Belize

The Maya civilization emerged at least three millennia ago in the lowland area of the Yucatán Peninsula and the highlands to the south, in the area of present-day southeastern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and western Honduras. Many aspects of this culture persist in the area, despite nearly 500 years of European domination. Before about 2500 BC, some hunting and foraging bands settled in small farming villages; they domesticated crops such as corn, beans, squash, and chilli peppers.

A profusion of languages and subcultures developed within the Maya core culture. Between about 2500 BCE and 250 AD, the basic institutions of Maya civilization emerged.

The Maya civilization spread across the territory of present-day Belize around 1500 BC, and flourished until around 900 AD. The recorded history of the middle and southern regions focuses on Caracol, an urban political centre that may have supported over 140,000 people. North of the Maya Mountains, the most important political centre was Lamanai. In the late Classic Era of Maya Civilization (600–1000 AD), an estimated 400,000 to 1,000,000 people inhabited the area of present-day Belize.

When Spanish explorers arrived in the 16th century, the area of present-day Belize included at least three distinct Maya territories:

Spanish conquistadors explored the land and declared it part of the Spanish Empire, but they failed to settle the territory because of its lack of resources and the tribes of the Yucatán defending their land.

English pirates, known as buccaneers, sporadically visited the coast of what is now Belize, seeking a sheltered region from which they could attack Spanish ships (see English settlement in Belize) and cut logwood (Haematoxylum campechianum) trees. The first British permanent settlement was founded around 1716, in what became the Belize District, and during the 18th century, established a system using enslaved Africans to cut logwood trees. This yielded a valuable fixing agent for clothing dyes, and was one of the first ways to achieve a fast black before the advent of artificial dyes. The Spanish granted the British settlers the right to occupy the area and cut logwood in exchange for their help in suppressing piracy.

The British government did not recognize the settlement as a colony for fear of provoking a Spanish attack. …

Belize is on the Caribbean coast of northern Central America. It shares a border on the north with the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, on the west with the Guatemalan department of Petén, and on the south with the Guatemalan department of Izabal. To the east in the Caribbean Sea, the second-longest barrier reef in the world flanks much of the 386 kilometres (240 mi) of predominantly marshy coastline. The area of the country totals 22,960 square kilometres (8,865 sq mi), an area slightly larger than El Salvador, Israel, New Jersey, or Wales. The many lagoons along the coasts and in the northern interior reduces the actual land area to 21,400 square kilometres (8,263 sq mi). It is the only Central American country with no Pacific coastline.

Belize is shaped roughly like a rhombus that extends about 280 kilometres (174 mi) north-south and about 100 kilometres (62 mi) east-west, with a total land boundary length of 516 kilometres (321 mi). The undulating courses of two rivers, the Hondo and the Sarstoon River, delineate much of the country's northern and southern boundaries. The western border follows no natural features and runs north–south through lowland forest and highland plateau.

The north of Belize consists mostly of flat, swampy coastal plains, in places heavily forested. The flora is highly diverse considering the small geographical area. The south contains the low mountain range of the Maya Mountains. The highest point in Belize is Doyle's Delight at 1,124 m (3,688 ft).

Belize's rugged geography has also made the country's coastline and jungle attractive to drug smugglers, who use the country as a gateway into Mexico. In 2011, the United States added Belize to the list of nations considered major drug producers or transit countries for narcotics.

Belize has a rich variety of wildlife because of its position between North and South America and a wide range of climates and habitats for plant and animal life. …

Belize is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The structure of government is based on the British parliamentary system, and the legal system is modelled on the common law of England. The head of state is Charles III, who is the King of Belize. He lives in the United Kingdom, and is represented in Belize by the governor-general. Executive authority is exercised by the cabinet, which advises the governor-general and is led by the prime minister, who is head of government. Cabinet ministers are members of the majority political party in parliament and usually hold elected seats within it concurrent with their cabinet positions.

The bicameral National Assembly of Belize comprises a House of Representatives and a Senate. The 31 members of the House are popularly elected to a maximum five-year term and introduce legislation affecting the development of Belize. The governor-general appoints the 13 members of the Senate, with a Senate president selected by the members. The Senate is responsible for debating and approving bills passed by the House.

Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Parliament of Belize. Constitutional safeguards include freedom of speech, press, worship, movement, and association. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Members of the independent judiciary are appointed. The judicial system includes local magistrates grouped under the Magistrates' Court, which hears less serious cases. The Supreme Court (chief justice) hears murder and similarly serious cases, and the Court of Appeal hears appeals from convicted individuals seeking to have their sentences overturned. Defendants may, under certain circumstances, appeal their cases to the Caribbean Court of Justice.

In 1935, elections were reinstated, but only 1.8 per cent of the population was eligible to vote. In 1954, women won the right to vote.

Since 1974, the party system in Belize has been dominated by the centre-left People's United Party and the centre-right United Democratic Party, although other small parties took part in all levels of elections in the past. Though none of these small political parties has ever won any significant number of seats or offices, their challenge has been growing over the years.

These districts are divided into 31 constituencies. …

Belize has a small, mostly private enterprise economy that is based primarily on agriculture, agro-based industry, and merchandising, with tourism and construction recently assuming greater importance. The country is also a producer of industrial minerals, crude oil, and petroleum. As of 2017, oil production was 320 m/d (2,000 bbl/d). In agriculture, sugar, like in colonial times, remains the chief crop, accounting for nearly half of exports, while the banana industry is the largest employer. In 2007 Belize became the world's third largest exporter of papaya.

The government of Belize faces important challenges to economic stability. Rapid action to improve tax collection has been promised, but a lack of progress in reining in spending could bring the exchange rate under pressure. The tourist and construction sectors strengthened in early 1999, leading to a preliminary estimate of revived growth at four per cent. Infrastructure remains a major economic development challenge; Belize has the region's most expensive electricity. Trade is important and the major trading partners are the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and CARICOM.

Belize has three commercial bank groups, of which the largest and oldest is Belize Bank. The other two banks are Heritage Bank and Atlantic Bank. A robust complex of credit unions began in the 1940s under the leadership of Marion M. Ganey, S.J.

Because of its location on the coast of Central America, Belize is a popular destination for vacationers and for many North American drug traffickers. The Belize currency is pegged to the US dollar and banks in Belize offer non-residents the ability to establish accounts, so drug traffickers and money launderers are attracted to banks in Belize. As a result, the United States Department of State has, since 2014, named Belize as one of the world's "major money laundering countries".

Belize Electricity Limited (BEL), the nation's primary distributor of electricity, proposed a $500 million investment to support the integration of 60 MW of utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) generation and 40 MW of battery energy storage systems in its 2024–2028 Full Tariff Review, in an effort to stabilize electricity rates at 40 cents per kilowatt-hour and reduce reliance on imported electricity from Mexico. …

According to the 2022 census, Belize's population is 397,483. Belize's total fertility rate in 2023 was 2.010 children per woman. Its birth rate was 17.8 births/1,000 population (2022), and the death rate was 6.3 deaths/1,000 population (2022). A substantial ethnic-demographic shift has been occurring since 1980 when the Creoles, formerly a majority of the population, have become outnumbered by the Hispanic/Mestizo community due to many Creoles moving to the United States, as well as a rising Mestizo birth rate and migration from Latin America.

The Maya are thought to have been in the Yucatán region and thus in Belize since the second millennium BCE. Classical Maya culture collapsed between the 7th and 9th centuries CE which left vast areas of Belize without population. Many Mayas also died in internal conflict and several hundred years later by catching disease from invading Europeans.

The latter groups are chiefly found in the Toledo District. The Maya speak their native languages and Spanish, and are also often fluent in English and Belizean Creole.

The Afro-Belizean population consists of the Creoles, Garifunas and Africans totalling an estimated 30% of the Belizean population.

Belizean Creoles are primarily mixed-raced descendants of West and Central Africans who were brought to the British Honduras (modern Belize along the Bay of Honduras) as well as the English and Scottish log cutters, known as the Baymen. Over the years they have also intermarried with Miskito from Nicaragua, Jamaicans and other Caribbean people, Mestizos, Europeans, Garifunas, Maya, etc.

The majority of Creoles trace their ancestry to several of the aforementioned groups. The creole and African slaves came to British Honduras (modern day Belize) from Jamaica, as Jamaica was the closest British colony administering British Honduras at the time and it was the slave ships' final destination. It is also mentioned that many slaves brought to Belize were trouble makers and resisters from Jamaican sugar cane plantations.

Belize town was the epicentre of the colony and many slaves ended up in the logwood and timber industry. Women and children stayed doing domestic and farm work. Slaves in Belize were more free to travel and roam around the colony due to their work. …