224 book reviews

Mavis C. Campbell Becoming : A History of an Outpost of Empire Searching for Identity, 1528–1823. Kingston: University of the West Indies Press, 2011. xxii + 425 pp. (Paper US$50.00)

Assad Shoman A History of Belize in Thirteen Chapters. 2nd edition. : The Angelus Press, 2011. xvii + 461 pp. (Paper US$30.00)

Modern Belize is commonly referred to as a Caribbean nation in Central Amer- ica. Geographically part of Central America, its English language use and polit- ical history make it part of the Anglophone Caribbean, which may explain in part its relative neglect by scholars of both regions. While Mavis Campbell is not correct to state that Narda Dodson’s A History of Belize (1973) is “the only comprehensive history of Belize written by a trained historian” (p. xiv), she is certainly right to assert that Belizean history “deserves more attention” (p. 4). The enlarged edition of Assad Shoman’s 1994 history is a new contribution aimed at filling the gap. Becoming Belize adds significantly to our understanding of Belize’s begin- nings. Although Campbell did not investigate Spanish primary sources in Ma- drid and Seville, she consulted archives in Belize and Jamaica, at British insti- tutions, and, briefly, in Mérida. The book’s first section examines Spanish at- tempts at settling Belize, from about 1528 to 1708. Campbell explores why Belize became British, given the region’s history, and revisits early Spanish exploration, including Columbus’s 1502 voyage to the Bay Islands of modernity, when he came closest to Belize, and the 1511 shipwreck that left two Spaniards, Gerónimo de Aguilar and Gonzalo Guerrero, in the Yucatán. Campbell dis- cusses Guerrero as Belize’s first European resident, noting that he married locally and fought for his adopted land against alien occupation. Guerrero was a military strategist for Nachan Can, ’s cacique, and Campbell’s evi- dence places ancient Chetumal about nine miles from modern in Belize. Later, Campbell notes that Francisco de Montejo, following his 1526 grant to “pacify” Yucatán, passed through all of modern Belize’s territory. Mon- tejo founded Nueva Seville (circa 1547–1551). Contiguous with southeastern Belize, only Mérida was then more populous. Montejo’s soldier, Alonso Dávila, founded, at ancient Chetumal, Villa Real, which Campbell views as Belize’s first Spanish town. Campbell then describes the history of Tipu, modern Negroman, relying on a book written ca. 1700 by Don Juan de Villagutierre Soto-Mayor, and referencing modern work by Inga Clendinnen, Nancy Farris, Grant Jones, Matthew Restall, and others. She argues that Spain had limited success in its attempts to colo-

© grant jewell rich, 2014 | doi: 10.1163/22134360-08801059 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-NC 3.0) License. book reviews 225 nize Belize, due to Mayan resistance and the fact that Maya society involved quasi-independent principalities, unlike the Aztecs’ more centralized leader- ship. Yucatán’s lack of gold also dissuaded Spanish settlers. The book’s second section focuses on British Belize, 1708–1823, arguing that the British first settled in Belize in the mid-1500s, on Cay Casina (today’s St. George’s Caye), and seconding modern scholars who note the lack of early British accounts, absent “because of the clandestine nature of their initial activ- ities and … the dubious nature of the early characters” (p. 96). George Hen- derson, perhaps Belize’s first “historian,” argued that prior to 1763, the English had the “friendly approval” of the Maya. Relations deteriorated only a cen- tury later, as the British moved further inland for mahogany. Campbell notes little early British-Maya interaction, but emphasizes the close relationship of the British with the Amerindians of the Mosquito Shore (roughly today’s Nicaraguan coast), arguing that Belize would not have survived without them, ending up with the Spanish prevailing. Many settlers on the Mosquito Shore also lived partly in Belize. In crisis times, settlers evacuated to Belize or from Belize to the Shore. For a time, Spaniards viewed attacking Belize as “beneath them.” Conditions changed with the 1749 British establishment of civil govern- ment on the Mosquito Shore. There had been earlier attacks at Cay Casina (1695, 1696), and the Spanish attacked repeatedly until the mid-eighteenth cen- tury. In 1752, Spain announced that slaves fleeing the British would be free, a policy that remained effective until emancipation. While Spain based its Belizean claim on the 1493 Papal Bull, Queen Eliza- beth I argued that the Pope had no authority to so divide up the world, and that unoccupied territory, as the British viewed Belize, could become British. The 1763 Treaty of Paris required the British to demolish Bay forts, and prohibited formal British government there. In 1779, a major Spanish attack at St. George’s Caye resulted in its temporary virtual abandonment and for the next several years Belize was “for all intents and practical purposes non-existent” (p. 198). Settlers and several hundred slaves were taken to and on to Mérida, Campeche, and Havana. The Treaty of Versailles (1783) noted, for the first time, Belize’s boundaries, acknowledged logging rights, and banned govern- ment establishment in Belize. Campbell shows how Edward Marcus Despard, Belize’s first superintendent, became unpopular as he requested Spanish troops from Bacalar to police illegal logging, and implemented a new land distribu- tion policy which the old established Belizean settlers felt was overly favorable to “mulattos” (p. 231). In 1789, after further tensions with Spain, an attack cul- minated in the September 10 battle of St. George’s Caye. Though Spain had 31 vessels, 2,000 troops, and 500 seamen, the Baymen with their 354 men and small ragtag fleet prevailed in a brief battle, with no settler injured. Campbell rightly

New West Indian Guide 88 (2014) 85–229