British Honduras

Baymen, enslaved Africans, and Shoremen In the early seventeenth century, English and Dutch pirate merchants, defying the Spanish who claimed sovereignty over the entire Caribbean coast, engaged in "sporadic but fairly frequent" smuggling from the Bay of Honduras. Large quantities of indigo and logwood were supplied to their home markets. At some point, the English operators began surreptitiously cutting logwood, as opposed to merely seizing Spanish-cut logwood. Although clear primary sources are lacking, the first English logging settlement in the territory is generally attributed to Peter Wallace's 1638 landing at the mouth of Haulover Creek which runs through what is now Belize City. As their interest turned in the 18th century from logwood to mahogany, the growing numbers of "Baymen" employed enslaved Africans, purchased in Jamaica and Bermuda. While they might be left in logging camps, without the whip-wielding drivers ubiquitous on large plantations elsewhere in the Americas, the enslaved were dependent on their owners for rations and supplies. Many of the enslaved maintained African ethnic identifications and cultural practices. Those of Ibo origin and descent were particularly numerous, a section of Belize being known as "Eboe Town." land was distributed by lottery in which "the meanest mulatto or free negro has an equal chance". To the suggestion from the Home Secretary, Lord Sydney, that it was impolitic to put "affluent settlers and persons of a different description, particularly people of colour" on an "equal footing", Despard replied "the laws of England ... know no such distinction". He characterised the wealthy cutters among the Baymen as an "arbitrary aristocracy", buttressing his argument with the results of the magistracy election in which he won a resounding majority on an unprecedented turnout. Unimpressed by his democratic mandate, and persuaded by the Baymen's entreaty that under "Despard's constitution" the "negroes in servitude, observing the now exalted status of their brethren of yesterday [the free, and now propertied, blacks among the Shoremen] would be induced to revolt, and the settlement must be ruined", in 1790 Sydney's successor, Lord Grenville, recalled Despard to London. Despard's colour-blind policies were reversed: by the 1820s the settlement had seven legally distinct castes based on skin colour. Under this colour-bar system, free Creole people were denied full civil rights until, in 1831, the British Colonial Office threatened to dissolve the Baymen's legislative Public Meeting. Negotiations between Britain and Guatemala began again in 1961, but the elected representatives of British Honduras had no voice in these talks. As a result, in 1965 the United States President Lyndon Johnson agreed to mediate and proposed a draft treaty that gave Guatemala control over the newly independent country in areas including internal security, defence and external affairs. All parties in British Honduras, however, denounced the proposals. Talks resumed in 1973, but broke off again in 1975 when tensions flared once more. Between 1975 and 1981, the Belizean and British governments, frustrated at dealing with the military-dominated regimes in Guatemala, began to state their case for self-determination at international forums such as a meeting of the heads of Commonwealth of Nations governments in Jamaica, the conference of ministers of the Nonaligned Movement in Peru, and at meetings of the United Nations (UN). The support of the Nonaligned Movement proved crucial and assured success at the UN. Latin American governments initially supported Guatemala, however Cuba, Mexico, Panama and Nicaragua later declared unequivocal support for an independent Belize. Finally, in November 1980, with Guatemala completely isolated, the UN passed a resolution that demanded the independence of Belize, with all its territory intact, before the next session of the UN in 1981. A last attempt was made to reach an agreement with Guatemala prior to the independence of Belize and a proposal, called the Heads of Agreement, was initialled on 11 March 1981. However, the Guatemalan government refused to ratify the agreement and withdrew from the negotiations, and the opposition in Belize engaged in violent demonstrations against it. With the prospect of independence celebrations in the offing, the opposition's morale fell and independence came to Belize on 21 September 1981, without an agreement with Guatemala. ==Government==

on $5-British Honduras stamp, 1953 Before 1884 the colonial administration of British Honduras was rather haphazard. In the early days, the colonists governed themselves under a public meeting system, similar to the town meeting system used in New England. A set of regulations called "Burnaby's Code" was adopted in 1765, which continued in force until 1840, when an executive council was created. Also in 1840, the colony formally became known as British Honduras, although it was also referred to as "the Belize". In 1853 the public meeting system was abandoned in favour of a legislative assembly, part of which was elected by a restricted franchise. The assembly was presided over by the British superintendent, an office created in 1784. From 1749 until 1884, British Honduras was governed as a dependency of the British colony of Jamaica. Upon its designation as a Crown colony in 1871, a Lieutenant Governor under the Governor of Jamaica replaced the superintendent, and a nominated legislative council replaced the legislative assembly. When the colony was finally severed from the administration of Jamaica in 1884, it gained its own Governor. In 1935 legislative franchise was reintroduced with a lower income qualification. Universal adult franchise was adopted in 1954, and a majority of seats in the legislature were made elective. A ministerial system was introduced in 1961, and the colony achieved self-government status in 1964. File:Mint block of four 3 cents British Honduras 3 Cents right hand margin stamps.jpg|thumb|Legislative Council 3 Cents issue British Honduras Queen Elizabeth II stamps, figures sat at a table with Mace. Mint block of four, right hand margin. ==Economy==

Forestry dominated the economy of British Honduras. Initially, the focus was upon logwood, which was used in dye manufacture. Falling prices for logwood in the 1770s led to a shift toward logging mahogany, which would dominate the economy until the mid-20th century. As the logging of mahogany was far more labour-intensive, this also led to a significant increase of the importation of African slaves to the colony, mainly from Britain's Caribbean colonies. Due largely to extremely harsh working conditions, the colony experienced four slave revolts, the first in 1765 and the last in 1820. Slavery was finally abolished in 1838. Exports of mahogany continued as an economic mainstay, as commercial agriculture remained unprofitable due to unfavourable colonial tax policies and trade restrictions. Colonial officials provided incentives during the 1860s that resulted in a large influx of Americans from the Southern United States, especially Louisiana, during and after the American Civil War. The Confederate settlements in British Honduras introduced large-scale sugar production to the colony and proved that it could be profitable where others had previously failed. The lack of diversification in the economy left the colony very susceptible to swings in the mahogany market. The Great Depression of the 1930s and an especially destructive hurricane in 1931, further depressed the economy and already low living conditions. From 1914 on, the forestry industry was in steady decline, except for a brief revival during World War II (1939–1945). In the 1950s agriculture finally became a dominant part of economy, and in the 1970s fishing became significant. Land reform after World War II aided this expansion of the economy. ==Demographics==

By the time of the colony's 1790 census, three-quarters of the population of British Honduras were Creole people". They were the ancestors of the original Belizean-Creole population, who were, and still are, the biological offspring of African men and enslaved African women. The original Belizean-Creole people consisted mainly of west African slaves and descendants . The abolition of the slave trade in 1807, high death rates and low birth rates substantially reduced the ethnic African portion of the population. The white portion of the population returned to Europe and imported other whites to live in Belize The largest portion of the population, the creole people, now comprise about 45% of modern Belize. The Mayans are still present in Belize and comprise around 11% of the population. The population of the colony was always fairly small. In 1790 it was around 4,000. In 1856 it was estimated to be 20,000. By 1931 this figure grew to just over 50,000, and in 1946 to just under 60,000. However, by 1970 the population doubled to just under 120,000. On the eve of independence in 1980, the population stood at over 145,000. ==See also==