History

     Numerous ruins indicate that for hundreds of years Belize was heavily populated by the Maya Indians, whose relatively advanced in 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 recorded European settlement was established in 1638 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 (logwood was used in the past to produce a dye), had a troubled history during the next 150 years. It was subjected to numerous attacks from neighboring Spanish settlements (Spain claimed sovereignty over the entire New World except for regions in South America assigned to Portugal).

     It was only in 1763 that Spain in the Treaty 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 1871 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.

     In 1853 the Public Meeting was replaced by a Legislative Assembly (partly elected, on a restrictive franchise), with the British Superintendent, an office created in 1786 at the settlers request, as Chairman. When the settlement became a colony in 1871 the Superintendent was replaced by a Lieutenant Governor under the Governor of Jamaica.

     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. An unofficial majority was created in 1892, and this constitution, with minor changes, continued until 1935 when the elective principle was once again introduced on the basis of adult suffrage with a low-income qualification. 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.*

* Source: Permanent Mission of Belize to the OAS.

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Updated: March 18, 2008