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Belize District | |
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| District of Belize | |
 Location of Belize District in Belize | |
| Coordinates: 17°15′N88°10′W / 17.250°N 88.167°W | |
| Country |  Belize |
| Capital | Belize City |
| Area | |
• Total | 4,204 km2 (1,623 sq mi) |
| Population (2024 Estimate) [1] | |
• Total | 116,914 |
| • Density | 28/km2 (72/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Belizean |
| Time zone | UTC -6 (Central Standard Time) |
| ISO 3166 code | BZ-BZ |
| Website | www |
Belize District is a district of the nation of Belize. Its capital is Belize City.
Most of the Belize District is in the east central mainland of Belize; the Belize District also includes various offshore islands, including Ambergris Caye, Caye Caulker, St. George's Caye, Caye Chapel, English Caye, Goff's Caye, and Turneffe Atoll. Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker are considered two of the country's primary tourism areas. The longest river in the country, the Belize River, passes through the district and joins the Caribbean Sea along its coast. The Northern River, Sibun River, and Manatee River are also in this District.
San Pedro Town, which is situated on the island of Ambergris Caye, is also in the Belize District. Caye Caulker and St. George's Caye are the island villages in this district. Maskall, Bomba, Corozalito, Santana, Lucky Strike, Rockstone Pond, Boston, Crooked Tree, Biscayne, May Pen, Gardenia, Grace Bank, Sand Hill, Lord's Bank, Ladyville, Burrel Boom, Buttercup, Scotland Halfmoon, Flowers Bank, Bermudian Landing, Isabella Bank, Double Head Cabbage, Willows Bank, Saint Paul's Bank, Big Falls, Rancho Dolores, Hattieville, Freetown Sibun, Gracie Rock, La Democracia, and Gales Point are all mainland villages in the Belize District. The Crooked Tree and Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuaries, the Belize Zoo (30 miles west of Belize City), as well as the ancient Maya ruins of Altun Ha are all in this district.
The Belize District was the area first settled by Europeans. They developed estates along the rivers and creeks; because these waterways were their transportation highways. Many of the estates were referred to as the owner's 'bank'(as in the banks of a river). Therefore, Mr. Lord's estate on the bank of the Belize River became Lord's Bank and Mr. Flowers' home place on this same river became Flowers Bank. Many of these old estates have grown into villages; while other places on our map such as Baker, Bob Eiley, Bocotora, Butcher Burns, Lime Walk, More Force, Nago Bank, Washing Tree, Cedar Bank, Churchyard, Egypt, Watters Bank, and White Hill are old estates which did not become villages. Some places like Davis Bank and Tropical Park have now become parts of larger communities.
In 2005 mid-year population estimate to the Belize District was 87,000 with an estimated number of 69,200 of these living in the two urban areas. Belize City is by far the large of the two with an estimated population of 60,800. San Pedro Town has a population of about 8,900. The population of all the villages and outlying communities combined is about 17,800 people.
2010 Population and Housing Census has Belize district's total population as 89,247 residents, of this 43,980 are males and 45,267 are females. The total number of households is 27,161 and the average household size is 3.3.
Politically, Belize District contains 13 constituencies according to the Elections and Boundaries Department. 10 of these are in Belize City proper; the remainder are classified as rural.
The 10 constituencies that fall within the city limits of Belize City are: Albert, Caribbean Shores, Collet, Fort George, Freetown, Lake Independence, Mesopotamia, Pickstock, Port Loyola, and Queen's Square. Both Leader of the Opposition Shyne Barrow (Mesopotamia) and former Leader of the Opposition Francis Fonseca (Freetown) represent Belize City constituencies.
Belize Rural North contains the northern half of mainland Belize District, including Maskall, Lucky Strike and villages in the Belize River Valley and along the Northern Highway, except for Ladyville and Lord's Bank. Its current representative is Marconi Leal of the People's United Party.
Belize Rural Central is limited to the southern half of mainland Belize District and containing the important villages of Ladyville, Lord's Bank, Western Paradise, Hattieville, and Gales Point. As of 2012, the PUP's Dolores Balderamos is area representative.
Belize Rural South contains the offshore islands of the Belize District including Ambergris Caye, Caye Caulker, Caye Chapel, St. George's Caye, and the Turneffe Islands. Its main town is San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. The current representative is the UDP's Manuel Heredia. Ambergris Caye is also a pene-exclave, and it is the land that is completely separated through the rest of the district and in the country.
Transport in Belize mostly consists of bus transportation on Belize's roads. There are some navigable waterways.
Belize City is the largest city in Belize. It was once the capital of the former British Honduras. According to the 2022 census, Belize City has a population of 63,999 people. It is at the mouth of the Haulover Creek, which is a distributary of the Belize River. The Belize River empties into the Caribbean Sea eight kilometres from Belize City on the Philip Goldson Highway on the coast of the Caribbean. The city is the country's principal port and its financial and industrial hub. Cruise ships drop anchor outside the port and are tendered by local citizens. The city was almost entirely destroyed in October 1961 when Hurricane Hattie swept ashore. It was the capital of British Honduras until the government was moved to the new capital of Belmopan in 1970.
Ladyville is the largest village in the country of Belize, eight miles northwest of Belize City in the Belize District. The Philip Goldson Highway connects Ladyville to Belize City.
San Pedro is a town on the southern part of the island of Ambergris Caye in the Belize District of the nation of Belize, in Central America. According to the 2015 mid-year estimates, the town has a population of about 16,444. It is the second-largest town in the Belize District and largest in the Belize Rural South constituency. The once sleepy fishing village was granted the status of a town in 1984.
Ambergris Caye, is the largest island of Belize, located northeast of the country's mainland, in the Caribbean Sea. It is about 40 kilometres (25 mi) long from north to south, and about 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) wide. Many parts of the island have been modified by human development since the arrival of coconut plantations in the 17th century, but it remains largely white coral sand with mangrove forest at its center. Its eastern coast runs parallel to the northernmost stretch of the Belize Barrier Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
There are several ports of Belize through which boats enter.
Hurricane Keith was a tropical cyclone in October 2000 that caused extensive damage in Central America, especially in Mexico and Belize. It was the fifteenth tropical cyclone, eleventh named storm, and seventh hurricane of the 2000 Atlantic hurricane season. Keith developed as a tropical depression from a tropical wave in the western Caribbean Sea on September 28. The depression gradually strengthened, and became Tropical Storm Keith on the following day. As the storm tracked westward, it continued to intensify and was upgraded to a hurricane on September 30. Shortly thereafter, Keith began to rapidly deepen, and peaked as a Category 4 hurricane less than 24 hours later. Keith then began to meander erratically offshore of Belize, which significantly weakened the storm due to land interaction. By late on October 2, Keith made landfall in Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker, Belize as a minimal hurricane. It quickly weakened to a tropical storm, before another landfall occurred near Belize City early on the following day. While moving inland over the Yucatán Peninsula, Keith weakened further, and was downgraded to a tropical depression before emerging into the Gulf of Mexico on October 4. Once in the Gulf of Mexico, Keith began to re-strengthen and was upgraded to a tropical storm later that day, and a hurricane on the following day. By late on October 5, Keith made its third and final landfall near Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico as a moderately strong Category 1 hurricane. The storm quickly weakened inland and dissipated as a tropical cyclone by 24 hours after landfall.
Caye Caulker is a small limestone coral island off the coast of Belize in the Caribbean Sea measuring about 5 miles (8.0 km) by less than 1 mile (1.6 km). The town on the island is known by the name Caye Caulker Village. The population of Caye Caulker is approximately 4,000 people.
The Belize Elections and Boundaries Department is the hands-on administrator of Belizean electoral politics. It was established in 1989 as a subordinate to the Elections and Boundaries Commission.
The Belize Barrier Reef is a series of coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize, roughly 300 metres (980 ft) offshore in the north and 40 kilometres (25 mi) in the south within the country limits. The Belize Barrier Reef is a 300-kilometre (190 mi) long section of the 900-kilometre (560 mi) Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, which is continuous from Cancún on the north-eastern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula through the Riviera Maya and down to Honduras, making it the second largest coral reef system in the world after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It is Belize's top tourist destination, popular for scuba diving and snorkeling and attracting almost half of its 260,000 visitors. It is also vital to the country's fishing industry.
The Belize Coast Guard is the maritime security, search and rescue, and the maritime and law enforcement service branch of Belize. The BCG is under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Turneffe Atoll is located southeast of Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker, off the coast of Belize in Central America, 20 miles from Belize City. It is one of three atolls of the Belize Barrier Reef, along with Glover's Reef and Lighthouse Reef. It is approximately 30 miles long and 10 miles wide, making it the largest coral atoll in Belize and in the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. The atoll was officially declared a marine reserve on November 22, 2012.
Hispanic and Latin American Belizeans are Belizeans of full or partial Hispanic and Latin American descent. Currently, they account for around 52.9% of Belize's population.
The Belizean Coast mangroves ecoregion covers the brackish and salt-water habitats along the Caribbean Sea coast of Belize, and of Amatique Bay in Guatemala; small parts in the border with Mexico are also present on this ecoregion. The mangroves are partially protected from the open sea by the Belize Barrier Reef, and this ecoregion is distinct from the reef-based Belizean Reef mangroves ecoregion offshore. There is a large population of the vulnerable West Indian manatee in the area. It covers an area of around 2850 km2.
The 1942 Belize hurricane was one of only two known hurricanes to strike Belize in the month of November, alongside Hurricane Lisa in 2022. The thirteenth observed tropical cyclone, eleventh tropical storm, and fourth hurricane of the 1942 Atlantic hurricane season, this storm was detected in the vicinity of Turks and Caicos Islands on November 5. Initially a tropical storm, it strengthened slowly while moving westward and then south-southwestward across the Bahamas. On November 6, the storm became a Category 1 hurricane on the modern day Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. Later that day, it made landfall in Cayo Romano, Camagüey Province, Cuba. Impact in Cuba and the Bahamas was limited to lower barometric pressure readings and strong winds. While crossing Cuba, the system weakened to a tropical storm early on November 7, shortly before emerging into the Caribbean Sea. The storm re-strengthened into a hurricane later that day and headed southwestward.
Belize Rural South is an electoral constituency in the Belize District represented in the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belize since 2020 by Andre Perez of the People's United Party (PUP).
Rosita Baltazar was a Belizean choreographer, dancer, dance instructor and founding assistant director of the Belize National Dance Company. In 2004, she was awarded the Lord Rhaburn Music Award as a dance ambassador and in 2009 she received the Chatoyer Recognition Award from the National Garifuna Council of Belize for her efforts at preserving Garifuna culture.
Media related to Belize District at Wikimedia Commons| Geographic | |
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