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British Honduras

File:Flag_of_British_Honduras_(1919–1981).svg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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British Honduras

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Also known as Honduras Británica, Honduras Britanica, Belize

UK possession in Central America between 1798 and 1981, today Belize

Key facts

1793
2,493
1861
25,635
1936
Edward VIII
1960
90,343
Status
Crown colony of the United Kingdom
Capital
Belize City (1862–1971) Belmopan (1971–1981)
Common languages
English , Spanish , Belizean Creole , Garifuna , Mayan languages
1783 1820
George III
1820 1830
George IV
1830 1837
William IV
1837 1901
Victoria
1901 1910
Edward VII
1910 1936
George V
1936 1952
George VI
1952 1981
Elizabeth II
1787 1790
Edward Marcus Despard
1980 1981
James Hennessey
Legislature
Legislative Council

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
colony
Continent
North America
Official language
English language
Form of government
crown colony
Followed by
Belize
Show 7 more facts
topic's main category
Category:British Honduras
inception
1862-05-12
dissolved, abolished or demolished date
1981-01-01
Commons category
British Honduras
native label
British Honduras
Commonwealth Sport country code
HBR
Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

British Honduras was a Crown colony on the east coast of Central America — specifically located on the southern edge of the Yucatán Peninsula from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony — renamed Belize from June 1973 until September 1981, when it gained full independence as Belize. British Honduras was the last continental possession of the United Kingdom in the Americas.

The colony grew out of the Treaty of Versailles (1783) between Britain and Spain, which gave the British rights to cut logwood between the Hondo and Belize rivers. The Convention of London (1786) expanded this concession to include the area between the Belize and Sibun rivers. In 1862, the Settlement of Belize in the Bay of Honduras was declared a British colony called British Honduras, and the Crown's representative was elevated to a lieutenant governor, subordinate to the governor of Jamaica.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “British Honduras” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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