Belizean History
Exam Study Guide
Social situation in British Honduras
-The starting of Agriculture: Maya/mestizo from Yucatan brought cane; Bananas were introduced by Americans
- After the decline of the Mahogany industry the settlement of British Honduras went through shifts including the introduction of agriculture by the Maya/mestizo, the introduction of banana by the United fruit company, the chicle industry by the US and the current agricultural systems and tourism
World War 2; 1939-1945
The British Empire
-Empire- An extensive group of states or countries under a single supreme authority
- Started with Queen Elizabeth 1 who began trading with America and other parts of the world during the 1500’s; when James 1 came into power he weakened the kingdom because he was a spender.
-first successful, permanent colony in America: Jamestown
-industrialization= switch to machines
-The British believed in ethnic supremacy; believed: white peoples alone were capable of cultural capability.
Creole society
-Social Darwinism! Survival of the fittest in society!;Elite inherit traits that keep them up there! Your ethnicity determines your position in society.
- Europeans preached that their empire was designed to civilize, Christianize and make other humans worthy of living. This was referred to as “The White man’s burden”.
-creole=People of mixed African and European descent,
-racism= idea that other people are naturally inferior to them
United Negro Improvement Association
-Marcus Garvey: Born in St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica in 1887; 1914 started the UNIA in Jamaica;
-The UNIA was dedicated to fight for racial equality and rights of the blacks; newspaper the Negro-world
World War 2; 1939-1945
-Started when Germany invaded Poland in 1939
-Two groups of allies: the Axis (Germany, Japan, Italy), the Allies (United Kingdom, US, Russia (USSR), France)
-Germany lead the Holocaust: assassinated the Jews, the gay, the outcasts, people with disability, Romani (related to the Indian race)
The nationalist movement
-A devaluation occurred in 1950 and the very night the devaluation (value of money goes down) occurred a demonstration happened and the PC (people’s committee) was formed.
-This gave birth to the Nationalist period: Nationalism is the love for one’s nation and having the ideals of your country at the top priority, seeking independence.
History of the Sugar industry (how Sugar started and developed)
-Sugarcane was brought to the settlement by the Maya/Mestizo people who were running away from the Caste war
Sugar control ordinance
-The industry created two sectors: the small scale farmers, and the foreign owned large farmers
-Two small scale farmers leaders were Mateo Ayuso (Graduate of SJC) and Jesus Ken (Maya) from Xaibe
-Sugar replaced Mahogany as the main product
-The large company controlled the land and the peasants were simply cane cutters
MILITANT MOVEMENTS
-UBAD is the United Black Association for Development which was inspired by Marcus Garvey’s ideas based on Black empowerment.
-Objectives of UBAD: it was a social organization that fought for Black empowerment and wanted the reaction of the youths to have self-love under the slogan “I am black and I am Proud”.
-EVAN X HYDE was the leader of the UBAD movement and had Meetings at Freedom hall: ‘Black is Beautiful’ and spread his ideas through the newspaper AMANDALA.
-PEOPLE’S ACTION COMMITTEE: had two leader namely ASSAD SHOMAN and SAID MUSA.
-UBAD AND PAC joined to form Revolitical Action Movement (RAM. A split happened in RAM because of a clash of ideas.
The cold war era
-After World War 2 the UN was created in 1945 and the major leaders in the world arena began to join including the US and the Russians
-communist which is a political and economic system in which the major productive resources are owned by the public, and wealth is divided among citizens equally.
The Non-aligned movement
-It was an international organization that was dedicated to representing the interests and aspirations of developing countries.
-In Belize George Price (1971) created the Belize independence Secretariat to fight for Belizean independence and it was made up of Assad Shoman, Robert Leslie, AnneWaight.
The role of Guatemala in the international phase
-Self-determination: under the control and direction of the inhabitants of a political unit rather than by an outside authority
-Independence: freedom from being governed or ruled by another country: not being influenced by outside powers
-Internationalization is going into the international arena (across borders) to gain support for your cause.
-Guatemalan claim: UTIS POSSEDITIS JURIS: they inherited the borders of the colonial power: Spain
- In the international ground Guatemala had the support of all the Latin American countries; in addition, Israel supported them. All the Latin American countries voted against except CUBA.
Anglo-Guatemalan convention 1859 :
Article 1 outlined the borders: