...and west by Guatemala, to the north by Mexico, and to the east by the Caribbean Sea.
Belize has a diverse society, composed of many cultures and speaking many languages. It is the only country in Central America where English is an official language, although Kriol and Spanish are also widely spoken. With 8,867 square miles of territory and 301,270 people ,
["Belize", The World Factbook] the population density is the lowest in the Central American region and one of the lowest in the world. The country's population growth rate, 2.21% ,
["Belize", The World Factbook] is the highest in the region and one of the highest in the western hemisphere. It remains a Commonwealth realm.
History
The origin of the name Belize is unclear, but one idea is that the name is from the Maya word
belix, meaning "muddy water," applied to the Belize River.
Before the arrival of Europeans, Belize was part of the territory of the Maya. The Mopan Maya were the original inhabitants of Belize. The Maya civilization spread itself over Belize beginning around 1500 BC and flourished until about AD 900. In the late classic period of Maya civilization , as many as 400,000 people may have lived in the area that is now Belize. Some lowland Maya still occupied the area when Europeans arrived in the 1500s. Spanish colonists tried to settle the inland areas of Belize, but they abandoned these efforts following Maya rebellion against Spanish authority.
English and Scottish buccaneers known as the Baymen first settled on the coast of Belize in 1638, seeking a sheltered region from which they could attack Spanish ships . The settlers turned to cutting logwood during the 1700s. The wood yielded a fixing agent for clothing dyes that was vital to the European woolen industry. The Spanis
... (This article is used under GFDL)
