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 th

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nd the Crown Colony of British Honduras in 1871. Merrill says that by 1890 the old English settler elite had been eclipsed, largely replaced by "a clique of Scottish and German merchants, most of them newcomers," including the Hoare family one member of which Sir Samuel went on to have a distinguished political and diplomatic career in the 1930s and 1940s in London (173). In the 20th century, British economic influence waned and American economic increased due, Barry says, to "the emergence of the U.S.-controlled chicle (gum base) trade and the predominance of U.S. Catholic teachers in Belizean schools (8). Nationalist, pro-independence sentiment developed slowly in Belize. The first overt sign was riots by creole soldiers returning from World War I in 1919 protesting white racism. Creole nationalism continued to increase during the pre-war period. The effects of the Great Depression and the devastating 1931 Hurricane Hattie on British Honduras' economy ushered in strikes and union organizing activities in the 1930s led by the General Workers Union (GWU). Prior to 1954, the British had liberalized the franchise only to the point where 2.8 percent of the population could elect a majority of the largely advisory Legislative Counci

Category: History - H