Date |
|
---|---|
Location | mouth of Haulover Creek |
Coordinates | 17°29′37″N 88°11′07″W / 17.49361319555655°N 88.18526849738882°W |
Cause |
|
Participants |
|
Outcome | Belize founded |
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.
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]
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]
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, Yucatan. [19] By the 1570s, Yucatanese encomenderos were shipping to Spain some 200 tonnes of logwood per annum, principally via Campeachy. [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 Campeachy to Belize, and temporally from 1599 to 1670. [note 3]
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]
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]
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]
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]
No | Flr | Clg | Date | Settled | Cause | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1603 | 1607 | late 1603 / c. est. of Hond. flotilla | Wallace | settle |
|
2 | 1605 | 1615 | c. 1610 | Wallace | settle |
|
3 | 1613 | 1641 | prior to / c. Fuensalida misiones | the British | log |
|
4 | 1617 | 1617 | – | Wallace | ? |
|
5 | 1617 | 1652 | prior to Bacalar sacking | the English | ? | |
6 | 1629 | 1635 | c. est. of Providence | Earl of Warwick's privateers / Providence Puritans | haven / farm |
|
7 | 1630 | 1670 | mid-17th cent. | Wallace | settle |
|
8 | 1630 | 1670 | prior to Treaty | the British | ? |
|
9 | 1634 | 1668 | in sec. third of 17th cent. | Wallace | ? |
|
10 | 1638 | 1638 | – | a few British subjects | wreck |
|
11 | 1638 | 1638 | – | Wallace | wreck |
|
12 | 1640 | 1640 | – | Wallace | wreck |
|
13 | 1642 | 1658 | during Cromwell govt. | the English | haven |
|
14 | 1642 | 1680 | after Bacalar sacking / after Truxillo sacking / after logging Tris | the British | haven / log |
|
15 | 1650 | 1685 | in sec. half of 17th cent. / prior to early 1680s | the English | – |
|
16 | 1655 | 1680 | after Jam. invasion / after logging Tris | Jamaicans | log |
|
17 | 1658 | 1668 | c. 1663 | Wallace | log |
|
18 | 1662 | 1670 | – | Wallace | log |
|
19 | 1662 | 1680 | after logging Catoche / after logging Tris | Jamaicans | log |
|
20 | 1667 | 1680 | shortly after Treaty | Wallace | ? |
|
21 | 1667 | 1700 | in last third of 17th cent. | the English | ? |
|
22 | 1701 | 1734 | early 18th cent. | the English | haven |
|
23 | 1717 | 1717 | after logging Tris | Wallace | haven / log |
|
.As early as 1638 British settlers appear to have developed logwood activities in present day Belize; and it is certain that between 1662 and 1670 this activity became regular.
— Lauterpacht et al. 2001, pp. 87–88
— Asturias 1925, pp. 8–9, 11
— Egli 1872, p. 50, sec. B item Balize
Our knowledge of the locations and of the towns on New River and the upper Belize River is drawn from the account [by Cogolludo] of Fuensalida's journeys in 1618 and 1641. He [Fuensalida] calls New River "Río de Dzuluinicob" (literally, "river of the foreign men"), which, he says, meant "river of the Spaniards," and indeed Dzul is what the Maya called the Spaniards. J. E. S. Thompson ([personal] communication) suggests [that said toponym might rather or further indicate] the presence of early British logwood cutters, which seems very possible. On the Usumacinta River, however, the Dzul were certain enemies of the Maya Chontal. Their leader had a Mexican name, and they were presumably Nahuatl-speaking inhabitants of Tabasco. Since the remains at Santa Rita near the mouth of the New River display marked Mexican [non-Maya] characteristics, I suggest that the river's Maya name goes back to pre-Spanish times.
— Roys 1957, p. 163
— Asturias 1925, p. 8
As to the State of the Bay of Honduras, I shall give it you as briefly as possible. The ancient City of Bacalar, situate in that Part of the Province of Yucatan, which lies on the Bay of Honduras, was twice sack'd, and at last totally ruined by the English many Years ago; on which the Logwood-Cutters of that Nation, who settled on the River of Valis, possessed themselves of the New River and that of Hondo; which last is distant from the Ruins of Bacalar about five Leagues. Here they built a great many Houses and Hutts, and employ'd Multitudes of Negroes in cutting Logwood, which was transported to Jamaica and Europe by Numbers of Vessels trading from thence to the Bay.
— RWJ 1732
THE PURITAN COLONISTS. In all the published historical records on the colony, the British colonization begins at Belize [City]. This is not true. It is due to insufficient research and the tendency to facile explanation. There are no Spanish geographic names between Monkey River and Belize [City]. Because of this I decided to search the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth century records on insular and mainland Caribbean history in the rare-books' sections of several of the great libraries of Europe. Works in Dutch, English, French, German, Latin, and Spanish were perused. My views expressed in these pages have been tempered in that light, but I have used only such as have a bearing on my subject. [...] On December 4, 1630 there was formed in London a company authorized by Charles I, "whereby Robert Earl of Warwick was made Governor in Chief and Lord High Admirall of all those islands and other plantations, inhabited, planted, or belonging to any of his Majesties the King of Englands subjects, within the bounds and upon the coast of America [...]" [In the Calendar of State Papers, 1574-1660, colonial series, published in 1860]. [...] The Earl of Warwick was a speculator in privateering, and a group of the wealthy Company of Merchant Adventurers in London were also backing him. Privateering was a part of their commercial interests, and in this they used the Puritans, who were in religious opposition to Charles I and his friendship for Spain, to assist them to colonize fortified sites from where they could raid the Spanish shipping and the Spanish Main. [...] The "Seaflower" brought the first batch of colonists to Santa Catalina or Old Providence in May 1631, most of them Puritans, with their governor, Captain Philip Bell, who had been governor of the Somers or Bermuda Islands in 1626-1627. When the colonists arrived this island was inhabited by some Dutch sea rovers amongst whom were the two brothers Captain William Albert Blauvelt and Abraham Blauvelt. [...] The selection of this island which lay in the track of the Plate Fleet was made by the Earl of Warwick's captains because of its position between the two main objectives, the Plate Fleet sailing from Panama to Havana, and the Cockscomb Coast as a base for bartering with the interior fo Guatemala. [...] Soon the colonists found out that the soil of Old Providence was worthless for their agriculture, and they began to look elsewhere. In 1631 they were active in Tortuga and resolved that henceforth that island should be called Association. But the island of Tortuga was also too small and too exposed to attack, and so they began in the same year to establish themselves in increased numbers on the Cockscomb Coast, a region from which they could not be expelled but by a strong Spanish naval force on account of the coral reefs, while to attack from the land would have been still costlier. Small plantations were already established here by Captain Daniel Elfrith who made the preliminary survey and recommendation [sometime during 1613-1624]. They cultivated the fresh soil which was then right on the beach and grew an abundance of potatoes and pumpkins. [...] in May and July 1633 Captain Sussex Camock was appointed director of a trade at Capt Gratia de Dios, with Edward Willaims and Nath. [...] For the trading stand the coast was selected which lies at the foot of the Cockscomb Mountainsn in the Bay of Honduras and is protected by the barrier-reef. Silk-grass grew there in great abundance in the creeks and lagoons where some Moskito Indians lived. [...] Thus the history of British colonization in the Bay began in 1629 with the privateers of the Earl of Warwick. It began with silk-grass and tobacco. This area is over 300 years in unbroken British occupation. They clearly gave the position as between 10 and 20 degrees north latitude, and 290 and 310 degrees of longitude, which of course was not computed from Greenwich but from Ferro, and puts Old Providence, Cape Gracias a Dios, and the Cockscomb Coast within its area, with the 20th parallel passing at Tortuga.
— Winzerling 1946, pp. 33–37, cap.6
— F 1849, p. 3
HONDURAS (BRITISH), [...] This coast was discovered by Columbus, in 1502; the date of its first settlement by Europeans is uncertain. It was transferred from Spain to England by treaty, in 1670, but its occupation was contested at different times by the Spaniards, down to 1798, since which it has remained quietly in our possession. (Henderson's Account of Honduras; Parl. Papers, &c.)
— McCulloch 1841, pp. 1014–1015
— Ancona 1878, pp. 374–375
1638.----This year a few British subjects first inhabited Honduras, having been wrecked on the Coast.
— HA 1829, p. 40
Wallice [was a] Lieutenant among the Bucaniers who formerly infested these seas......he first discovered the mouth of the River Belize [in 1638].
— HA 1827, p. 5 via Bulmer-Thomas & Bulmer-Thomas 2016, p. 139
— Ungewitter & Hopf 1872, p. 693
The British Settlement of Honduras, of which Belize is the capital, cannot be traced to be of any greater antiquity than from the administration of Oliver Cromwell, in Great Britain, at which period it was, from its remote and secret situation, used by the English, rather as a place of refuge and concealment, from the dreadful and savage warfare then carried on by the Spaniards [...] .
We can be fairly certain that there was no permanent British presence in Belize before 1642 and the reasons for this are straightforward. The Bay of Honduras, including the Belize cayes, was guarded by two Spanish forts. The first was at Salamanca de Bacalar [...]. [...]. While the fortress [at Bacalar] was in full operation, it would have been impossible for the British to gain a permanent foothold. However, Salamanca de Bacalar was sacked by Diego ‘el Mulato’ in 1642. [...]. The fortress at Bacalar was not totally destroyed and the Spanish did their best to rebuild it. However, it was then sacked in 1648 and again in 1652 [...]. From then onwards until 1729, the fortress at Salamanca de Bacalar was abandoned by the Spanish. Meanwhile, Captain William Jackson [...] had sacked Trujillo with exceptional ferocity in 1642 and rendered its fortifications unuseable for a number of years, so that the Spanish could no longer defend the Bay of Honduras from the south either. The necessary conditions for the permanent occupation of the Belizean cayes by the British were therefore in place by the end of 1642. [...]. If the necessary conditions for a permanent British presence had been met by the end of 1642, this did not automatically mean that the British actually took advantage of the new situation. [...]. [...]. [In 1667 and 1670] England agreed to end privateering and to suppress piracy. [...]. For the settlement of Belize by the British, we should therefore distinguish between the period before 1670 and the period after. In the first period, which starts from 1642, there may have been some scope for privateers to make Belize their home but it would not have been easy. The opportunities for laying in stores, refitting ships and spending profits were strictly limited on the Belizean cayes. From 1655, furthermore, Jamaica was a much more attractive base for such activities. Thus, any settlers before 1670 are likely to have been much less glamorous than the privateers. After 1670, when the former privateers were becoming pirates, Belize may have been more tempting [...]. However, settlers in Belize were about to turn to a much more prosaic activity (the extraction of logwood) [...]. Indeed, we know for sure that logwood was being cut and exported by 1680. Although we have shown there were many British subjects who might have had an interest in settling in Belize after 1642, we have very little solid evidence. [...]. After 1670 the attraction of the Belizean coastline for pirates would have been greater. [...]. Most of the privateers [...] opted for a more secure existence after 1670 and many found it in logwood extraction. Their first settlement was at Cabo Catoche at the north-eastern point of the Yucatán peninsula. [...]. Only when the logwood at Cabo de Catoche was exhausted did they turn their attention to the coast of Belize. When they started to arrive, probably in the 1670s, they would likely have found a small number of British settlers already scattered among the cayes.
— Bulmer-Thomas & Bulmer-Thomas 2016, pp. 151–156
[T]he archaeological investigations that are the focus of the present work provide no corroborating evidence for theories of semi-permanent English settlement during the first half of the seventeenth century. [...] The Belize settlement received regular introductions of new European populations from the early 1680s on, such as the mutinous crew of Captain Coxon, who were sent there to evacuate the logwood cutters [...].
— Finamore 1994, pp. 23–24
[A]fter the conquest of Jamaica by the English, it soon appeared what a formidable rival was now seated in the neighbourhood of the Spanish territories. One of the first objects that tempted the English, was the great profit arising from the logwood trade, and the facility of wresting some portion of it from the Spaniards. Some adventurers from Jamaica made the first attempt at Cape Catoche, the south-east promontory of Yucatan, and by cutting logwood there, carried on a gainful traffic. When most of the trees near the coast in that place were felled, they removed to the island of Trist, in the Bay of Campeachy; and in latter times, their principal station has been in the Bay of Honduras. The Spaniards, alarmed at this encroachment, endeavoured by negociaiton, remonstrances, and open force, to prevent the English from obtaining any footing on that part of the American continent. But after struggling against it for more than a century, the disasters of last war extorted from the court of Madrid a reluctant consent to tolerate this settlement of foreigners in the heart of its territories.
— Robertson 1777, p. 331
— Calderón Quijano 1944, pp. 47–49
— Ancona 1878, pp. 370–371, 374
— Nuñez Ortega 1877, pp. 7–8
— Ancona 1878, pp. 374–376
— Brockhaus 1864, p. 616
— Carillo y Ancona 1871, pp. 55, 210
Date |
|
---|---|
Location | mouth of Haulover Creek |
Coordinates | 17°29′37″N 88°11′07″W / 17.49361319555655°N 88.18526849738882°W |
Cause |
|
Participants |
|
Outcome | Belize founded |
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.
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]
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]
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, Yucatan. [19] By the 1570s, Yucatanese encomenderos were shipping to Spain some 200 tonnes of logwood per annum, principally via Campeachy. [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 Campeachy to Belize, and temporally from 1599 to 1670. [note 3]
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]
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]
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]
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]
No | Flr | Clg | Date | Settled | Cause | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1603 | 1607 | late 1603 / c. est. of Hond. flotilla | Wallace | settle |
|
2 | 1605 | 1615 | c. 1610 | Wallace | settle |
|
3 | 1613 | 1641 | prior to / c. Fuensalida misiones | the British | log |
|
4 | 1617 | 1617 | – | Wallace | ? |
|
5 | 1617 | 1652 | prior to Bacalar sacking | the English | ? | |
6 | 1629 | 1635 | c. est. of Providence | Earl of Warwick's privateers / Providence Puritans | haven / farm |
|
7 | 1630 | 1670 | mid-17th cent. | Wallace | settle |
|
8 | 1630 | 1670 | prior to Treaty | the British | ? |
|
9 | 1634 | 1668 | in sec. third of 17th cent. | Wallace | ? |
|
10 | 1638 | 1638 | – | a few British subjects | wreck |
|
11 | 1638 | 1638 | – | Wallace | wreck |
|
12 | 1640 | 1640 | – | Wallace | wreck |
|
13 | 1642 | 1658 | during Cromwell govt. | the English | haven |
|
14 | 1642 | 1680 | after Bacalar sacking / after Truxillo sacking / after logging Tris | the British | haven / log |
|
15 | 1650 | 1685 | in sec. half of 17th cent. / prior to early 1680s | the English | – |
|
16 | 1655 | 1680 | after Jam. invasion / after logging Tris | Jamaicans | log |
|
17 | 1658 | 1668 | c. 1663 | Wallace | log |
|
18 | 1662 | 1670 | – | Wallace | log |
|
19 | 1662 | 1680 | after logging Catoche / after logging Tris | Jamaicans | log |
|
20 | 1667 | 1680 | shortly after Treaty | Wallace | ? |
|
21 | 1667 | 1700 | in last third of 17th cent. | the English | ? |
|
22 | 1701 | 1734 | early 18th cent. | the English | haven |
|
23 | 1717 | 1717 | after logging Tris | Wallace | haven / log |
|
.As early as 1638 British settlers appear to have developed logwood activities in present day Belize; and it is certain that between 1662 and 1670 this activity became regular.
— Lauterpacht et al. 2001, pp. 87–88
— Asturias 1925, pp. 8–9, 11
— Egli 1872, p. 50, sec. B item Balize
Our knowledge of the locations and of the towns on New River and the upper Belize River is drawn from the account [by Cogolludo] of Fuensalida's journeys in 1618 and 1641. He [Fuensalida] calls New River "Río de Dzuluinicob" (literally, "river of the foreign men"), which, he says, meant "river of the Spaniards," and indeed Dzul is what the Maya called the Spaniards. J. E. S. Thompson ([personal] communication) suggests [that said toponym might rather or further indicate] the presence of early British logwood cutters, which seems very possible. On the Usumacinta River, however, the Dzul were certain enemies of the Maya Chontal. Their leader had a Mexican name, and they were presumably Nahuatl-speaking inhabitants of Tabasco. Since the remains at Santa Rita near the mouth of the New River display marked Mexican [non-Maya] characteristics, I suggest that the river's Maya name goes back to pre-Spanish times.
— Roys 1957, p. 163
— Asturias 1925, p. 8
As to the State of the Bay of Honduras, I shall give it you as briefly as possible. The ancient City of Bacalar, situate in that Part of the Province of Yucatan, which lies on the Bay of Honduras, was twice sack'd, and at last totally ruined by the English many Years ago; on which the Logwood-Cutters of that Nation, who settled on the River of Valis, possessed themselves of the New River and that of Hondo; which last is distant from the Ruins of Bacalar about five Leagues. Here they built a great many Houses and Hutts, and employ'd Multitudes of Negroes in cutting Logwood, which was transported to Jamaica and Europe by Numbers of Vessels trading from thence to the Bay.
— RWJ 1732
THE PURITAN COLONISTS. In all the published historical records on the colony, the British colonization begins at Belize [City]. This is not true. It is due to insufficient research and the tendency to facile explanation. There are no Spanish geographic names between Monkey River and Belize [City]. Because of this I decided to search the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth century records on insular and mainland Caribbean history in the rare-books' sections of several of the great libraries of Europe. Works in Dutch, English, French, German, Latin, and Spanish were perused. My views expressed in these pages have been tempered in that light, but I have used only such as have a bearing on my subject. [...] On December 4, 1630 there was formed in London a company authorized by Charles I, "whereby Robert Earl of Warwick was made Governor in Chief and Lord High Admirall of all those islands and other plantations, inhabited, planted, or belonging to any of his Majesties the King of Englands subjects, within the bounds and upon the coast of America [...]" [In the Calendar of State Papers, 1574-1660, colonial series, published in 1860]. [...] The Earl of Warwick was a speculator in privateering, and a group of the wealthy Company of Merchant Adventurers in London were also backing him. Privateering was a part of their commercial interests, and in this they used the Puritans, who were in religious opposition to Charles I and his friendship for Spain, to assist them to colonize fortified sites from where they could raid the Spanish shipping and the Spanish Main. [...] The "Seaflower" brought the first batch of colonists to Santa Catalina or Old Providence in May 1631, most of them Puritans, with their governor, Captain Philip Bell, who had been governor of the Somers or Bermuda Islands in 1626-1627. When the colonists arrived this island was inhabited by some Dutch sea rovers amongst whom were the two brothers Captain William Albert Blauvelt and Abraham Blauvelt. [...] The selection of this island which lay in the track of the Plate Fleet was made by the Earl of Warwick's captains because of its position between the two main objectives, the Plate Fleet sailing from Panama to Havana, and the Cockscomb Coast as a base for bartering with the interior fo Guatemala. [...] Soon the colonists found out that the soil of Old Providence was worthless for their agriculture, and they began to look elsewhere. In 1631 they were active in Tortuga and resolved that henceforth that island should be called Association. But the island of Tortuga was also too small and too exposed to attack, and so they began in the same year to establish themselves in increased numbers on the Cockscomb Coast, a region from which they could not be expelled but by a strong Spanish naval force on account of the coral reefs, while to attack from the land would have been still costlier. Small plantations were already established here by Captain Daniel Elfrith who made the preliminary survey and recommendation [sometime during 1613-1624]. They cultivated the fresh soil which was then right on the beach and grew an abundance of potatoes and pumpkins. [...] in May and July 1633 Captain Sussex Camock was appointed director of a trade at Capt Gratia de Dios, with Edward Willaims and Nath. [...] For the trading stand the coast was selected which lies at the foot of the Cockscomb Mountainsn in the Bay of Honduras and is protected by the barrier-reef. Silk-grass grew there in great abundance in the creeks and lagoons where some Moskito Indians lived. [...] Thus the history of British colonization in the Bay began in 1629 with the privateers of the Earl of Warwick. It began with silk-grass and tobacco. This area is over 300 years in unbroken British occupation. They clearly gave the position as between 10 and 20 degrees north latitude, and 290 and 310 degrees of longitude, which of course was not computed from Greenwich but from Ferro, and puts Old Providence, Cape Gracias a Dios, and the Cockscomb Coast within its area, with the 20th parallel passing at Tortuga.
— Winzerling 1946, pp. 33–37, cap.6
— F 1849, p. 3
HONDURAS (BRITISH), [...] This coast was discovered by Columbus, in 1502; the date of its first settlement by Europeans is uncertain. It was transferred from Spain to England by treaty, in 1670, but its occupation was contested at different times by the Spaniards, down to 1798, since which it has remained quietly in our possession. (Henderson's Account of Honduras; Parl. Papers, &c.)
— McCulloch 1841, pp. 1014–1015
— Ancona 1878, pp. 374–375
1638.----This year a few British subjects first inhabited Honduras, having been wrecked on the Coast.
— HA 1829, p. 40
Wallice [was a] Lieutenant among the Bucaniers who formerly infested these seas......he first discovered the mouth of the River Belize [in 1638].
— HA 1827, p. 5 via Bulmer-Thomas & Bulmer-Thomas 2016, p. 139
— Ungewitter & Hopf 1872, p. 693
The British Settlement of Honduras, of which Belize is the capital, cannot be traced to be of any greater antiquity than from the administration of Oliver Cromwell, in Great Britain, at which period it was, from its remote and secret situation, used by the English, rather as a place of refuge and concealment, from the dreadful and savage warfare then carried on by the Spaniards [...] .
We can be fairly certain that there was no permanent British presence in Belize before 1642 and the reasons for this are straightforward. The Bay of Honduras, including the Belize cayes, was guarded by two Spanish forts. The first was at Salamanca de Bacalar [...]. [...]. While the fortress [at Bacalar] was in full operation, it would have been impossible for the British to gain a permanent foothold. However, Salamanca de Bacalar was sacked by Diego ‘el Mulato’ in 1642. [...]. The fortress at Bacalar was not totally destroyed and the Spanish did their best to rebuild it. However, it was then sacked in 1648 and again in 1652 [...]. From then onwards until 1729, the fortress at Salamanca de Bacalar was abandoned by the Spanish. Meanwhile, Captain William Jackson [...] had sacked Trujillo with exceptional ferocity in 1642 and rendered its fortifications unuseable for a number of years, so that the Spanish could no longer defend the Bay of Honduras from the south either. The necessary conditions for the permanent occupation of the Belizean cayes by the British were therefore in place by the end of 1642. [...]. If the necessary conditions for a permanent British presence had been met by the end of 1642, this did not automatically mean that the British actually took advantage of the new situation. [...]. [...]. [In 1667 and 1670] England agreed to end privateering and to suppress piracy. [...]. For the settlement of Belize by the British, we should therefore distinguish between the period before 1670 and the period after. In the first period, which starts from 1642, there may have been some scope for privateers to make Belize their home but it would not have been easy. The opportunities for laying in stores, refitting ships and spending profits were strictly limited on the Belizean cayes. From 1655, furthermore, Jamaica was a much more attractive base for such activities. Thus, any settlers before 1670 are likely to have been much less glamorous than the privateers. After 1670, when the former privateers were becoming pirates, Belize may have been more tempting [...]. However, settlers in Belize were about to turn to a much more prosaic activity (the extraction of logwood) [...]. Indeed, we know for sure that logwood was being cut and exported by 1680. Although we have shown there were many British subjects who might have had an interest in settling in Belize after 1642, we have very little solid evidence. [...]. After 1670 the attraction of the Belizean coastline for pirates would have been greater. [...]. Most of the privateers [...] opted for a more secure existence after 1670 and many found it in logwood extraction. Their first settlement was at Cabo Catoche at the north-eastern point of the Yucatán peninsula. [...]. Only when the logwood at Cabo de Catoche was exhausted did they turn their attention to the coast of Belize. When they started to arrive, probably in the 1670s, they would likely have found a small number of British settlers already scattered among the cayes.
— Bulmer-Thomas & Bulmer-Thomas 2016, pp. 151–156
[T]he archaeological investigations that are the focus of the present work provide no corroborating evidence for theories of semi-permanent English settlement during the first half of the seventeenth century. [...] The Belize settlement received regular introductions of new European populations from the early 1680s on, such as the mutinous crew of Captain Coxon, who were sent there to evacuate the logwood cutters [...].
— Finamore 1994, pp. 23–24
[A]fter the conquest of Jamaica by the English, it soon appeared what a formidable rival was now seated in the neighbourhood of the Spanish territories. One of the first objects that tempted the English, was the great profit arising from the logwood trade, and the facility of wresting some portion of it from the Spaniards. Some adventurers from Jamaica made the first attempt at Cape Catoche, the south-east promontory of Yucatan, and by cutting logwood there, carried on a gainful traffic. When most of the trees near the coast in that place were felled, they removed to the island of Trist, in the Bay of Campeachy; and in latter times, their principal station has been in the Bay of Honduras. The Spaniards, alarmed at this encroachment, endeavoured by negociaiton, remonstrances, and open force, to prevent the English from obtaining any footing on that part of the American continent. But after struggling against it for more than a century, the disasters of last war extorted from the court of Madrid a reluctant consent to tolerate this settlement of foreigners in the heart of its territories.
— Robertson 1777, p. 331
— Calderón Quijano 1944, pp. 47–49
— Ancona 1878, pp. 370–371, 374
— Nuñez Ortega 1877, pp. 7–8
— Ancona 1878, pp. 374–376
— Brockhaus 1864, p. 616
— Carillo y Ancona 1871, pp. 55, 210