| This Mere Men article has not been expanded past 1955 yet. |
| Belize Bileez (Belizean Creole) Timeline: Mere Men
OTL equivalent: Belize | ||||||
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| Motto: Under the shade I flourish |
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| Capital (and largest city) | Belize City | |||||
| Official languages | English | |||||
| Religion | Christian, irreligious | |||||
| Demonym | Belizean | |||||
| Government | Unitary parliamentary republic | |||||
| - | President | |||||
| - | Prime Minister | |||||
| Legislature | National Assembly | |||||
| Independence from the United Kingdom | ||||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 22,966 km2 8,867 sq mi |
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| Currency | Belize dollar | |||||
| Time zone | CTZ | |||||
Belize (Belizean Creole: Bileez) is a country on the northeastern coast of Central America. Located south of the Yucatán peninsula, it borders Mexico to the north, Guatemala to the west and south and the Caribbean Sea, including Honduran territorial waters to the east.
The Maya civilisation controlled the modern territory of Belize for several centuries. In the 17th century, Belize was settled by the English, which was disputed by Spain until the end of the 18th century. In the 20th century, Belize briefly became a part of the West Indies Federation before pursuing independence as a separate entity. Since independence, Belize was involved in numerous border skirmishes with Guatemala, which continues to claim Belizean territory as a department of itself.
History[]
British Honduras[]
During the Second World War, Belize was a British crown colony as British Honduras. In the 1940s, however, an independence movement began to form, alongside the emerging labour movement. This was accelerated in 1949 by the British decision to devalue the British Honduras dollar, which led to the formation of the People's United Party, which quickly became the dominant party after a victory in the 1954 election. Shortly after this election, British Honduras was offered membership in the West Indies Federation. The two most senior PUP leaders, Philip Goldson and Leigh Richardson supported the idea and the colony became a province of the West Indies Federation under the name Belize Honduras.
The decision to join the federation was, however, widely unpopular among the Belizeans and many defected from the PUP to the newly formed Christian Democratic Party led by Nicholas Pollard. The CDP quickly displaced the PUP as the dominant political force as the Belizean membership in the federation started to take a toll on its economy.