BELIZE

Spanish Belice country located on the northeast coast of Central America. With an area of 8,867 square miles (22,965 square km), it is the smallest nation, after El Salvador, on the mainland of the Americas, and it is also the least populous (excluding French Guiana, which is an overseas dpartement of France). To the north and northwest, it is bounded by Mexico, to the west and south by Guatemala, and to the east by the Caribbean Sea, on which it has a 174-mile (280-km) coastline. Belize, which was known as British Honduras until 1973, was the last British colony on the American mainland. It achieved independence on September 21, 1981, but it remains a member of the Commonwealth. After Belize City was ravaged by a hurricane in 1961, a new capital, called Belmopan, was built inland about 50 miles (80 km) to the west; nevertheless, Belize City remains the nation's commercial centre and largest town. The name Belize is traditionally believed to have been derived from the Spanish pronunciation of the last name of Peter Wallace, a Scottish buccaneer who may have begun a settlement at the mouth of the Belize River about 1638. It is also possible that the name evolved from the Mayan word belix ("muddy water") or belikin ("land facing the sea"). Additional reading Geography Tom Barry and Dylan Vernon, Inside Belize, 2nd ed. (1995), concisely studies politics, economy, and society, as well as foreign influences on Belize. Five chapters in Tim Merrill (ed.), Guyana and Belize, 2nd ed. (1993), respectively summarize the history, society and environment, economy, government and politics, and national security. A.C.S. Wright et al., Land in British Honduras (1959), reports on soils and agricultural land use. O. Nigel Bolland and Assad Shoman, Land in Belize, 1765-1871 (1975, reissued 1977), studies the origins of the system of land tenure and patterns of land use and distribution. Grant D. Jones, The Politics of Agricultural Development in Northern British Honduras (1971), focuses on the Corozal region between 1848 and 1968. Norman Ashcraft, Colonialism and Underdevelopment: Processes of Political Economic Change in British Honduras (1973), studies small farming and urban markets in central Belize in the mid-1960s. Assad Shoman, Party Politics in Belize (1987), is a brief examination of the political system by a participant. Julio A. Fernandez, Belize: Case Study for Democracy in Central America (1989), studies Belizean politics and international affairs. Virginia Kerns, Women and the Ancestors: Black Carib Kinship and Ritual, 2nd ed. (1997), is an anthropological study of the Garifuna. Other anthropological works include Richard R. Wilk, Household Ecology: Economic Change and Domestic Life Among the Kekchi Maya in Belize (1991; reissued 1997); Mark Moberg, Citrus, Strategy, and Class: The Politics of Development in Southern Belize (1992); Irma McClaurin, Women of Belize: Gender and Change in Central America (1996); Mark Moberg, Myths of Ethnicity and Nation: Immigration, Work, and Identity in the Belize Banana Industry (1997); and Anne Sutherland, The Making of Belize: Globalization in the Margins (1998). Richard R. Wilk, "'Real Belizean Food': Building Local Identity in the Transnational Caribbean" in American Anthropologist, vol. 101 (June 1999), pp. 244-255, examines the evolution of Belizean "tastes" and cultural preferences in the late 20th century. History General histories include Narda Dobson, A History of Belize (1973), from the growth of the British settlement to 1970; D.A.G. Waddell, British Honduras: A Historical and Contemporary Survey (1961, reprinted 1981), including a good but dated bibliography; A.R. Gregg, British Honduras (1968), a popular account written for the British government; William David Setzekorn, Formerly British Honduras: A Profile of the New Nation of Belize, rev. ed. (1981), a wide-ranging collection of information gathered on the eve of independence; O. Nigel Bolland, Belize: A New Nation in Central America (1986), the first general historical and contemporary survey after independence; and Assad Shoman, Thirteen Chapters of a History of Belize (1994), the first general history by a Belizean. O. Nigel Bolland, Colonialism and Resistance in Belize (1988), contains nine essays on aspects of social and cultural history from the early British settlement to nationhood. Specific periods are addressed by O. Nigel Bolland, The Formation of a Colonial Society: Belize, from Conquest to Crown Colony (1977), a thoroughly researched history from the Mayan period to 1871; R.A. Humphreys, The Diplomatic History of British Honduras, 1638-1901 (1961, reprinted 1981), the standard work on the colony's international relations; J. Ann Zammit, The Belize Issue (1978), a brief summary of the dispute with Guatemala; Wayne M. Clegern, British Honduras: Colonial Dead End, 1859-1900 (1967), a well-documented study of economic and political changes in the late 19th century; and C.H. Grant, The Making of Modern Belize: Politics, Society & British Colonialism in Central America (1976), which studies Belize between 1950 and 1974. Ralph Lee Woodward, Jr., Peggy Wright, and Brian E. Coutts (compilers), Belize, 2nd ed. (1993), is an annotated bibliography on all aspects of the country. O. Nigel Bolland