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 , 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, Chetumal’s cacique, and Campbell’s evi- dence places ancient Chetumal about nine miles from modern Corozal Town 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 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. Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 05:56:40PM via free access 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 . 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 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 Bacalar 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 Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 05:56:40PM via free access 226 book reviews focuses on the heroic actions of the slaves at the battle’s frontline, noting that their “prominent participation is probably unprecedented in the history of slav- ery” in the New World (p. 270). Campbell suggests that the Spanish attacked then for several reasons. They saw the Jamaican Maroon war and failed British invasion of Haiti depleting British resources and knew there would be no Miskito aid this time. Notably, Spain maintained sovereignty, with Belize gaining colony status in 1862. Never- theless, post-1798 changes included regular appointments of superintendents to Belize, and fort building. Campbell sees the last Spanish military attack in Belize (1798) as Belize’s Waterloo or Hastings, the “defining moment” for mod- ern Belize and proof that the Baymen were weaning themselves from Miskito dependency, whose service as “unpaid imperial mercenaries” (p. 315) had been essential to preserving British Belize. Despite “nascent nationalism” resulting from the battle, the Bay constitutionally remained an “ambiguous British set- tlement” long after, with “theoretical Spanish sovereignty” (p. 283). Campbell argues that in the early stages of the logwood industry, slavery was not prominent (p. 114) despite one source’s mention of some trafficking in Amerindian slavery, with some sold to Jamaica. A 1720s visitor noted that Belizean cutters’ servants were white males. By the early 1790s there were more slaves (about 3,500) than settlers (about 500), and slaves as property became the most important wealth index for the Baymen. Given such numbers, Campbell questions why there was not a large rebellion, noting that it is “indeed extraordinary that hardly any resistance took place” (p. 287), but notes several contributing factors. First, the remote Belizean jungles and numerous cays and islets along the coast may have offered better opportunities for maroons than in island-based slave societies such as Jamaica. Additionally, it may have been more difficult to monitor timber labor than sugar labor as in Jamaica or Haiti. Campbell does note that passive resistance occurred in Belize, such as work slow-downs and displays of lack of respect/insolence. However, she views the four slave revolts described by sociologist Nigel Bolland as “minor” and argues that there is “no record whatsoever” of “general rebellion” in Belize (p. 292). The largest slave revolt (1773) involved about fifty armed rebels, resulting in the deaths of ten whites. Campbell argues that slavery conditions in Belize were the best in the Ca- ribbean when one considers living space, food, clothes, workload, and punish- ment. She notes that slaves worked only five days per week, unlike anywhere else in the hemisphere. She also details changing conditions for Belize’s free coloreds, such as post-Despard rules for property ownership to attend Public Meetings, and different residency/monetary requirements for voting. Although “the Belize slave system had certain singular features, it was still slavery where

New West Indian Guide 88 (2014) 85–229 Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 05:56:40PM via free access book reviews 227 human beings were legally held as property” (p. 324). In describing this “moral horror,” Campbell notes the “cruel irony” that by treating their slaves compar- atively well, Belizean settlers benefitted financially at slavery’s end, when they were compensated for their slave loss based on slave and system productivity. Since Belizean slaves were comparatively healthy, their masters were paid the highest per capita rate in the British Caribbean. While Campbell’s interpretation of slave resistance is bound to be contro- versial, her focus on the depth and breadth of the Spanish presence in Belize and on the invaluable role of the Miskito Indians for the Baymen offers an important corrective to our understanding of Belizean history. Her book is rec- ommended reading for anyone interested in comparative slavery, native and slave resistance, or nation formation. Assad Shoman’s expansion of his 1994 history of Belize, which is used widely in Belizean schools, may be seen as a potential companion to Campbell’s book in that it devotes several chapters to the same historical period. It then focuses on Belizean history until 2008, with some additional coverage of 2011 events. The two authors approach their topic differently—Campbell as a sober- minded outsider, and Shoman as an insider and passionate advocate for social justice who has been intimately involved with Belizean politics. Shoman’s book makes an important contribution to the process of nascent nationalism described by Campbell. While not all readers will agree with his often Marxist- inspired, economically-based interpretations, his book offers an excellent syn- opsis of the history of a seldom examined nation. In preparing his revision, Shoman notes that he sent a letter to all secondary and postsecondary his- tory teachers in Belize, asking for suggestions for improvement, but did not receive a single reply (p. ix). Yet one suspects that both his revised edition and Campbell’s book will inspire discussion for a new generation of and scholars throughout the region. The issues these two authors raise transcend in many ways narrow political and sociohistorical boundaries.

Grant Jewell Rich Juneau AK 99801, U.S.A. [email protected]

Reference

Dobson, Narda, 1973. A History of Belize. : Longman Caribbean.

New West Indian Guide 88 (2014) 85–229 Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 05:56:40PM via free access