Oral history is not history as it is found in documents but as it is passed on by word of mouth. Oral history does not pretend to be unbiased; it gives one person’s view of events. In the following interview with Mr. Antonio Soberanis we hear about the first Belizean nationalist movement from the mouth of its founder and leader.
read more »

Foreword Volume 30, No. 1, 2008 of the journal of Belize studies marks the 30th anniversary of the journal. The founders and first editors of the journal which included Fr. Richard Buhler S.J., Fr. Richard Hadel S.J., Rev. Lloyd Lopez, Rev. Gillett Bowen, Leo Bradley Sr. Vernon Leslie and Signa Yorke all envisioned the journal as a medium to be used by researchers and thinkers for “self-reflection” on issues pertaining to Belize’s national development. Indeed, over the years the journal has provided such a medium for both Belizeans and non-Belizeans to publish well-researched articles on key Belizean issues and affairs.
read more »

 
read more »

Floss Cassasola
read more »

The Battle of St. George’s Caye: How the celebration started. An Editorial appearing in the Colonial Guardian newspaper of 1898 mentioned in part that “the subject of the celebration of the Battle of St. George’s Caye is now occupying the public mind. That such an event ought to be celebrated by the inhabitants of British Honduras with some pomp and circumstance goes without saying; for not only is it by far the greatest and most glorious event in the annals of this portion of Central America, but it secured forever for the Baymen and their descendants and successors civil and religious liberty and good government…That we have not suffered during the last hundred years what all Latin America for long suffered… is due to the heroism of the victors of the Battle of St. George’s Caye on the 10th September, 1798, whose glorious deed of ‘derring-do’ may the inhabitants of British Honduras ever keep in grateful remembrance.” 
read more »

Not much is known about the early life of Henry Edward Ernest Victor Bliss. He was an Englishman, born in England. Before leaving England, he lived at Quarry Court, Marlow, in the County of Buckingham, England. He was an Engineer by profession, and was married to Ethel Alice Baroness Bliss to whom he had left a settlement covenant before traveling abroad, and about whom he stated in his will that “my married life had been a very happy one” 
read more »

Belize is still reeling from the disaster of Hurricane Iris. Nevertheless, the country pauses to mark the passing of an Icon. And we that have gathered here at historic Holy Redeemer Cathedral do so not just to bury his mortal remains, but to begin the formal process of immortalizing his life and work, consecrating his memory to the glory of our nation.
read more »

Garvey: Marcus Mosiah Garvey was born on August 17th, 1887 in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica, of humble parentage. His father, a master mason by trade and a deacon of the Methodist Church by calling, was also something of a “bush” lawyer, being unusually literate for one of his class. Marcus inherited his father’s love of words, both spoken and written, and after an elementary education became a printer’s apprentice in 1903. He left his home town in 1906 and moved to Kingston where he worked in the government printing office and took part in the printer’s strike in 1907. In the Jamaican capital he was influenced by the writings of Dr. Robert Love in the Jamaica Advocate and, seeking to widen his political experience, between 1910 and 1912 he traveled widely in Central America visiting Belize on two occasions. In 1912, desirous of furthering his education, he took himself to the United Kingdom where, in London, he attended lectures at Birbeck College, indulged in some journalism, and became interested in colonial problems through his association with the Egyptian nationalist, Duse Mohammad Ali and his Africa Times and Orient Review
read more »

        Samuel A. Haynes was born in Belize in 1898. In 1916, as a member of the 2nd contingent, he went to war at the tender age of 18. Of his own activities in Mesopotamia little has been unearthed but he obviously spent some time in detailing the catalogue of humiliations, discrimination and racial harassment the black Belizean Contingents were subjected to in the Middle East. For it was Haynes who, as a witness to the Riot Commission of 1919-set up to inquire into the Ex-Serviceman’s Riot of the year-, provided the Commission with the most comprehensive account of the years spent overseas. He noted that there was discrimination in rations, quarters, medical treatment and pay, such differences being exacerbated by the men’s continual humiliation at hands of white troops who regarded the Contingent members as “native” levies. He went on to cite other instances of the men transported in cattle trucks, abused by white officers, excluded from white mess huts, listed in the section sheets with Arab and Chinese laborers and relegated to receiving the Anglican communion last in mission tents.           
read more »

It was in the reign of King George III, on the twentieth day of July, 1812, when the King’s representative, Lieutenant-Colonel John Nugent Smyth, laid the foundation stone for the first church to be built in the British Settlement of Belize in the Bay of Honduras. This historical event began a new epoch in the history of the small and insecure Settlement and the church was appropriately dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Christian faith and the witness of a new age. Beyond the small territory of the Belize Settlement in Central America, the building of St. John’s was significant as here was “the first Protestant Episcopal Church founded in Spanish America.” 
read more »

The Garifuna Music is a rich and creative amalgam of all the cultural traditions to which the Garifuna are heir. 
read more »

Leo Bradley, Senior, A.L.A., M.B.E., J.P. (1926-2001).
read more »

1,200A.D: The Caribs invade and conquer the islands of the Lesser Antilles killing Arawak men and marrying Arawak women. The intermingling gave birth to the island Caribs.
read more »

The Cielo is the altar or shrine that will be dedicated to the deceased for him to enter Seri (the land of the dead). At Seri, there is a gate that that all who wishes to enter must go through. St. Peter is the gatekeeper and entrance through the gate depends on his approval. The spirit must ask permission to leave and re-enter; failure to do so results in punishment by St. Peter.
read more »

Dr. Joseph Palacio states that there are three main Ancestral Rites practiced by the Garinagu:
read more »

Garinagu can boast of a precious wardrobe of clothes: ten different wears to suit different occasions. First is the Arabutu, which is the gown used by women as common working clothes. The men on the other hand, would wear a khaki shirt, long or short sleeve and long pants. However, today men wear jeans pants and other common fabric materials for shirts. 
read more »

     This period seems to have been dominated by the work and zeal of Thomas Vincent Ramos who was born on 17th September, 1887 at Tulin, Puerto Cortes in the Republic of Honduras. Ramos married Elisa Marian Fuentes in 1914 and they migrated permanently to Dangriga, Belize around 1920. While in Belize, Ramos became a school teacher but he was also a visionary leader. He founded the famous Carib Development and Sick Aid Society (C.D.S) and later Carib International Society (C.I.S). Both spread and were established in all Garifuna communities throughout Belize, and the C.I.S had affiliations as well in Guatemala and Honduras. Thomas Vincent Ramos had serious concerns about the systematic neglect and the need for improvement of the health facilities for Garinagu in Dangriga. This translates as concern for the sick and proper burial for the dead. Up to that time, there was not a single Garifuna nurse working in the entire Stann Creek District. So Ramos lobbied and agitated that Dangriga get its native nurses to serve its citizens in the Dangriga hospital. The colonial authorities finally capitulated and granted the request.
read more »

GUATEMALA’S CLAIM TO BELIZE
read more »

In 1890 British Honduras had a population of about 30,000 of which some 12,000 persons had resided in Belize and the Belize District. The remaining 18,000 comprised three main racial-cultural groups located in fairly distinct geographical regions throughout the towns and villages of the other districts of the colony.
read more »

207-1000 A.D.
read more »