IMPORTANT YEARS IN BELIZEAN HISTORY IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

Chronological Table
Toward an Independent Belize

200 - 800 A.D. -Maya cities flourish all through Belize.
900 1000 A.D. -Maya cultural decline in Southern and Central America
1520s -Cortez crosses Southern Belize
1530s -Montejo attempts to conquer Belize for Spain. Nachankan and Belize Maya defeated Spanish.
1650s -British buccaneers begin to settle Belizean coast.
1660 -Bartholomew Sharpe, famous British pirate, makes Belize his base and begins to harvest logwood for sale to U.K.
1670 -Godolphin (Madrid) Treaty opening all of the Americas to British colonization.
1717 -Spanish force from Peten drives out Baymen.
1720s -First record of African slaves in Belize.
1754 -Spanish drive out Baymen who return within a year.
1763 -Treaty of Paris: Spain permitted British settlers to cut logwood; no boundaries defined.
1765 -Admiral Burnaby codified Settlement's Regulations, known as "Burnaby's Code". Public meetings passed resolutions boundaries of logwood works.
1765/68/73 -Slaves revolt.
1779 -Spanish forces capture Belize and take Baymen and slaves to Yucatan. Slaves freed after declaring loyalty to Spain. Baymen sent to Cuba.
1783 -Treaty of Versailles: Spain recognizes British rights to cut logwood in Belize between the Hondo and Belize rivers.
1784 -Settlers return to Belize; Despard appointed first Superintendent of the settlement.
1786 -Convention of London expands British rights in Belize to the Sibun and permits mahogany cutting.
1787 -British evacuate Mosquito Shore and 2,214 "Shoremen" and their slaves came to Belize. Public meeting determined qualifications for owning mahogany works.
1788 -Maya attacked mahogany works on New River.
1798 -Battle of St. George's Caye
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1802 -150 Garifuna already settled at Stann Creek.
1807 -Abolition of slave trade.
1817 -Superintendent takes away power of settlers to issue lands; large body of runaway slaves reported in the interior.
1820 -Slave revolt.
1821 -Mexican and Central American independence.
1831 -Act passed to give equal rights to "colored subjects" as to whites.
1832 -Large number of Garifuna arrive in Belize (Garifuna Settlement Day celebrated each year on Novemeber 19 with a Public and Bank Holiday).
1834/38 -Slavery abolished. Land ordered to be sold and no longer issued free.
1847 -War of the Castes in Yucatan sends thousands of refugees into Belize (Pan American Day celebrated each year in October).
1856 -North side of Belize City destroyed by fire.
1859 -British- Guatemala Treaty over Belize. British Honduras Company (later B.E.C.) formed.
1862 -Belize becomes a Colony of "British Honduras".
1865 -Labourers brought from West Indian islands and China, especially for work on sugar estates of B.H. Co.
1866 -British troops routed by Maya in Yalbac Hills.
1867 -Reinforced British Troops destroy Maya villages and crops in Yalbac.
1871 -Belize declared Crown Colony after Assembly dissolved itself in 1870. Three of the four unofficial members in new Legislative Council represent landed interests.
1894 -Constables mutiny. Belizeans workers riot for better pay.
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1906 -Belize City gets electricity.
1914 -World War I - Many Belizeans volunteers served.
1919 -Belizean troops riot upon return home.
1922 -Marcus Garvey visits Belize.
1929 -Great Depression begins.
1931 -Great Hurricane - over 2,000 dead.
1933 -Guatemala re- asserts claim to Belize.
1934 -Antonio Soberanis leads workers protests.
1939 -World War II.
1949 –British Honduras dollar devalued.
1950 -Founding of the P.U.P.
1952 -National strike led by General Workers Union.
1954 -Vote for all adults.
1964 -Self Government.
1968 -The "Webster Proposals": Draft treaty presented by U.S.A. mediator for Anglo- Guatemalan dispute, rejected by government and peo ple.
1970s -Internalization of Belize's cause.
1971 -Belize joins CARIFTA. Belmopan becomes capital of Belize.
1973 -Country's name legally changed to "Belize". Aliens Landholding Ordinance passed.
1975 -First pro- Belize resolution passed by General Assembly of United Nations.
1976 -Belize given "special status" in Non-Aligned Movement.
1981 -IndependenceBelize joins Commonwealth, United Nations and Non- Aligned Movement.

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
Edited by Robert Leslie
Design by A to Z Graphics
We are grateful to the Education Development Centre, Ministry of Education for their helpful comments to the manuscript.
Photographs by: Archivo General de Indias, Mina Barcenas, Belize Information Service, Belize National Archives, Cubola Archives, ICAQRO, Mexican Embassy, Ygnacio Rivero, Royal Commonwealth Society, St. John's College and the University College of Belize.
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