Belize is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a water boundary with Honduras to the southeast. It has an area of 22,970 square kilometres (8,867 sq mi) and a population of 441,471 (2022). Its mainland is about 290 km (180 mi) long and 110 km (68 mi) wide. It is the least populated and least densely populated country in Central America. Its population growth rate of 1.87% per year is the second-highest in the region and one of the highest in the Western Hemisphere. Its capital is Belmopan, and its largest city is the namesake city of Belize City. Belize is often thought of as a Caribbean country in Central America because it has a history similar to that of English-speaking Caribbean nations. Indeed, Belize’s institutions and official language reflect its history as a British colony.
Central America is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Central America consists of seven countries: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. Within Central America is the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot, which extends from northern Guatemala to central Panama. Due to the presence of several active geologic faults and the Central America Volcanic Arc, there is a high amount of seismic activity in the region, such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes which has resulted in death, injury, and property damage.
In physical cosmology, Big Bang nucleosynthesis is the production of nuclei other than those of the lightest isotope of hydrogen during the early phases of the Universe. Primordial nucleosynthesis is believed by most cosmologists to have taken place in the interval from roughly 10 seconds to 20 minutes after the Big Bang, and is calculated to be responsible for the formation of most of the universe's helium as the isotope helium-4 (4He), along with small amounts of the hydrogen isotope deuterium, the helium isotope helium-3 (3He), and a very small amount of the lithium isotope lithium-7 (7Li). In addition to these stable nuclei, two unstable or radioactive isotopes were also produced: the heavy hydrogen isotope tritium ; and the beryllium isotope beryllium-7 (7Be); but these unstable isotopes later decayed into 3He and 7Li, respectively, as above.
Belmopan is the capital city of Belize. Its population in 2010 was 16,451. In addition to being the smallest capital city in the continental Americas by population, Belmopan is the third-largest settlement in Belize, behind Belize City and San Ignacio. Founded as a planned community in 1970, Belmopan is one of the newest national capital cities in the world. Since 2000, Belmopan has been one of two settlements in Belize to hold official city status, along with Belize City.
Corozal District is the northernmost district of the nation of Belize. The population was 33,894 in 2000. The district capital is Corozal Town.
Raytheon BBN is an American research and development company, based next to Fresh Pond in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical foundation of the Internet. The ARPANET was established by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the United States Department of Defense.
Michael Anthony Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft, is a British-Belizean businessman, pollster and politician. He is a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. Ashcroft founded Michael A. Ashcroft Associates in 1972 and is the 132nd richest person in the UK, as ranked by the Sunday Times Rich List 2021, with an estimated fortune of £1.257 billion.
Dean Oliver Barrow, SC PC is a politician from Belize who served as prime minister of Belize from 2008 until 2020 and as leader of Belize's United Democratic Party.
John Antonio Briceño is a Belizean politician who is the 5th and current Prime Minister of Belize since 12 November 2020, and the leader of the People's United Party (PUP) since 2016. He was Leader of the Opposition from 2008 to 2011 and from 2016 to 2020. From 1998 to 2007, he served as Deputy Prime Minister under Prime Minister Said Musa.
Big Brother Naija, formerly known as Big Brother Nigeria, is a Nigerian reality competition television series, based on the Big Brother television franchise, in which, contestants live in an isolated house and compete for a large cash prize and other material prizes, at the end of the show by avoiding being evicted from the house by viewers who vote for their favourite housemates to remain in the show.
Sports have had an important role in Belizean culture. While Belize has never been an international sporting power, the nation's athletes have had some international success. Sports in the country are plagued by a lack of finance and sporting facilities, and there is little emphasis on sports as an integral part of national culture and pride. Nevertheless, sports continue to bring Belizeans together on and off the field.
The Belize National Cricket Association is the national governing body of cricket in Belize, established in 1997. It gained affiliation with the International Cricket Council in 1997, the Belize National Sports Council in 2016, and the Belize Olympic Committee in 2020.
Derek Reisfield was the founder and chairman of MarketWatch, a leading financial news and information site and one of the most successful content start ups of the Internet Boom. The company was sold to Dow Jones for more than $500 million. Reisfield was also a founder and principal of i-hatch Ventures, a leading New York City based venture capital company.
The Belizean–Guatemalan territorial dispute is an unresolved territorial dispute between the states of Belize and Guatemala, neighbours in Central America. During the late 1600s and throughout the 1700s, Britain and Spain signed several treaties regarding territories in the Americas. Both nations agreed that the territory was under Spanish sovereignty, but English settlers could use the land, in specific areas and for specific purposes. However, the area was never fully under British or Spanish occupation at this time. When the Spanish Empire fell, Guatemala said that they inherited Spain's sovereign rights over the territory. Since independence, Guatemala has claimed, in whole or in part, the territory of Belize.
Miss Belize is a national beauty pageant in Belize. The pageant was founded in 1975, where the winners were sent to Miss Universe.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Belize is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Belize on 23 March 2020.
Valerie Woods Smith is a Belizean politician who has served as Speaker of the country's House of Representatives since December 2020.
Carolyn Trench-Sandiford is a Belizean urban planner and politician who has served as Speaker of the country's Senate since December 2020.
