The Anglo-Saxon, English, or Baymen's settlement of Belize is traditionally thought to have been effected upon Peter Wallace's 1638 landing at the mouth of Haulover Creek. As this account lacks clear primary sources, however, scholarly discourse has tended to qualify, amend, or completely eschew said theory, giving rise to a myriad competing narratives of the English settling of Belize. Though none of the aforementioned have garnered widespread consensus, historical literature has tended to favour a circumspect account of a landing near Haulover sometime during the 1630s and 1660s, effected by logwood-seeking, haven-seeking, or shipwrecked buccaneers.
The romantic but commonly held view of the history of Belize begins with a haven of free-spirited and adventuresome pirates occasionally sneaking out of hiding amid the cay[e]s and reef system to perform piratical acts of independence against Britain's economic oppression and Spain's cultural conceit. They eventually become attached to the place so they find legitimate livelihoods, prosper, form a government, and are eventually rewarded with the status of a colony of the British Empire.
In November–December 1544, a patax of 22 French corsairs, mates of a captain called Pedro Braques by the Spanish, were apprehended off the coast of colonial Honduras. Their arrival marked the beginning of over three centuries of piracy in the Bay of Honduras.[2][3][4][note 1] French corsairs were (belatedly) followed into the Bay by Elizabethan Sea Dogs three decades later. The earliest of these is thought to have been either Sir Francis Drake in the Minion, or John Oxenham in the Beare, who during 23 February 1573 – 22 March 1573 cruised the Bay and watered at Guanaxa.[5][6] English buccaneering activities in the Bay intensified in the ensuing decades.[citation needed] Notably, during October 1577 – April 1578, an English pirate or privateer, called Francisco de Acles by the Spanish, with 60 men aboard two ships, sacked Puerto Caballos and Bacalar, possibly marking the earliest entrance of such sea dogs into Bacalar's [ie present-day Belize's] waters.[7][8][9] It is commonly thought that, upon the 1570s discovery of the intricate, secluded reefs, cayes, and coastline which characterised the waters of Bacalar, English buccaneers promptly opted to base their operations in this portion of the Bay, it affording them safe haven and quick access to Spanish ports.[10][11][12][13]
Smuggling
A view of Truxillo Bay and city on the coast of Honduras/ 1796 lithograph by Thomas Bowen / via LC
Prior to 1630, Spanish smuggling with Anglo-Dutch pirate-merchants at ports in the Bay of Honduras is thought to have 'amounted to little more than evasion of duties and taxes,' with typical cases described as 'not spectacular.'[14] However –
The situation altered significantly after 1630 as it became obvious that the flota system was decaying and the Spanish economy declining. Between 1630 and 1680 there seems to have been a slow increase in the volume of smuggling [in colonial Central America], and gradually smuggling became more important than simple fraud [eg tax evasion] [...]. So Central American merchants and indigo plantation owners in the middle years of the seventeenth century found themselves with a fairly viable export crop, [...] and few means of disposing of it. [...] Legal trade to the official ports in the Bay of Honduras had fallen away to a trickle, [...]. Between the early 1630s and the 1680s Central America searched desperately, often beyond the law, for ways of disposing of export crops while obtaining money or goods in exchange.
Consequently, post-1630 smuggling in the Bay is thought to have been 'sporadic but fairly frequent,' especially in indigo and logwood, 'large quantities' of which [illicitly] found their way to non-Spanish markets.[15][16][17][18]
Logging
Lacertus [et] Lignum Camp./ 1732 lithograph by Mark Catesby / via Biodiversity Lib.
The earliest logwood cutting near the Bay of Honduras is commonly dated to 1562, and attributed to the Spanish conquistador Marcos de Ayala Trujeque of Valladolid, Yucatan.[19] By the 1570s, Yucatanese encomenderos were shipping to Spain some 200 tonnes of logwood per annum, principally via Campeachy.[20] During this same decade, English pirates, privateers, or buccaneers are thought to have first recognised the commercial value of logwood, and consequently, to have increasingly sought it as prize.[21][22][note 2]
It is uncertain when and where exactly English pirates or buccaneers first began surreptitiously cutting logwood, as opposed to merely seizing Spanish-cut logwood.[citation needed] Proposals range geographically from Campeachy to Belize, and temporally from 1599 to 1670.[note 3]
English settlement
The earliest English settlement near the Bay is thought to have been Old Providence.[citation needed] Anglo-Dutch buccaneers are known to have watered or camped in the island, and Cape Gracias a Dios, since at least 1616.[23][24][25][note 4] English presence intensified shortly upon the 4 December 1630 chartering of the Old Providence Company.[26] In 1631, Anthony Hilton's settlement in Tortuga was made a dependency of the Company.[27][28] In 1633, Sussex Cammock established a trading post in Cape Gracias a Dios for Old Providence.[29][30] By 29 January 1636, the Company was granted letters of reprisal against the Spanish.[31][32][33][34][note 5] On 8 June 1638, the Company granted William Claiborne letters patent to settle Roatan.[35][36][37][38][39] And shortly after 17 May 1641, Old Providence refugees are thought to have established themselves at Cape Gracias a Dios or Roatan.[40][38][41][42]
The 1638 Tipu rebellion against Bacalar, possibly (indirectly) aided by piratical raids of coastal and riverine Maya hamlets in that district, is thought to have significantly eroded Spanish dominion and presence in Bacalar's waters.[43][44][45][46][47][48]
Incident
In tradition
Belize is traditionally held to have been among the first English settlements in the Bay of Honduras, along with Roatan.[citation needed] It is commonly thought to have been settled by Peter Wallace and his crew of 80 buccaneers, aboard the Swallow, in 1638.[citation needed] No records of this landing have been discovered, however, and it is commonly thought that none are extant, or that the story is apocryphal.[49][50]
In scholarship
When, then, did the British begin to settle in the part of Yucatan we call Belize today? This is an even more stubborn question than that of Spanish settlement of the territory, and we will probably never be able to answer it precisely. We may have to rely on Sir Harry Luke's proposition that "[a]s a British Colony British Honduras, like Topsy, 'never was born' but just 'grow'd'." This is in contrast to the more regularly established British colonies in the region, which were acquired either by royal patents or by conquest and settlement.
All Caribbean countries, with one exception, can document the date of first permanent settlement by Europeans with some accuracy. [...] The one exception is Belize, whose British origins have been shrouded in a mixture of fact, myth, legend, naivety and dishonesty.
—Barbara & Victor Bulmer-Thomas in 2016.[52][note 6]
The traditional story of the English settlement of Belize is the most commonly given account in scholarly literature, though historians often qualify it, given the lack of primary sources.[citation needed][note 7] A variety of competing accounts have been proffered since the 18th century, none of which have gained widespread scholarly favour.[citation needed] Despite this, most scholarly accounts seem to favour a second- or third-quarter-of-the-17th century date, with responsibility attributed to pirate's-haven-seeking, logwood-seeking, or shipwrecked buccaneers.[citation needed]
Comparison of 18th- to 21st-century theories regarding the earliest English settlement in present-day Belize.[note 8]
↑ French entrance to the Bay dated 1537 by Marcus 1990, pp.67, 101. It has been suggested that French corsairs were seeking to advance their country's cause during the Habsburg–Valois Wars. These early cruises prompted the construction of the Santa Barbara Fortress in Trujillo in 1550 (Chamberlain 1953, pp.225, 231). No (successful) piratical raids are noted in the Bay in 1543–1554. Eight (French) were noted in 1555–1561. None in 1562–1566. One (French) in 1567–1571. Twelve (three French, eight English, one unknown) in 1572–1582 (De la O Torres 2020, pp.193, 197–203, 220–228, 232–241, 268–280, 288–301).
↑ Pirates' recognition of logwood's value dated 1585 and attributed to Sir Francis Drake by McJunkin 1991, p.102, but dated 1570s and attributed to John Chilton by Finamore 1994, p.19. Chilton visited Yucatan in June–July 1572, and noted 'the chiefest merchandize which they lade there in small frigats, is a certeine wood called campeche, (wherewith they vse to die) as also hides and annile' per Hakluyt 1589, p.559. McJunkin 1991, p.80 notes that notices of logwood 'show up more frequently in records of capture [of Spanish cargo] by foreigners than they do in the internal records of Yucatan,' though note this might be 'simply a matter of differential preservation.' Logwood was prohibited in England by 23 Eliz. 1 ch. 9 passed during 21 March 1580 – 20 March 1581 per McJunkin 1991, p.96 and Raithby 1819a, p.671. McJunkin 1991, p.96 states that this Act is the first reference to logwood in English records. The Act cites 'false and deceitful colours' as the reason for prohibiting logwood dyes, though McJunkin 1991, p.96 notes that these 'were a result of using alum as a mordant or of not using any mordant at all.' The prohibition was strengthened in 1583 by proclamation per McJunkin 1991, p.98, and in 1597 per 39 Eliz. 1 ch. 11 in Raithby 1819a, pp.911–912. Licensed importation of logwood was allowed in 29 February 1620 per Green 1858, vol. 112, while the ban on unlicensed importation was tightened in 1630 and 1636 by proclamation per McJunkin 1991, p.98. The prohibition was finally lifted by 14 Chas. 2 ch. 11 passed sometime during 7 January 1662 – 3 May 1662 per Raithby 1819b, pp.393–400, Green 1861, vol. 54 no. 12, and McJunkin 1991, p.100.
↑ Chronologically, the proposals regarding the earliest dates and places of logwood cutting include (non-exhaustively) –
by 1599 in Yucatan (generally), by Thomas Burward and the Antelope crew (McJunkin 1991, pp.105–106),
by 29 May 1652 on Belize River, by English privateers (RWJ 1732, p.3),
after 1655 in Cape Catoche (first) and Campeachy (later), by Anglo-Jamaican privateers (Dampier 1700, pt. 2 pp. 46-48, Finamore 1994, p.19),
by 1660 on New or Hondo Rivers, by English privateers (Rushton 2014, p.133),
in 14 Aug. 1660 – 29 Dec. 1662 in Campeachy and 'a point on the eastern coast [of Yucatan] near Belize, by English 'filibusters' (Molina Solís 1910, pp.244, 246, 249–250)
by 30 Nov. 1669 in Campeachy and Cape Catoche, by Jamaican privateers (Sainsbury 1889, sec. 'Nov. 1669' entry no. 129, and various subsequent entries),
by 1670 in Campeachy, by Anglo-Jamaican privateers (Sloane 1707, p.lxxxiii).
↑ The Company's first privateers were despatched in May 1636 (Newton 1914, p.226). Their last privateers were despatched in July 1638 (Newton 1914, p.266). Privateers were instructed, among other things, to impress Spanish pilots, including those familiar with the Bay of Honduras (Newton 1914, pp.224–226, 229, 230, 232, Genkins 2018, pp.87–88, Offen 2011, p.32).
↑ Bulmer-Thomas & Bulmer-Thomas 2016, p.138 continue, noting 'we will never know with certainty who the first [British] settlers [of Belize] were,' noting that there is 'a certain justice in this, however, since we will also never know who were the first Palaeo-Indians or Maya in Belize.'
↑ For instance, a recent report for the Belizean Foreign Office stated –
As early as 1638 British settlers appear to have developed logwood activities in present day Belize; and it is certain that between 1662 and 1670 this activity became regular.
[A]unque algunos creen que Wallace se instaló en Belice hasta el año 1617, es probable que esto haya ocurrido antes. [...] Wallace compró seis buques que los tripuló con la gente mas desalmada de Londres y se dirigió a América el dia 14 de Mayo de 1603, [...] Sin tener ningun comprobante, me imagíno que es en esta expedición cuando él llaga a la desembocadura del RIO VIEJO, que desde entonces comienza a llamarse de Wallace o BELICE. [...] Es pues mas verosimil que en su viaje a América, emprendido en 1603 [Wallace] haya llegado a la desembocadura del Rio Viejo [...]. [...] El 7 de Marzo de 1604 fué reconocido el puerto de Santo Tomas de Castilla [...] Por este tiempo se estableció la flotilla de Honduras, compuesta de dos buques, y es muy probable que tambien por este tiempo haya llegado Wallace a la desembocadura del rio Viejo y establecido la ranchería que mas tarde se llamó Belice. [...] En 1607 el conde Mauricio, al mando de ocho naves holandesas asaltó Santo Tomas, [...].
[A]lthough some believe that Wallace settled in Belize as late as 1617, it is likely that this occurred earlier. [...] Wallace bought six ships and manned them with the most heartless people in London and sailed to the Americas on 14 May 1603, [...] Though I cannot prove it, I imagine that it is on this expedition that he [first] reaches the mouth of the OLD RIVER, which since then begins to be called Wallace or BELIZE. [...] It is therefore more likely that on his journey to the Americas, undertaken in 1603 [Wallace] reached the mouth of the Old River [...]. [...] On 7 March 1604, the port of Santo Tomas de Castilla was discovered [...] By this time the flotilla of Honduras, composed of two ships, was established, and it is very likely that, [likewise] around this [same] time, Wallace arrived at the mouth of the Old River and established the settlement that was later called Belize. [...] In 1607 Count Mauricio, in command of eight Dutch ships, assaulted Santo Tomas, [...].
Balize, die jetzige hauptstadt von Britisch-Honduras, benannt nach dem Schotten Wallace (Wallis), einem der abenteurer, welche (um 1610) auf eigne faust in dem (damals span.) lande sich festzusetzen versuchten.
Balize, the current capital of British Honduras, named after the Scotsman Wallace (Valais), one of the adventurers who (around 1610) tried to establish themselves in the (then Spanish) country.
Our knowledge of the locations and of the towns on New River and the upper Belize River is drawn from the account [by Cogolludo] of Fuensalida's journeys in 1618 and 1641. He [Fuensalida] calls New River "Río de Dzuluinicob" (literally, "river of the foreign men"), which, he says, meant "river of the Spaniards," and indeed Dzul is what the Maya called the Spaniards. J. E. S. Thompson ([personal] communication) suggests [that said toponym might rather or further indicate] the presence of early British logwood cutters, which seems very possible. On the Usumacinta River, however, the Dzul were certain enemies of the Maya Chontal. Their leader had a Mexican name, and they were presumably Nahuatl-speaking inhabitants of Tabasco. Since the remains at Santa Rita near the mouth of the New River display marked Mexican [non-Maya] characteristics, I suggest that the river's Maya name goes back to pre-Spanish times.
As to the State of the Bay of Honduras, I shall give it you as briefly as possible. The ancient City of Bacalar, situate in that Part of the Province of Yucatan, which lies on the Bay of Honduras, was twice sack'd, and at last totally ruined by the English many Years ago; on which the Logwood-Cutters of that Nation, who settled on the River of Valis, possessed themselves of the New River and that of Hondo; which last is distant from the Ruins of Bacalar about five Leagues. Here they built a great many Houses and Hutts, and employ'd Multitudes of Negroes in cutting Logwood, which was transported to Jamaica and Europe by Numbers of Vessels trading from thence to the Bay.
THE PURITAN COLONISTS. In all the published historical records on the colony, the British colonization begins at Belize [City]. This is not true. It is due to insufficient research and the tendency to facile explanation. There are no Spanish geographic names between Monkey River and Belize [City]. Because of this I decided to search the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth century records on insular and mainland Caribbean history in the rare-books' sections of several of the great libraries of Europe. Works in Dutch, English, French, German, Latin, and Spanish were perused. My views expressed in these pages have been tempered in that light, but I have used only such as have a bearing on my subject. [...] On December 4, 1630 there was formed in London a company authorized by Charles I, "whereby Robert Earl of Warwick was made Governor in Chief and Lord High Admirall of all those islands and other plantations, inhabited, planted, or belonging to any of his Majesties the King of Englands subjects, within the bounds and upon the coast of America [...]" [In the Calendar of State Papers, 1574-1660, colonial series, published in 1860]. [...] The Earl of Warwick was a speculator in privateering, and a group of the wealthy Company of Merchant Adventurers in London were also backing him. Privateering was a part of their commercial interests, and in this they used the Puritans, who were in religious opposition to Charles I and his friendship for Spain, to assist them to colonize fortified sites from where they could raid the Spanish shipping and the Spanish Main. [...] The "Seaflower" brought the first batch of colonists to Santa Catalina or Old Providence in May 1631, most of them Puritans, with their governor, Captain Philip Bell, who had been governor of the Somers or Bermuda Islands in 1626-1627. When the colonists arrived this island was inhabited by some Dutch sea rovers amongst whom were the two brothers Captain William Albert Blauvelt and Abraham Blauvelt. [...] The selection of this island which lay in the track of the Plate Fleet was made by the Earl of Warwick's captains because of its position between the two main objectives, the Plate Fleet sailing from Panama to Havana, and the Cockscomb Coast as a base for bartering with the interior fo Guatemala. [...] Soon the colonists found out that the soil of Old Providence was worthless for their agriculture, and they began to look elsewhere. In 1631 they were active in Tortuga and resolved that henceforth that island should be called Association. But the island of Tortuga was also too small and too exposed to attack, and so they began in the same year to establish themselves in increased numbers on the Cockscomb Coast, a region from which they could not be expelled but by a strong Spanish naval force on account of the coral reefs, while to attack from the land would have been still costlier. Small plantations were already established here by Captain Daniel Elfrith who made the preliminary survey and recommendation [sometime during 1613-1624]. They cultivated the fresh soil which was then right on the beach and grew an abundance of potatoes and pumpkins. [...] in May and July 1633 Captain Sussex Camock was appointed director of a trade at Capt Gratia de Dios, with Edward Willaims and Nath. [...] For the trading stand the coast was selected which lies at the foot of the Cockscomb Mountainsn in the Bay of Honduras and is protected by the barrier-reef. Silk-grass grew there in great abundance in the creeks and lagoons where some Moskito Indians lived. [...] Thus the history of British colonization in the Bay began in 1629 with the privateers of the Earl of Warwick. It began with silk-grass and tobacco. This area is over 300 years in unbroken British occupation. They clearly gave the position as between 10 and 20 degrees north latitude, and 290 and 310 degrees of longitude, which of course was not computed from Greenwich but from Ferro, and puts Old Providence, Cape Gracias a Dios, and the Cockscomb Coast within its area, with the 20th parallel passing at Tortuga.
Dícese que un bucanero escocés atrevido y emprendedor, llamado Peter Wallace, [...] determinó buscar un sítio á propósito en que colocar perpetuamente su guarida. Como esto ocurria á mediados del siglo XVII la costa de Yucatan bañada del golfo de Honduras, se hallaba totalmente deshabitada de españoles, pues el único establecimiento que allí habia, el de Bacalar, habia sido aniquilado por la irrupcion del filibustero Abraham (en 1648 y 1652, segun Cogollydo) y por la sublevacion de los indios de aquel distrito. Wallace hizo un perfecto reconocimineto de aquellos bajos y arrecifes, y despues de un exámen diligente halló en nuestras costas un rio enteramente á cubierto con una series de cayos y bajos; y desembarcó allí con unos ochenta piratas, que desde el momento mismo construyeron unas cuantas chozas circunvaladas de una especie de empalizada ó ruda fortaleza. Dieron aquellos aventureros el nombre de Wallace al rio en cuyas márgenes se establecieron, nombre que despues degeneró en Wallix, y por último en Belice, [...].
It is said that a daring and enterprising Scottish buccaneer, named Peter Wallace, [...] determined to find a suitable site in which to establish a permanent [pirate's] lair. As this happened in the middle of the 17th century, the coast of [southeaster] Yucatan [which is] bathed by the Gulf of Honduras, was totally uninhabited by Spaniards, since the only establishment that existed there, that of Bacalar, had been annihilated by a depredation of Abraham, the filibuster (in 1648 and 1652, according to Cogolludo) and by the uprising of the Indians of that district. Wallace made a perfect reconnaissance of those shoals and reefs, and after diligent examination he found on our shores a river entirely covered with a series of cayes and shoals; and he landed there with about eighty pirates, who from the same moment built a few huts surrounded by a kind of palisade or rude fortress. Those adventurers gave the name of Wallace to the river on whose banks they settled, a name that later degenerated into Wallix, and finally into Belize, [...].
↑ Intelligence commonly attributed to Justo Sierra O'Reilly, a well-esteemed Meridian journalist, novelist, and historian, and thereby judged reliable or highly reliable by Mexican authorities, though O'Reilly did not make it a practice to cite sources in his historical texts (Nuñez Ortega 1877, pp.8–9).
HONDURAS (BRITISH), [...] This coast was discovered by Columbus, in 1502; the date of its first settlement by Europeans is uncertain. It was transferred from Spain to England by treaty, in 1670, but its occupation was contested at different times by the Spaniards, down to 1798, since which it has remained quietly in our possession. (Henderson's Account of Honduras; Parl. Papers, &c.)
Todavía hay otra asercion del Sr. Sierra, relativa á la época en que fué fundado Belice, que merece algun exámen. Colocal el hecho en el segundo tercio del siglo XVII; y aunque esto parece ser la mas probable, no está suficientemente comprobado en la historia. [...]. Todas las probabilidades indican, al contrario, que la fundacion de Belice tuvo lugar en el último tercio del siglo XVII. Al ménos, puede comprobarse suficientemente que desde esta época, existia ya un nido de piratas ó cortadores de palo en el sitio donde hoy se levanta la colonia británica.
There is still another assertion of Mr. Sierra's, regarding the time during which Belize was founded, which deserves some attention. He places the event in the second third of the seventeenth century; and although this seems to be the most probable date, it is not sufficiently supported by historical evidence. [...]. All probabilities indicate, to the contrary, that the founding of Belize took place in the last third of the seventeenth century. Or at a minimum, it can be sufficiently demonstrated that by this time, there already existed a nest of pirates or wood cutters in the place where the British colony today stands.
Die Anfänge der britischen Niederlassungen reichen bis 1640 zurüd, wo wahrscheinlich westindische Flibustier durch Sciffbruch an diese Küste getrieben wurden. Von einem derselben, dem Schotten Wallace (Wallis, Willis) soll sich der Name Valize, Balize (wie die Spanier schrieben) herleiten, den die Engländer in Belize umwandelten.
The beginnings of British settlement [in Honduras] date back to 1640, when West Indian flibustiers were driven to this coast, probably by shipwreck. The name Valize, or Balize (as the Spaniards write it), derives from one of these flibustiers, the Scotsman Wallace (Wallis, Willis), which name the English changed to Belize.
The British Settlement of Honduras, of which Belize is the capital, cannot be traced to be of any greater antiquity than from the administration of Oliver Cromwell, in Great Britain, at which period it was, from its remote and secret situation, used by the English, rather as a place of refuge and concealment, from the dreadful and savage warfare then carried on by the Spaniards [...] .
↑ 'Cromwell was Lord Protector from 1649 until his death in 1658, although it could be argued that his 'administration' included the years of the Civil War that began in 1642' (Bulmer-Thomas & Bulmer-Thomas 2016, p.139, footnote no. 8)
We can be fairly certain that there was no permanent British presence in Belize before 1642 and the reasons for this are straightforward. The Bay of Honduras, including the Belize cayes, was guarded by two Spanish forts. The first was at Salamanca de Bacalar [...]. [...]. While the fortress [at Bacalar] was in full operation, it would have been impossible for the British to gain a permanent foothold. However, Salamanca de Bacalar was sacked by Diego ‘el Mulato’ in 1642. [...]. The fortress at Bacalar was not totally destroyed and the Spanish did their best to rebuild it. However, it was then sacked in 1648 and again in 1652 [...]. From then onwards until 1729, the fortress at Salamanca de Bacalar was abandoned by the Spanish. Meanwhile, Captain William Jackson [...] had sacked Trujillo with exceptional ferocity in 1642 and rendered its fortifications unuseable for a number of years, so that the Spanish could no longer defend the Bay of Honduras from the south either. The necessary conditions for the permanent occupation of the Belizean cayes by the British were therefore in place by the end of 1642. [...]. If the necessary conditions for a permanent British presence had been met by the end of 1642, this did not automatically mean that the British actually took advantage of the new situation. [...]. [...]. [In 1667 and 1670] England agreed to end privateering and to suppress piracy. [...]. For the settlement of Belize by the British, we should therefore distinguish between the period before 1670 and the period after. In the first period, which starts from 1642, there may have been some scope for privateers to make Belize their home but it would not have been easy. The opportunities for laying in stores, refitting ships and spending profits were strictly limited on the Belizean cayes. From 1655, furthermore, Jamaica was a much more attractive base for such activities. Thus, any settlers before 1670 are likely to have been much less glamorous than the privateers. After 1670, when the former privateers were becoming pirates, Belize may have been more tempting [...]. However, settlers in Belize were about to turn to a much more prosaic activity (the extraction of logwood) [...]. Indeed, we know for sure that logwood was being cut and exported by 1680. Although we have shown there were many British subjects who might have had an interest in settling in Belize after 1642, we have very little solid evidence. [...]. After 1670 the attraction of the Belizean coastline for pirates would have been greater. [...]. Most of the privateers [...] opted for a more secure existence after 1670 and many found it in logwood extraction. Their first settlement was at Cabo Catoche at the north-eastern point of the Yucatán peninsula. [...]. Only when the logwood at Cabo de Catoche was exhausted did they turn their attention to the coast of Belize. When they started to arrive, probably in the 1670s, they would likely have found a small number of British settlers already scattered among the cayes.
[T]he archaeological investigations that are the focus of the present work provide no corroborating evidence for theories of semi-permanent English settlement during the first half of the seventeenth century. [...] The Belize settlement received regular introductions of new European populations from the early 1680s on, such as the mutinous crew of Captain Coxon, who were sent there to evacuate the logwood cutters [...].
↑ Finamore did not excavate site near the mouth of Haulover Creek, in or near Belize City, nor in nearby cayes, as their fieldwork focussed only on New River, Barcadares (now Grace Bank), and Convention Town (a few miles upstream of Lord's Bank) (Finamore 1994, pp.108–163, cap. 4).
[A]fter the conquest of Jamaica by the English, it soon appeared what a formidable rival was now seated in the neighbourhood of the Spanish territories. One of the first objects that tempted the English, was the great profit arising from the logwood trade, and the facility of wresting some portion of it from the Spaniards. Some adventurers from Jamaica made the first attempt at Cape Catoche, the south-east promontory of Yucatan, and by cutting logwood there, carried on a gainful traffic. When most of the trees near the coast in that place were felled, they removed to the island of Trist, in the Bay of Campeachy; and in latter times, their principal station has been in the Bay of Honduras. The Spaniards, alarmed at this encroachment, endeavoured by negociaiton, remonstrances, and open force, to prevent the English from obtaining any footing on that part of the American continent. But after struggling against it for more than a century, the disasters of last war extorted from the court of Madrid a reluctant consent to tolerate this settlement of foreigners in the heart of its territories.
[U]n grupo de escoceses acaudillados por Peter Wallace se asentó allí [en el bosque tintóreo sobre las márgenes del río Belice] hacia 1663, dedicándose al corte y contrabando de este producto.
[A] group of Scots led by Peter Wallace settled there [in the dye forest on the banks of the Belize River] around 1663, dedicating themselves to cutting and smuggling said product.
Para nosotros, la más aproximada [fecha del establecimiento de Wallace en el Río Viejo] es la opinión de Molina Solís, quien dice que en Febrero de 1663 amenazaba a la Provincia de Yucatán un grave peligro "...con la ocupación permanente que habían hecho los filibusteros de la Isla de Términos y un punto de la costa oriental cercano a Honduras, que después se llamó Belize...". Esto concuerda perfectamente con la noticia dada por Fancourt del primer corte de palo en Catoche en 1662, al cual siguieron los demás de la costa oriental. Pero además, y en corroboración de ello podemos aducir los numerosos testimonios documentales que prueban la existencia del establecimiento de Valis antes de 1670. En éstos no se especifica la fecha inicial—cosa no estraña, ya que se trataba de un uso furtivo y oculto—, pero se deja apuntada. Por todo ello, podemos afirmar sin gran temor, fué entre los años 1662 y 1670, cuando con una cierta regularidad quedó establecido el corte de palo en lo que hoy constituye Belice.
For us, the most accurate [estimate of the date of Wallace's establishment in the Belize River] is that of Molina Solís, who says that in February 1663 the Province of Yucatan was ominously threatened "...with the permanent occupation that the filibusters had effected in the Isle of Terminos [Tris] and a point on the eastern coast near Honduras, which was later called Belize...". This agrees perfectly with the news given by Fancourt of the first cutting of logwood in [Cape] Catoche in 1662, which was followed by the other logwood stands on the eastern coast. But in addition, and in corroboration of this we can adduce the numerous documentary testimonials that prove the existence of the Valis [Belize] establishment before 1670. In said documents the founding date is not specified—which is not surprising, since Valis was a furtive and hidden plantation—, but it is hinted at. For all these reasons, we can affirm without great fear that it was between 1662 and 1670, when the cutting of wood was established with some regularity in what is now Belize.
La primera tentativa de este género [de corte de palo de tinte por filibusteros ingleses] se hizo en el Cabo Catoche hácia el año de 1662, y este hecho importante, cuya noticia debemos á un escritor, que fué por muchos años superintendente de Belice [Fancourt] pasa casi desaparcibido en nuestras crónicas. [...]. [L]uego que éstos hubieren agotado los árboles mas inmediatos á la costa, y temiendo sin duda internarse demasiado, se dirigieron, segun asegura Róbertson, primero á la isla de Tris, nombre que entónces se daba al Cármen, y luego á la bahía de Honduras, donde colocaron su principal establecimiento. [...]. [A]unque Fancourt cita el año de 1662, como época en que comenzó el corte de palo en el Cabo Catoche, no conocemos el número de años que medió entre esta primera tentativa y la fundacion de Belice. [...]. [Pero] no es verosímil que hubiesen transcurrido cuarenta ó cincuenta [ó más] años entre la época en que se agotó el palo en Cabo Catoche y la fundacion de un establecimiento permanente en la costa de Yucatan, bañada por el golfo de Honduras.
The first attempt of this kind [of logwood cutting by English filibusters] was made at Cape Catoche around the year 1662, and this important fact, the news of which we owe to a writer, who was for many years superintendent of Belize [Fancourt] goes almost unnoticed in our chronicles. [...]. [A]fter they had exhausted the trees closest to the coast, and undoubtedly fearing to go too far inland, they headed, according to Robertson, first to the island of Tris, the name which was then given to [Isla del] Cármen, and then to the bay of Honduras, where they planted their main establishment. [...]. [A]lthough Fancourt cites the year 1662 as the date when the cutting of logwood began at Cabo Catoche, we do not know the number of years that elapsed between this first attempt and the founding of Belize. [...]. [But] it is not probable that forty or fifty [or more] years would had elapsed between the time when the logwood ran out in Cabo Catoche and the foundation of a permanent establishment on the Yucatan coast, bathed by the Bay of Honduras.
Mac Culloch dice que la palabra Belice viene del nombre de un pirata inglés llamado Wallice, y que el primer Establecimiento de los ingleses se hizo poco despues del tratado con España en 1667.
Mac Culloch says that the word Belize comes from the name of an English pirate called Wallice, and that the first English Settlement was made shortly after the treaty with Spain in 1667.
Todas las probabilidades indican [...] que la fundacion de Belice tuvo lugar en el último tercio del siglo XVII. Al ménos, puede comprobarse suficientemente que desde esta época, existia ya un nido de piratas ó cortadores de palo en el sitio donde hoy se levante la colonia británica. Tenemos para apoyar esta asercion [lo siguiente]. D. Juan de Villagutierre y Sotomayor, que escribió su historia de la conquista del Peten en el año de 1699, hablando de las regiones que median entre Yucatan y Guatemala, dice que era muy peligroso viajar por mar de una á otra provincia, á causa de los bajos y arrecifes que existen en aquella costa, y de los piratas y otros enemigos de España, que se albergaban en sus caletas y ensenadas. [...]. Como la [dicha] descripcion conviene perfectamente al asiento que hoy ocupa la colonia británica, parece fuera de toda duda que desde entónces se comenzó á formar, y que sus fundadores fueron los piratas que asolaban las costas de Yucatan y de la Nueva España.
All probabilities indicate [...] that the founding of Belize took place in the last third of the 17th century. At least, it can be sufficiently verified that from this time, there already existed a nest of pirates or wood cutters in the place where the British colony stands today. We have to support this assertion [the following]. Mr. Juan de Villagutierre y Sotomayor, who wrote his history of the conquest of Peten in the year 1699, speaking of the region between Yucatan and Guatemala, says that it was very dangerous to travel by sea from one province to another, because of the shoals and reefs that exist on that coast, and of the pirates and other enemies of Spain, who were sheltering in its coves and inlets. [...]. As [said] description perfectly suits the region that the British colony occupies today, it seems beyond any doubt that it began to form from then on, and that its founders were the pirates who devastated the coasts of Yucatan and New Spain.
Der Ursprung dieser Niederlassung [Balize] gründet sich auf den Berfall des Flibustierwesens zu Anfang des vorigen Jahrhunderts. Engl. Äbenteurer, denen das Seeräuberhandwerk zu gefährlich ward, benutzten ihre genaue Kenntnisß der Festlandküste, um in der an kostbaren Farbehölzern reichen Gegend zwischen dem Balize und Hondoflusse ein anscheinend ehrliches Gewerbe zu beginnen.
The origin of this settlement [Balize] is based on the incursion of flibustiers at the beginning of the last century. English adventurers, who found the trade of piracy too dangerous, used their precise knowledge of the mainland coast to begin an apparently honest trade in the region between the Balize and Hondo rivers, which is rich in valuable colored wood.
En la época del gobierno colonial, á principios del siglo pasado (1717) comenzó á formarse la poblacion ó colonia de súbditos de la corona de Inglaterra en un extremo de la parte meridional de la Península yucateca, con motivo del corte de palo de tinte. [...] Cuando los ingleses fueron desalojados de la laguna de Términos fueron á posesionarse del extremo meridional de la Península, mas allá del Rio Hondo, y que por el nombre del caudillo de aquellos filibusteros, Walasse, aquel lugar comenzó á llamarse Walix (Belice).
At the time of the colonial government, in the beginning of the last century (1717), a population or colony of subjects of the crown of England began to take shape in a far-flung corner of the southern part of the Yucatecan Peninsula, [and its formations was] due to the cutting of dyewood. [...] When the English were evicted from the Laguna de Terminos they went to take possession of the southern end of the Peninsula, beyond the Hondo River, and because of the name of the leader of those filibusters, Walasse, that place began to be called Walix (Belize).
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24Claimed in 1908; territory formed 1962; overlaps portions of Argentine and Chilean claims, borders not enforced but claim not renounced under the Antarctic Treaty.
Quintana Roo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo, is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 11 municipalities, and its capital city is Chetumal.
Bacalar is the municipal seat and largest city in Bacalar Municipality in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, about 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Chetumal. In the 2010 census the city had a population of 11,084. At that time it was still part of Othón P. Blanco, and was its second-largest city (locality), after Chetumal.
The Maya Mountains are a mountain range located in Belize and eastern Guatemala, in Central America.
Gonzalo Guerrero was a sailor from Palos, Spain who was shipwrecked along the Yucatán Peninsula and was taken as a slave by the local Maya. Earning his freedom, Guerrero became a respected warrior under a Maya lord and raised three of the first mestizo children in Mexico and one of the first mestizo children in the Americas, alongside Miguel Díez de Aux and the children of Caramuru and João Ramalho in Brazil. Little is known of his early life.
The Republic of Yucatán was a sovereign state during two periods of the nineteenth century. The first Republic of Yucatán, founded May 29, 1823, willingly joined the Mexican federation as the Federated Republic of Yucatán on December 23, 1823, less than seven months later. The second Republic of Yucatán began in 1841, with its declaration of independence from the Centralist Republic of Mexico. It remained independent for seven years, after which it rejoined the United Mexican States. The area of the former republic includes the modern Mexican states of Yucatán, Campeche and Quintana Roo. The Republic of Yucatán usually refers to the second republic (1841–1848).
Belize, on the east coast of Central America, southeast of Mexico, was inhabited by the indigenous peoples who fought off the Spaniards in an attempt to preserve their heritage and to avoid the fate of their neighbors who were conquered and under Spanish rule. While this was going on, British pirates would rob Spanish merchant ships and navigate through the shallow waters and small islands even going up river later to hide their bounty. The indigenous people of Belize did not resist the British like they did the Spanish. In the 17th century, however, the British settlement became a formal British crown colony from 1862 through 1964, where they first achieved self government and later in 1981 became an independent country recognized globally with all its territory intact. The British brought along with them slaves taken from Congo and Angola during the eighteenth century.
The Province of Yucatán, or the Captaincy General, Governorate, Intendancy, or Kingdom of Yucatán, was a first order administrative subdivision of the Viceroyalty of New Spain in the Yucatán Peninsula.
The western Caribbean zone is a region consisting of the Caribbean coasts of Central America and Colombia, from the Yucatán Peninsula in southern Mexico to the Caribbean region in northern Colombia, and the islands west of Jamaica are also included. The zone emerged in the late sixteenth century as the Spanish failed to completely conquer many sections of the coast, and northern European powers supported opposition to Spain, sometimes through alliances with local powers.
Melchor de Navarrete y Bujanda (1693–1761) was a Spanish soldier and administrator who served as governor of Cartagena de Indias, from 1739 to 1742; of Spanish Florida from 1749 to 1752; and of Yucatán, from 1754 to 1758. He was linked to several cases of corruption in Cartagena.
Grace Bank, formerly Barcadares, is an unincorporated hamlet 33 miles up the Belize River. It was the second settlement founded by the first English settlers of present-day Belize. It was settled in the 1650s, relocated in 1760, and resettled in 1853.
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.
Belize and Mexico are neighboring nations. They established official diplomatic relations in 1981 after Belize obtained its independence. However, diplomatic relations between Mexico and British administered British Honduras existed as early as 1893. Relations between both nations are based on proximity, trade and cultural connections between the Maya peoples of Belize and southern Mexico.
Belizean Spanish is the dialect of Spanish spoken in Belize. It is similar to Caribbean Spanish, Andalusian Spanish, and Canarian Spanish. While English is the only official language of Belize, Spanish is the common language of majority (62.8%), wherein 174,000 speak some variety of Spanish as a native language. Belizeans of Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican, Nicaraguan, Salvadoran, and even Cuban descent may speak different dialects of Spanish, but since they grow up in Belize, they adopt the local accent.
Belize has an embassy and honorary consulates in Madrid, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca. Spain has a non-resident embassy for Belize in Guatemala, and an honorary consulate in Belize City.
Chetumal, or the Province of Chetumal, was a Postclassic Maya state of the Yucatan Peninsula, in the Maya Lowlands.
Peter Wallace is commonly held to have been an English or Scottish buccaneer who, in 1638 aboard the Swallow, founded the first English settlement in present-day Belize. Wallace's historicity is debated, first emerging in the 1829 Honduras Almanack; however, several scholars deem him a legendary protagonist of the country's founding myth, rather than an actual historical figure.
Pirates, privateers, corsairs, and buccaneers were active in the Bay of Honduras from the 1540s to the 1860s. This is an annotated, chronological list of such events, with sortable tables provided.
The 1638 Tipu rebellion was a widespread revolt of Maya residents in the municipio or district of Bacalar in the second half of 1638. Led by Tipu, a pre-Columbian town and the most significant reducción or encomienda settlement in the district, it resulted in the removal of Bacalar and subsequent collapse of Spanish power in the region, leading to a 57-year revival of the Postclassic state of Dzuluinicob, of which Tipu had been capital.
The 1543–1544 Pachecos entrada was the final military campaign in the Spanish conquest of Yucatán, which brought three Postclassic Maya states and several Amerindian settlements in the southeastern quarter of the Yucatán Peninsula under the jurisdiction of Salamanca de Bacalar, a villa of colonial Yucatán, in New Spain. It is commonly deemed one of bloodiest and cruelest entradas in the peninsula's conquest, resulting in the deaths of hundreds or thousands, and the displacement of tens of thousands, of Maya residents.
The capture of Tortuga was a Spanish expedition to the island of Tortuga in January 1635 intended to remove French and English settlers from the island during the Franco-Spanish War. During the early 17th century, English and French colonists settled on Tortuga, engaging in logwood harvesting and piracy. In 1630, 150 English settlers from Saint Kitts established a settlement linked to the Providence Island colony, which appointed Christopher Wormeley as governor in 1634.
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