TERRA INCOGNITA An analysis of a geographical anachronism and an historical accident Aspects of the cultural geography of British Honduras C.A, by John Cater Everitt B.A., Leicester University, 1967 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLPENT OF THE REQUIiWXENTS FOX THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF =TS in the Department of Geography @ JOHN CAT= EVERITT 1969 SIWOX FRATEX9 WIVERSITY September, 1969 APPROVAL I Name: John Cater Everitt Degree: Master of Arts Title of Thesis: Terra Incognita. An analysis sf a geographical anachronism and an historical accident; or Aspects of the cultural geo- graphy of British Honduras C.A. Examining Committee: C P.L. Wagner Senior Supervisor E.M. Gibson Examining Coniittee R.C. Brown Exampning Comit tee M.C. Kellman Exam3~1ingCommit tee 7J.E. Baird- External Examiner Instmcter, History Department Simon Fraser University, R.C. The research contained in this thesis was based upon the whole of the Colony, and was conducted in all of its constituent districts, but does not puport to be a smey of every part of every district. As will becane apparent through the course of this work, Eritish Honduras has no well integrated transportation system, and although the research was conclucted during the dry season, there were a nunber of locations which were still cut off fron normal access. To quote the Roaan Catholic priest at San Antonio oledo do), "Some years you can reach them and some years you can't." The published bibliographic material on the Colony is incomplete because figures have never been collected except for the most basic demands of the census. Even this material is at times of doubtful validity, as it often asks questions which the people do not understand or ccnnot answer or are too suspicious to atlswer. This is especially true with reference to contemporary figures on racial groups, national incow and general soeHal and econoqic characCeristics of the Col-ony. Another reason for the inconpleteness of the naterial is that on a nrrnber of occasions the factual material ~hichhas been collected has been subsequently destroyed by nan or mtrre (see p. 13). Much of the rnateria1,which is used in this work has been published elsewlzere, but the bulk of it is the result of the author's travels in British Bonduras. Many of the opinions expressed are solely those of the author, but where a deeper significance, over a loager period of time, is inferred, the material was often collected from inter- views with various Hondurans. FZost important in these (r discussions were government officials, especially the District Officers; the Social Development Officers; Leo Bradley, the Chief Librarian and one of the most know- ledgeable men on local lore, in the Colony; and Iiudy Castillo the Infomation Officer. But discussions with the non-official people of the country also proved of immense value and often filled saps left by the official sources. Before such information was used attenpts were made to cross-check the material with other nenbers of the populace in order to give it a nore conplete factual basis. This approach, similar to the participant observer technique bras considered to be the nost valuable with.in a country where the people are of different cultural backgrounds, where there is no tradition of formal in- vestigatory techniques, and where statistical data are incomplete or non-existent. The methodolozy is sirnilar to that adopted by GibSs (1883) and iiombs (1883) and makes the best use of limited infonaation sources, within a country whose variegated iv colorrr and character wil1,never be co~pletelyreduced to tables and graphs. 1 ABSTRACT This study is an introductory survey of some aspects of the cultural geography of British Honduras C,A. The problem which was investigated was twofold; firstly, how this enclave of the British Empire grew up to be Britain's b only colony in Central America, despite the numerous and powe&ul pressures in existence to prevent such an occur- rence. Secondly, to what extent the many cultural groups who go to make up the population of British Honduras have established distinctive cultural landscapes within the country, and how well integrated these separate cultural landscapes are into an overall British Honduran landscape. I consulted relevant bibliographic material, in order to discover the historical conditions that have enabled the Colony to be founded, to survive, and to grow in size, pop- ulation and importance, It was hypothesized that for Bri- tish Honduras to survive, as a cultural anachronism within the context of Central America, there must have been a more poxerful force at work than simply historical accident. Thus, secondly, a field examinatton of the country was con- ducted in order to reveal the personality, or personalities of British Honduras. Each district and the capital city were investigated in order to find evidence for the hypo- thesis. T2ie backgrounds of the cultural groups were invcsti- gated wherever possible, gnd examination made of their group identities, and of the identity of the groups with the country as a whole. A selection of ethnographic studies of the surrounding culture areas of the Caribbean, the Western Caribbean, and of hispanic Central America, were investi- gated to see how far the Colony is part of any one of these . areas. * .It was concluded that there is indeed a strong nation- alistic feeling within the Colony which, despite its changing nature over time, might have been a contributory factor in the survival and growth of the country. Al- though there is some evidence that there is a 'British Honduran' feeling within the Colony, there is also consider- able evidence that the numerous cultural groups still strongly identify with themselves and with the landscapes with which they have contemporary and historical associa- tion. Since Hurricane Hattie in 1961, however, there is some evidence that these cultural groups are being broken up and spread out in a greater mixture throughout the Colony. This is partly the effect of the dislocation caused by the hurricane but also partly an effect of the present economic situation within British Honduras. It might also be a reflection of the changing values and attitudes of the members of the groups, as the country comes Ln greater con- tact with the industrial societies of the world. vii TABLE OF CO?ITENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION .................. 1 CULTUAAL GKO'UPS ................ 4 FROPI HOPDUnAS TO BXITISH HOiqDUXAS ....... 6 .THE POSITION OF THE COLONY .......... 7 Independence or independence? ....... 10 RESEk?CHSOVXCZS ............... 12 CHAPTEA TVO: THE BACKG2OU;i'D OF BRITISH HONDUXAS . 17 OXIGINS AND EA3LY SZTTTLSIEIU' ......... 17 The Europeans move in ........... 21 The British assert themselves ....... 27 The problems of making a living. 31 THE IBFLUZNCE OF THZ PHYSICAL BACKr3-OUND ... 34 The boundaries of the Colony ........ 46 .-- CH-APTEX THXEE: THE CAPITALS OF THE COUNTXY ..... 52 BELIZZ CITY .= CAPITAL CITY IN A SWNQ .... 52 The cornposition of the city .........62 The Local Areas of the ciry .........74 People and Places ............. 102 TUE KXW CAPITAL .. CAPITAL CITY 18 TYE ZUqH . 111 PAGE OF BRITISH HONDUXAS ......... 125 THE LOCATION OF THE DISTXICT ......... 128 TEE ISLAND VILLAGES OF THE COLONY ....... 136 TIE MAISLAXDSETTLET4EIL'TS ........ 143 CULTUML PATTEZNS AMD AXTIFACTS ........ 145 Y Housing .................. 145 Cultural Groups ........... 148 Settlezent Fatterns ............ 153 Place Name Evidence ............ 155 CHAPTER FIVE: THE NOZTHZRN DISTXCTS ....... 166 COROZAL DISTLILCT ............... 166 The Location of Corozal ..*....... 166 Thepeopleofthearea ........... 172 Housing in the north ............ 182 Landscapes in Corozal ........... 183 A revolurion in the landscape ....... 189 Place name evidence of cult~ralinfluences . 191 OXhEt7G3 bW.4LK DISTXICT ............. 193 Situation of the district ......... 193 The Adninistrative centre ......... 193 Landscapes in Orange Valk District ...196 Housing conditions ............. 203 Cultural groupinss ............. 204 The Nennonites ............... 205 PAGE CKWTEA SIX: CAY0 DISTaICT .. TIE WESTEIN DISTXICT . 224 SITUATIOil tJITKIiL' THZ COLOilY ......... 224 WESTEAN DISTIY'LCT LAE:DSCLPES ...226 Roadside Observations ........... 226 The Belize River Valley .......... 232 The upland areas of Cayo District . 247 CHAPTEA SEVEN: THE SOUTH ............. 258 STAPIN C3EEK DISTALCT ............. 258 Location of Stann Creek .......... 258 Patterns of economic activity ....... 260 Cultural Croups .............. 267 Settlement patterns of northern Stann Creek 269 Southern Stann Creek District ....... 281 TOLEDO DLSTAICT .. THE DEZP SOUTH ...... 293 The situation of the area ......... 293 Settlement Patterns ............ 295 Cultural Groups .............. 300 Southern housing ............. 320 Place nanes in the Deep SouZh ....... 325 PASS APPENDICES : . 345 I Census Populations 1810-1969 . 346 Populations of Towns and Districts in British Honduras . 347 I11 Density of Topulation . 348 IV Number and Proportion of Persons of Each Race . 349 V Urban and Rural Proportions of Zach Race . 350 VI Distribution of House-type indicators . 351 VII Deaths due to Hurricane Hattie . 352 PAGE British Honduras ............... 2 British Honduras: Ancient Kaya Sites .... 18 i3ritish Xonduras: Farming Population .... 35 BelizeCity ................. 53 Location of the new capital site ...... 112 Belize District ............... 129 Corozal District .............. 167 Orange Walk District ............ 194 Cayo District ...............