Belize

Belize since 1974 and named after the Belize River. The actual name Belize may be a Spanish mispronunciation of the name Wallace; Peter Wallace was a Scottish adventurer who is said to have established a small settlement at the mouth of the Belize River in about 1640. Earlier, in 1502, Christopher Columbus^† named the bay the Bay of Honduras, although he did not make a landfall here. On the other hand, the name may come from an old Mayan name for the river, be likin, meaning the 'Way to the East'. The Mayans flourished here until c.900. In 1798 the Spanish failed to eject the British from their settlement and Belice virtually became a colony known as British Honduras. In 1862 it became a formal colony subordinate to Jamaica, but in 1884 it received the status of an independent crown colony. The name was changed to Belize in 1974. Independence was achieved in 1981.

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