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Belize
Quick Overview:
Belize is situated at the base of the Yucatán Peninsula in Central America and borders Mexico and Guatemala, with the Caribbean Sea to the east. The coastal strip is swampy with mangroves, salt and freshwater lagoons and sandy beaches crossed by a number of rivers. To the south and west rises the forested Maya mountain range. Belmopan, the country’s capital city, is carved out of the jungle in the centre of Belize, near the Maya Mountain foothills. The imposing National Assembly building on Independence Hill is patterned with an ancient Mayan motif. Near the town of San Antonio, located in the Toledo District, is the Mayan site of Lubaantum, where the famous crystal skull was discovered in a temple vault. Belize City, over 300 years old and the country's main commercial area and seaport, is the biggest city. It combines a mixture of colonial architecture, functional wooden buildings and historic cathedrals. Chinese, Latin American and Creole food is widely available. Bars are plentiful and the local Belikin beer is worth sampling. The more popular Belize nightclubs feature local bands at the weekends.
Geography:
Numerous ruins indicate that for hundreds of years Belize was heavily populated by the Maya Indians, whose relatively advanced civilization reached its height between A.D. 300 and 900. The civilization collapsed and many of the people migrated. In 1502, Columbus sailed into and named the Bay of Honduras but he did not actually visit the area later known as British Honduras. The first recorded European settlement was established in 1683 by shipwrecked British sailors. These were later augmented by disbanded British soldiers and sailors after the capture of Jamaica from Spain in 1655. The settlement, whose main activity was logwood cutting, had a troubled history during the next 150 years. It was subjected to numerous attacks from neighboring Spanish settlements. It was only in 1763 that Spain in the Treaty of Paris allowed the British settlers to engage in the logwood industry. This was reaffirmed by the Treaty of Versailles in 1783 and the area of logwood concession was extended by the Convention of London in 1786. But Spanish attacks continued until a decisive victory was won by settlers, with British naval support, in the Battle of St. George's Caye in 1798. After that British control over the settlement gradually increased and in 1862 British Honduras was formally declared a British Colony. From an early date the settlers had governed themselves under a system of primitive democracy by Public Meeting. A constitution based on this system was granted in 1765 and this, with some modification continued until 1840 when an Executive Council was created. The Crown Colony system of Government was introduced in 1871, and the Legislative Assembly by its own vote was replaced by a nominated Legislative Council with an official majority presided over by the Lieutenant Governor. The administrative connection with Jamaica was severed in 1884, when the title of Lieutenant Governor was changed to that of Governor. Further constitutional advances came in 1954 with the introduction of universal adult suffrage and an elected majority in the Legislature; the ministerial system was adopted in 1961. The country's name was changed on 1st June, 1973, from British Honduras to Belize. Independence was achieved on September 21, 1981 and a new independence constitution introduced
Related Links:
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News Belize News Belize News Network |
Offical Sites Belize Government Site Government Gazette |
Country Guides Belize Guide |
Education Educational Organisation Society for the Promotion of Education and Research |