In 1865, 480 Chinese immigrants were brought to Belize as indentured laborers. They went to work in the timber camps, but after one year about 100 of them deserted to the Santa Cruz Maya in Quintana Roo due to the cruel and unjust treatment by the estate manager. Chinese have been migrating constantly, and the second largest batch came just before the outbreak of World War II, when they traveled to the United States from where they gradually trickled southward by land to Mexico and Central America. Most Chinese came from the Kwangtung Province of Southern China. Controlling most of

The term Creole was originally applied to persons born in the West Indies of Spanish parents. While today it is used in reference to descendants of non-Indian peoples born and settled in the West Indies, in concept it has more of a cultural meaning locally. Therefore, in Belize, a Creole is any person who has some African blood, and in a few instances some locally born whites. They are mainly the descendants of the slaves brought to Belize in the Eighteenth and early Nineteenth centuries; of subsequent immigrations of people of African origin; and of the British settlers. Traditionally forming sixty

The first group of East Indians had arrived in the West Indies in 1838 as indentured servants, to fill a gap in the labor force created when the freed slaves left the plantations after the abolition of slavery. Indentured workers were encouraged to come to the Caribbean to work, under a signed contract, for about five years; after which time they were free to return to India, or remain in the Caribbean as laborers on their own terms. The earliest evidence of the influx of East Indians in Belize seems to be when the British Parliament arranged for the transportation in

Garifuna people are a result of a cultural mix of Africans and Arawak (Carib Indians). They originated from the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, and were forcibly exiled in 1797 to the Bay Islands of the Caribbean Coast of Honduras. Garifuna are a hybrid people resulting from a biological and cultural mixture between Caribs and Arawaks of the Caribbean and people of African origin. This gave rise in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent to a new group called the Garifuna. History states that these people resisted English efforts to deprive them of their lands in a war that lasted many

The Maya empire included the Mexican states of Yucatan, Campeche, Tabasco; the eastern half of Chiapas, Quintana Roo; most of Guatemala; Belize, and the western parts of El Salvador and Honduras. The prehistory of Belize dates back as far as 10,000 BC and the earliest record is 2500 BC, when the Maya inhabited the area now known as Cuello. The area now known as Belize formed only a small part of their great cultural society. The Maya established a very complex civilization, which today has visible roots in all 6 of Belize’s political districts: Corozal and Orange Walk in the north, Belize

Mennonites settled in Belize in 1958. Initially, some 3,500 Canadian Mennonites arrived in Belize, and today form communities on the upper reaches of the Belize River: Blue Creek on the Mexican border; Shipyard, Indian Creek, Richmond Hill in the Orange Walk District; Spanish Lookout and Barton Creek in the Cayo District; Little Belize in the Corozal District, and a small settlement of Amish Mennonites in Toledo District known as Pine Hill. Comprising 3.6 percent of Belize’s population, they have made it a point to have their own school, church, and financial institutions in their various communities. No matter in which

Mestizos, people with a mixture of Mayan and Spanish heritages, comprise 48% of the Belizean population. Mestizos originally landed within the borders of modern-day Belize after fleeing the Guerra de las Castas in the Yucatan in 1848. When the conflict ended, many refugees remained and settled along the River Hondo on Belize's northern border. More recently, immigrants from Guatamala and El Salvador have contributed to the Spanish community in the north and west of Belize. Their presence over the years has established the Spanish language as an integral part of daily life within households and schools throughout the country. Since the