Fast Facts:

Capital : Belmopan
Population : 280,000
Official Language : English
Political Status : Independent Nation
Location: Belize lies on the Caribbean rim in Central America, between Guatemala and Mexico. Total land mass is 22, 806 square kilometers, slightly smaller than Massachusetts.
Natural Resources : arable land, potential timber, fish, hydropower.
Land Use: arable land: 3.05%; permanent crops: 1.39%; other: 95.56%
Climate: tropical, very hot and humid; rainy season May to November, dry season February to May.
Terrain flat, swampy coastal plain, low mountains in the south

History

The first people of Belize were the Amerindian groups of Caribes, Arawaks and Mayas who inhabited the region thousands of years ago and flourished until 1200. Columbus sailed along the coast in 1502, but European settlement was not established until 1638, when a group of British seamen were shipwrecked off the coast. Throughout the late 1600's and early 1700's more and more English settlements were established, during which time indiscriminate logging was rampant, and the colonists were subject to attacks by both Amerindians and neighboring Spanish settlements.

Belize was formally named the Colony of British Honduras in 1840 and became a crown colony in 1862. Complete internal self-government within a ministerial framework was granted in 1964. In 1973 the official name of the region was changed from the Colony of British Honduras to Belize, and full independence was granted in 1981.