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HISTORY OF BELIZE This research paper encompass

This research paper encompasses and summarizes the salient features and history of Belize prior to its de facto takeover by the British in the late 18th century, how Belize became a British colony in mid-19th century and its experience under colonial rule, important political, economic and social developments and key individuals involved with Belize's internal and external independence since the 1960s, and an assessment of its prospects in the foreseeable future.

From the Mayan Empire to English Logging

Belize is one of the few countries of the world which had a larger population, about 400,000 at its peak during ancient times than at present, 229,000 in 1997 (Merrill 158; "Belize Introductory" 604). Since sometime between the First and Second Millennia BC Belize served as part of the great Mayan Empire of Central America, which culturally and archaeologically flowered during the period 300 BC and 900 AD. According to Merrill, "Belize boasts important sites of the earliest Mayan settlements, majestic ruins of the classic period and examples of later post-classic ceremonial construction" (158). The coast of Belize was first spotted by Christoforo Columbus in 1502. Hernan Cortez crossed its southwest corner in 1516 en route to his conquest of the Aztecs. The Maya were greatly reduced by the ravages of European diseases but fiercely resisted Spanish incursions from the Yucatan by priests and invading soldiers in the 16th and 17th century. Waddell says that "the Spanish had indeed discovered and traversed British Honduras, but they had failed to establish themselves there" (7).

In the late 16th and early 17th century, Belize's cays and coves provided havens for English freebooters and pirates from which Carr & Thorpe say they could "intercept the annual treasure fleets on their way to Spain" (2). The first English settlements were established about 1638 or 1640 along the Caribbean coast. The settlers and the African slaves the...

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HISTORY OF BELIZE This research paper encompass. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 23:02, March 18, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1707744.html