Socotra (S6.08)

Audio: Belize

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast we’ll be talking about the Central American country Belize, formerly known as British Honduras. This small country on the Yucatan Peninsula. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. This region was a stronghold of the Maya Heartland from around 1500BC up to the arrival of Europeans, namely the Spanish, in the 1600s. A tussle between Spain and Britain developed in subsequent decades, and Belize became a British colony in 1840, and a Crown colony in 1862, before achieving full independence in 1981. The country has an area of 22,970 square kilometres (8,867 sq mi) and a population of just over 410,000, making it similar in size to Wales, Djibouti or the US state of New Jersey, but the least densely populated nation in Central America. This is a very diverse place, ecologically, culturally and linguistically. The official language is English, but there are many other communities such as Maya, Garifuna, Creoles and even Mennonites, who speak a variety of tongues. Belize has over 400 islands or Cays off its coastline, as well as one of the world’s largest marine sinkholes, the Blue Hole, which is 318 m (1,043 ft) across and extends to a depth of 124 m (407 ft). The country also boasts the second largest barrier reef in the world after the one everyone’s heard of in Australia.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Wexford, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in Toronto, Canada, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Dublin, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella.

Some further reading material is provided below:

• A History of Belize (1973) by Narda Dobson; A History of British Honduras (1946) by William Arlington Donohoe
• Belize Travelcast episode on the origins of Belize culture
• Some details about archaeology and Maya civilisation can be found in: “Preceramic Occupations in Belize: Updating the Paleoindian and Archaic Record”, DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/25063047; “Prehistory of Belize” by Norman Hammond, https://doi.org/10.1179/009346982791504571; O. Nigel Bolland Country Study of Belize
• Maya Jade Head; Mayan Ruins website about Lamanai;
• University of Cincinnati’s Brief History of Belize (timeline); BBC’s Belize timeline
• Ambergris Caye “Early History” webpage
• Creating ‘Belize’: the he Mapping and Naming History of a Liminal Locale – Matthew Restall https://doi.org/10.1080/00822884.2019.1573962
• Details on the Battle of St Georges Caye
• Video about Logwood (YouTube)
• Some details about the independent Maya state Chan Santa Cruz that arose after the the Caste War of Yucatán (1847–1901)
• Belizean involvement in World War I anecdotes, and BBN Article on the