Belize is a country on the north-eastern 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 maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. Belize is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and is considered part of the Caribbean region and the historical British West Indies.
Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually defined as consisting of seven countries: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. Within Central America is the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot, which extends from southern Mexico to southeastern 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.
Belize is a district of the nation of Belize. Its capital is Belize City.
The Emerald Tablet, the Smaragdine Table, or the Tabula Smaragdina is a compact and cryptic Hermetic text. It was a highly regarded foundational text for many Islamic and European alchemists. Though attributed to the legendary Hellenistic figure Hermes Trismegistus, the text of the Emerald Tablet first appears in a number of early medieval Arabic sources, the oldest of which dates to the late eighth or early ninth century. It was translated into Latin several times in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Numerous interpretations and commentaries followed.
Weaver ants or green ants are eusocial insects of the Hymenoptera family Formicidae belonging to the tribe Oecophyllini. Weaver ants live in trees and are known for their unique nest building behaviour where workers construct nests by weaving together leaves using larval silk. Colonies can be extremely large consisting of more than a hundred nests spanning numerous trees and containing more than half a million workers. Like many other ant species, weaver ants prey on small insects and supplement their diet with carbohydrate-rich honeydew excreted by scale insects (Hemiptera). Weaver ant workers exhibit a clear bimodal size distribution, with almost no overlap between the size of the minor and major workers. The major workers are approximately 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) in length and the minors approximately half the length of the majors. Major workers forage, defend, maintain, and expand the colony whereas minor workers tend to stay within the nests where they care for the brood and 'milk' scale insects in or close to the nests.
Oecophylla smaragdina is a species of arboreal ant found in tropical Asia and Australia. These ants form colonies with multiple nests in trees, each nest being made of leaves stitched together using the silk produced by the ant larvae: hence the name 'oecophylla' [Greek for 'leaf-house'].
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 Scout and Guide movement in Belize is served by The Girl Guides Association of Belize, a member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts and The Scout Association of Belize, a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement.
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.
Luffa acutangula is a cucurbitaceous vine that is commercially grown for its unripe fruits as a vegetable. Mature fruits are used as natural cleaning sponges. Its fruit slightly resembles a cucumber or zucchini with ridges. It is native to South Asia and has been naturalised in other regions. It is also grown as a houseplant in places with colder climates. English common names include angled luffa, Chinese okra, dish cloth gourd, ridged gourd, sponge gourd, vegetable gourd, strainer vine, ribbed loofah, silky gourd, and silk gourd.
Belize started as the colony of British Honduras, formally established in the 17th century but disputed through the 18th century.
Deherainia is a genus of plants in the family Primulaceae, native to Central America.
Belize competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, which were held from 27 July to 12 August 2012. The country's participation in London was its eleventh appearance in the Summer Olympics since its debut at the 1968 Summer Olympics. The delegation included two short-distance runners and one judoka: Kenneth Medwood, Kaina Martinez and Eddermys Sanchez. Medwood qualified by recording a time that met qualification standards while the latter two entered through wildcard places. Medwood was selected as the flag bearer for both the opening and closing ceremonies. Medwood reached the semifinals of the men's 400 metres hurdles before he was eliminated from competition while Martinez did not progress farther than the quarterfinal stage of the women's 100 metres. Sanchez was defeated by his opponent Miklós Ungvári of Hungary in a 19-second match in the Round of 32 of the men's half-lightweight judo competition.
Smaragdina is a genus of short-horned leaf beetles belonging to the family Chrysomelidae, subfamily Cryptocephalinae.
Exaerete smaragdina is a species of kleptoparasitic euglossine bees.
Chalcothea smaragdina is a species of flower chafer belonging to the family of scarab beetles.
Belize competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, Australia from April 4 to April 15, 2018. It was Belize's 10th appearance at the Commonwealth Games.
Felicia smaragdina is an annual, bristly and glandular, much branched plant of up to 40 cm high, that has been assigned to the family Asteraceae. It has seated, slightly succulent, line-shaped leaves of up to 3 cm long and about 1 mm (0.04 in) wide. Its flower heads sit individually at the tip of the branches, and contain about twenty yellow ray florets of about 8 mm long and 11⁄2 mm (0.06 in) wide, surrounding many yellow disc florets. A unique character is that when dried, the florets become greenish. The species is an endemic species of Namibia.
Cryptocarya smaragdina, commonly known as Dina's laurel, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lauraceae and is endemic to north Queensland. It is a shrub with lance-shaped leaves, creamy green, unpleasantly perfumed flowers, and spherical black drupes.
