An Introduction to Belize
Belize has strong ties to both the Caribbean and Central Amercia, but is the only nation in the region with a British colonial heritage. The Mayan civilisation flourished here until 800 AD, and later strong Mayan resistance in the area deterred the Spanish from settling what they saw as a resource-poor land. English and Scottish settlers and pirates known as the Baymen entered the area from 1638 and later settled down as woodcutters; then in 1798 fought the Battle of St. George's Caye alongside black slaves and against an invading force from the North trying to annex it for the Spanish colonies. See full country profile.Latest Research News from Latin America
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GOVERNMENT: Parliamentary constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth
AREA: 22,966 sq km
POPULATION: 321,115 (2010 est.)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: Official Language: English. Also spoken: Spanish, Mayan, Garifuna (Carib), Creole
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Belize has strong ties to both the Caribbean and Central Amercia, but is the only nation in the region with a British colonial heritage. The Mayan civilisation flourished here until 800 AD, and later strong Mayan resistance in the area deterred the Spanish from settling what they saw as a resource-poor land. English and Scottish settlers and pirates known as the Baymen entered the area from 1638 and later settled down as woodcutters; then in 1798 fought the Battle of St. George's Caye alongside black slaves and against an invading force from the North trying to annex it for the Spanish colonies.
Self-government was granted in 1964 and independence in 1981, 'though British troops remained until the new country was recognised in 1992 by Guatemala, which to this days claims all or part of Belize's territory.
GDP: $2.80bn (2011 est); $8,069 per capita
Religions Roman Catholic 49.6%, Protestant 25.5%, Jehovah's Witnesses 1.5%, other 14%, none 9.4% (2000)
Currency: Belize dollar - 2.0 BZD = $US 1
Telephone Code: +501
The main industries in Belize's small private enterprise economy are agriculture, merchandising, tourism and construction with the latter two growing in importance in the last few years. The banana industry is the country's largest employer. Oil was discovered in 2006 and some exploitation has taken place but not enough to know if this represents a reliable new source of income. The government's major challenge is the 40% of the population who live in poverty.
Major imports ($616m total in 2009) are machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, fuels, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food, beverages and tobacco, mainly coming from US (38% in 2009), Mexico (13%), Cuba (8%) and Guatemala (6%). Belize exports sugar, bananas, citrus, clothing, fish products, molasses, wood and crude oil mainly to the US (37% in 2009) and UK (22%). Exports totalled $395m in 2009.
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