilization flourished in what is now called Belize between 300 and 600 AD, but had collapsed around 900 AD. By the time the Spanish arrived in the mid 16th century there were few Mayans left, and their buildings had already become ruins. Although the Spanish explorers laid claim over the area, the first permanent European settlement was established by shipwrecked English seamen in 1638. The English settlers’ raided Spanish ships while Spain retaliated with repeated attacks on the settlers, but in 1763 Spain granted the British settlements the right to begin logging. British administrators governed the area from 1786 which caused a rift between Spain and Britain. England won control over the land at the Battle of St. George’s Caye in 1798, and with the Treaty of Amiens of 1802, Spain recognized British sovereignty. British law began to uphold as of 1840 and the area was eventually declared a crown colony in 1862 known as British Honduras.

The United Kingdom’s main interest in Belize was purely economic. In the mid 17th century the African Slave Trade was introduced as a source of labor for forestry which continued to be the main enterprise until it was eventually supplanted by sugar. Although slavery in the British colonies was abolished progressively between 1833 and 1838, many early immigrants came from the West Indies. The only way England was able to farm British Honduras was by shipping massive amounts of immigrants to the country in order to be part of the working class. England’s economic interests in British Honduras pushed for a large mixed immigrant population, which ended up allowing the area to become populated by many interracial children. Although there were few British settlers that stayed on the island, interracial mixing began to develop due to the large population of Africans that came over as slaves and with a few original Amerindian or Mayan inhabitants. People of what is now known as Belize can be referred to by different ethnicities known as; Mestizos (mix of Mayan and European descent) and Garifuna or ‘Black Caribs’ (mix of Amerindian and African blood), and Creole (mixture of white and black), but the most predominant race that remains since the 17th century up till today are Black.