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English settlement of Belize
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The Anglo-Saxon, English, or Baymen's settlement of Belize is traditionally thought to have been effected upon Peter Wallace's 1638 landing at the mouth of Haulover Creek. As this account lacks clear primary sources, however, scholarly discourse has tended to qualify, amend, or completely eschew said theory, giving rise to a myriad competing narratives of the English settling of Belize. Though none of the aforementioned have garnered widespread consensus, historical literature has tended to favour a circumspect account of a landing near Haulover sometime during the 1630s and 1660s, effected by logwood-seeking, haven-seeking, or shipwrecked buccaneers.
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Prelude
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Buccaneering
The romantic but commonly held view of the history of Belize begins with a haven of free-spirited and adventuresome pirates occasionally sneaking out of hiding amid the cay[e]s and reef system to perform piratical acts of independence against Britain's economic oppression and Spain's cultural conceit. They eventually become attached to the place so they find legitimate livelihoods, prosper, form a government, and are eventually rewarded with the status of a colony of the British Empire.
— Daniel R. Finamore in 1994.[1]
In November–December 1544, a patax of 22 French corsairs, mates of a captain called Pedro Braques by the Spanish, were apprehended off the coast of colonial Honduras. Their arrival marked the beginning of over three centuries of piracy in the Bay of Honduras.[2][3][4][note 1] French corsairs were (belatedly) followed into the Bay by Elizabethan Sea Dogs three decades later. The earliest of these is thought to have been either Sir Francis Drake in the Minion, or John Oxenham in the Beare, who during 23 February 1573 – 22 March 1573 cruised the Bay and watered at Guanaxa.[5][6] English buccaneering activities in the Bay intensified in the ensuing decades.[citation needed] Notably, during October 1577 – April 1578, an English pirate or privateer, called Francisco de Acles by the Spanish, with 60 men aboard two ships, sacked Puerto Caballos and Bacalar, possibly marking the earliest entrance of such sea dogs into Bacalar's [ie present-day Belize's] waters.[7][8][9] It is commonly thought that, upon the 1570s discovery of the intricate, secluded reefs, cayes, and coastline which characterised the waters of Bacalar, English buccaneers promptly opted to base their operations in this portion of the Bay, it affording them safe haven and quick access to Spanish ports.[10][11][12][13]
Smuggling
Prior to 1630, Spanish smuggling with Anglo-Dutch pirate-merchants at ports in the Bay of Honduras is thought to have 'amounted to little more than evasion of duties and taxes,' with typical cases described as 'not spectacular.'[14] However –
The situation altered significantly after 1630 as it became obvious that the flota system was decaying and the Spanish economy declining. Between 1630 and 1680 there seems to have been a slow increase in the volume of smuggling [in colonial Central America], and gradually smuggling became more important than simple fraud [eg tax evasion] [...]. So Central American merchants and indigo plantation owners in the middle years of the seventeenth century found themselves with a fairly viable export crop, [...] and few means of disposing of it. [...] Legal trade to the official ports in the Bay of Honduras had fallen away to a trickle, [...]. Between the early 1630s and the 1680s Central America searched desperately, often beyond the law, for ways of disposing of export crops while obtaining money or goods in exchange.
— Murdo J. MacLeod in 1973.[14]
Consequently, post-1630 smuggling in the Bay is thought to have been 'sporadic but fairly frequent,' especially in indigo and logwood, 'large quantities' of which [illicitly] found their way to non-Spanish markets.[15][16][17][18]
Logging
The earliest logwood cutting near the Bay of Honduras is commonly dated to 1562, and attributed to the Spanish conquistador Marcos de Ayala Trujeque of Valladolid, Yucatán.[19] By the 1570s, Yucatanese encomenderos were shipping to Spain some 200 tonnes of logwood per annum, principally via Campeche.[20] During this same decade, English pirates, privateers, or buccaneers are thought to have first recognised the commercial value of logwood, and consequently, to have increasingly sought it as prize.[21][22][note 2]
It is uncertain when and where exactly English pirates or buccaneers first began surreptitiously cutting logwood, as opposed to merely seizing Spanish-cut logwood.[citation needed] Proposals range geographically from Campeche to Belize, and temporally from 1599 to 1670.[note 3]
English settlement
The earliest English settlement near the Bay is thought to have been Old Providence.[citation needed] Anglo-Dutch buccaneers are known to have watered or camped in the island, and Cape Gracias a Dios, since at least 1616.[23][24][25][note 4] English presence intensified shortly upon the 4 December 1630 chartering of the Old Providence Company.[26] In 1631, Anthony Hilton's settlement in Tortuga was made a dependency of the Company.[27][28] In 1633, Sussex Cammock established a trading post in Cape Gracias a Dios for Old Providence.[29][30] By 29 January 1636, the Company was granted letters of reprisal against the Spanish.[31][32][33][34][note 5] On 8 June 1638, the Company granted William Claiborne letters patent to settle Roatan.[35][36][37][38][39] And shortly after 17 May 1641, Old Providence refugees are thought to have established themselves at Cape Gracias a Dios or Roatan.[40][38][41][42]
Maya revolt
The 1638 Tipu rebellion against Bacalar, possibly (indirectly) aided by piratical raids of coastal and riverine Maya hamlets in that district, is thought to have significantly eroded Spanish dominion and presence in Bacalar's waters.[43][44][45][46][47][48]
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Incident
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In tradition
Belize is traditionally held to have been among the first English settlements in the Bay of Honduras, along with Roatan.[citation needed] It is commonly thought to have been settled by Peter Wallace and his crew of 80 buccaneers, aboard the Swallow, in 1638.[citation needed] No records of this landing have been discovered, however, and it is commonly thought that none are extant, or that the story is apocryphal.[49][50]
In scholarship
When, then, did the British begin to settle in the part of Yucatan we call Belize today? This is an even more stubborn question than that of Spanish settlement of the territory, and we will probably never be able to answer it precisely. We may have to rely on Sir Harry Luke's proposition that "[a]s a British Colony British Honduras, like Topsy, 'never was born' but just 'grow'd'." This is in contrast to the more regularly established British colonies in the region, which were acquired either by royal patents or by conquest and settlement.
— Mavis C. Campbell in 2011.[51]
All Caribbean countries, with one exception, can document the date of first permanent settlement by Europeans with some accuracy. [...] The one exception is Belize, whose British origins have been shrouded in a mixture of fact, myth, legend, naivety and dishonesty.
The traditional story of the English settlement of Belize is the most commonly given account in scholarly literature, though historians often qualify it, given the lack of primary sources.[citation needed][note 7] A variety of competing accounts have been proffered since the 18th century, none of which have gained widespread scholarly favour.[citation needed] Despite this, most scholarly accounts seem to favour a second- or third-quarter-of-the-17th century date, with responsibility attributed to pirate's-haven-seeking, logwood-seeking, or shipwrecked buccaneers.[citation needed]
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Notes and references
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