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 Pirate's Isle / 1826 watercolour by David Cox / via Google | |
| Date |
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|---|---|
| Location | mouth of Haulover Creek |
| Coordinates | 17°29′37″N 88°11′07″W / 17.49361319555655°N 88.18526849738882°W / 17.49361319555655; -88.18526849738882 |
| Cause |
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| Participants |
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| Outcome | Belize founded |
The Anglo-Saxon, English, or Baymen's settlement of Belize is traditionally thought to have been effected upon Peter Wallace's 1638 landing at the mouth of Haulover Creek. As this account lacks clear primary sources, however, scholarly discourse has tended to qualify, amend, or completely eschew said theory, giving rise to a myriad competing narratives of the English settling of Belize. Though none of the aforementioned have garnered widespread consensus, historical literature has tended to favour a circumspect account of a landing near Haulover sometime during the 1630s and 1660s, effected by logwood-seeking, haven-seeking, or shipwrecked buccaneers.
Prelude
Buccaneering
The romantic but commonly held view of the history of Belize begins with a haven of free-spirited and adventuresome pirates occasionally sneaking out of hiding amid the cay[e]s and reef system to perform piratical acts of independence against Britain's economic oppression and Spain's cultural conceit. They eventually become attached to the place so they find legitimate livelihoods, prosper, form a government, and are eventually rewarded with the status of a colony of the British Empire.
— Daniel R. Finamore in 1994.[1]
In November–December 1544, a patax of 22 French corsairs, mates of a captain called Pedro Braques by the Spanish, were apprehended off the coast of colonial Honduras. Their arrival marked the beginning of over three centuries of piracy in the Bay of Honduras.[2][3][4][note 1] French corsairs were (belatedly) followed into the Bay by Elizabethan Sea Dogs three decades later. The earliest of these is thought to have been either Sir Francis Drake in the Minion, or John Oxenham in the Beare, who during 23 February 1573 – 22 March 1573 cruised the Bay and watered at Guanaxa.[5][6] English buccaneering activities in the Bay intensified in the ensuing decades.[citation needed] Notably, during October 1577 – April 1578, an English pirate or privateer, called Francisco de Acles by the Spanish, with 60 men aboard two ships, sacked Puerto Caballos and Bacalar, possibly marking the earliest entrance of such sea dogs into Bacalar's [ie present-day Belize's] waters.[7][8][9] It is commonly thought that, upon the 1570s discovery of the intricate, secluded reefs, cayes, and coastline which characterised the waters of Bacalar, English buccaneers promptly opted to base their operations in this portion of the Bay, it affording them safe haven and quick access to Spanish ports.[10][11][12][13]
Smuggling
Prior to 1630, Spanish smuggling with Anglo-Dutch pirate-merchants at ports in the Bay of Honduras is thought to have 'amounted to little more than evasion of duties and taxes,' with typical cases described as 'not spectacular.'[14] However –
The situation altered significantly after 1630 as it became obvious that the flota system was decaying and the Spanish economy declining. Between 1630 and 1680 there seems to have been a slow increase in the volume of smuggling [in colonial Central America], and gradually smuggling became more important than simple fraud [eg tax evasion] [...]. So Central American merchants and indigo plantation owners in the middle years of the seventeenth century found themselves with a fairly viable export crop, [...] and few means of disposing of it. [...] Legal trade to the official ports in the Bay of Honduras had fallen away to a trickle, [...]. Between the early 1630s and the 1680s Central America searched desperately, often beyond the law, for ways of disposing of export crops while obtaining money or goods in exchange.
— Murdo J. MacLeod in 1973.[14]
Consequently, post-1630 smuggling in the Bay is thought to have been 'sporadic but fairly frequent,' especially in indigo and logwood, 'large quantities' of which [illicitly] found their way to non-Spanish markets.[15][16][17][18]
Logging
The earliest logwood cutting near the Bay of Honduras is commonly dated to 1562, and attributed to the Spanish conquistador Marcos de Ayala Trujeque of Valladolid, Yucatan.[19] By the 1570s, Yucatanese encomenderos were shipping to Spain some 200 tonnes of logwood per annum, principally via Campeachy.[20] During this same decade, English pirates, privateers, or buccaneers are thought to have first recognised the commercial value of logwood, and consequently, to have increasingly sought it as prize.[21][22][note 2]
It is uncertain when and where exactly English pirates or buccaneers first began surreptitiously cutting logwood, as opposed to merely seizing Spanish-cut logwood.[citation needed] Proposals range geographically from Campeachy to Belize, and temporally from 1599 to 1670.[note 3]
English settlement
The earliest English settlement near the Bay is thought to have been Old Providence.[citation needed] Anglo-Dutch buccaneers are known to have watered or camped in the island, and Cape Gracias a Dios, since at least 1616.[23][24][25][note 4] English presence intensified shortly upon the 4 December 1630 chartering of the Old Providence Company.[26] In 1631, Anthony Hilton's settlement in Tortuga was made a dependency of the Company.[27][28] In 1633, Sussex Cammock established a trading post in Cape Gracias a Dios for Old Providence.[29][30] By 29 January 1636, the Company was granted letters of reprisal against the Spanish.[31][32][33][34][note 5] On 8 June 1638, the Company granted William Claiborne letters patent to settle Roatan.[35][36][37][38][39] And shortly after 17 May 1641, Old Providence refugees are thought to have established themselves at Cape Gracias a Dios or Roatan.[40][38][41][42]
Maya revolt
The 1638 Tipu rebellion against Bacalar, possibly (indirectly) aided by piratical raids of coastal and riverine Maya hamlets in that district, is thought to have significantly eroded Spanish dominion and presence in Bacalar's waters.[43][44][45][46][47][48]
Incident
In tradition
Belize is traditionally held to have been among the first English settlements in the Bay of Honduras, along with Roatan.[citation needed] It is commonly thought to have been settled by Peter Wallace and his crew of 80 buccaneers, aboard the Swallow, in 1638.[citation needed] No records of this landing have been discovered, however, and it is commonly thought that none are extant, or that the story is apocryphal.[49][50]
In scholarship
When, then, did the British begin to settle in the part of Yucatan we call Belize today? This is an even more stubborn question than that of Spanish settlement of the territory, and we will probably never be able to answer it precisely. We may have to rely on Sir Harry Luke's proposition that "[a]s a British Colony British Honduras, like Topsy, 'never was born' but just 'grow'd'." This is in contrast to the more regularly established British colonies in the region, which were acquired either by royal patents or by conquest and settlement.
— Mavis C. Campbell in 2011.[51]
All Caribbean countries, with one exception, can document the date of first permanent settlement by Europeans with some accuracy. [...] The one exception is Belize, whose British origins have been shrouded in a mixture of fact, myth, legend, naivety and dishonesty.
— Barbara & Victor Bulmer-Thomas in 2016.[52][note 6]
The traditional story of the English settlement of Belize is the most commonly given account in scholarly literature, though historians often qualify it, given the lack of primary sources.[citation needed][note 7] A variety of competing accounts have been proffered since the 18th century, none of which have gained widespread scholarly favour.[citation needed] Despite this, most scholarly accounts seem to favour a second- or third-quarter-of-the-17th century date, with responsibility attributed to pirate's-haven-seeking, logwood-seeking, or shipwrecked buccaneers.[citation needed]
Notes and references
Explanatory footnotes
- ^ French entrance to the Bay dated 1537 by Marcus 1990, pp. 67, 101. It has been suggested that French corsairs were seeking to advance their country's cause during the Habsburg–Valois Wars. These early cruises prompted the construction of the Santa Barbara Fortress in Trujillo in 1550 (Chamberlain 1953, pp. 225, 231). No (successful) piratical raids are noted in the Bay in 1543–1554. Eight (French) were noted in 1555–1561. None in 1562–1566. One (French) in 1567–1571. Twelve (three French, eight English, one unknown) in 1572–1582 (De la O Torres 2020, pp. 193, 197–203, 220–228, 232–241, 268–280, 288–301).
- ^ Pirates' recognition of logwood's value dated 1585 and attributed to Sir Francis Drake by McJunkin 1991, p. 102, but dated 1570s and attributed to John Chilton by Finamore 1994, p. 19. Chilton visited Yucatan in June–July 1572, and noted 'the chiefest merchandize which they lade there in small frigats, is a certeine wood called campeche, (wherewith they vse to die) as also hides and annile' per Hakluyt 1589, p. 559. McJunkin 1991, p. 80 notes that notices of logwood 'show up more frequently in records of capture [of Spanish cargo] by foreigners than they do in the internal records of Yucatan,' though note this might be 'simply a matter of differential preservation.' Logwood was prohibited in England by 23 Eliz. 1 ch. 9 passed during 21 March 1580 – 20 March 1581 per McJunkin 1991, p. 96 and Raithby 1819a, p. 671. McJunkin 1991, p. 96 states that this Act is the first reference to logwood in English records. The Act cites 'false and deceitful colours' as the reason for prohibiting logwood dyes, though McJunkin 1991, p. 96 notes that these 'were a result of using alum as a mordant or of not using any mordant at all.' The prohibition was strengthened in 1583 by proclamation per McJunkin 1991, p. 98, and in 1597 per 39 Eliz. 1 ch. 11 in Raithby 1819a, pp. 911–912. Licensed importation of logwood was allowed in 29 February 1620 per Green 1858, vol. 112, while the ban on unlicensed importation was tightened in 1630 and 1636 by proclamation per McJunkin 1991, p. 98. The prohibition was finally lifted by 14 Chas. 2 ch. 11 passed sometime during 7 January 1662 – 3 May 1662 per Raithby 1819b, pp. 393–400, Green 1861, vol. 54 no. 12, and McJunkin 1991, p. 100.
- ^ Chronologically, the proposals regarding the earliest dates and places of logwood cutting include (non-exhaustively) –
- by 1599 in Yucatan (generally), by Thomas Burward and the Antelope crew (McJunkin 1991, pp. 105–106),
- by 1618 on New River, by English privateers (Gerhard 1979, p. 70, Marcus 1990, p. 102),
- by 29 May 1652 on Belize River, by English privateers (RWJ 1732, p. 3),
- after 1655 in Cape Catoche (first) and Campeachy (later), by Anglo-Jamaican privateers (Dampier 1700, pt. 2 pp. 46-48, Finamore 1994, p. 19),
- by 1660 on New or Hondo Rivers, by English privateers (Rushton 2014, p. 133),
- in 14 Aug. 1660 – 29 Dec. 1662 in Campeachy and 'a point on the eastern coast [of Yucatan] near Belize, by English 'filibusters' (Molina Solís 1910, pp. 244, 246, 249–250)
- by 1662 in Cape Catoche, by Anglo-Jamaican privateers (Bulmer-Thomas & Bulmer-Thomas 2016, p. 156, Ancona 1878, p. 371, Fancourt 1854, p. v, Calderón Quijano 1944, p. 42),
- by 1663 in Campeachy, by Jamaican privateers (Aliphat Fernández & Caso Barrera 2013, pp. 858–861, González Díaz & Lázaro de la Escosura 2010, p. 164),
- by 30 Nov. 1669 in Campeachy and Cape Catoche, by Jamaican privateers (Sainsbury 1889, sec. 'Nov. 1669' entry no. 129, and various subsequent entries),
- by 1670 in Campeachy, by Anglo-Jamaican privateers (Sloane 1707, p. lxxxiii).
- ^ Event dated by some to the 1600s or earlier, as in Reichert 2017, p. 23, Luján Muñoz 2005, p. 822, Levy 1873, p. 37, Ibarra Rojas 2011, p. xxviii.
- ^ The Company's first privateers were despatched in May 1636 (Newton 1914, p. 226). Their last privateers were despatched in July 1638 (Newton 1914, p. 266). Privateers were instructed, among other things, to impress Spanish pilots, including those familiar with the Bay of Honduras (Newton 1914, pp. 224–226, 229, 230, 232, Genkins 2018, pp. 87–88, Offen 2011, p. 32).
- ^ Bulmer-Thomas & Bulmer-Thomas 2016, p. 138 continue, noting 'we will never know with certainty who the first [British] settlers [of Belize] were,' noting that there is 'a certain justice in this, however, since we will also never know who were the first Palaeo-Indians or Maya in Belize.'
- ^ For instance, a recent report for the Belizean Foreign Office stated –
.As early as 1638 British settlers appear to have developed logwood activities in present day Belize; and it is certain that between 1662 and 1670 this activity became regular.
— Lauterpacht et al. 2001, pp. 87–88 - ^ This list is not exhaustive.
- ^ [A]unque algunos creen que Wallace se instaló en Belice hasta el año 1617, es probable que esto haya ocurrido antes. [...] Wallace compró seis buques que los tripuló con la gente mas desalmada de Londres y se dirigió a América el dia 14 de Mayo de 1603, [...] Sin tener ningun comprobante, me imagíno que es en esta expedición cuando él llaga a la desembocadura del RIO VIEJO, que desde entonces comienza a llamarse de Wallace o BELICE. [...] Es pues mas verosimil que en su viaje a América, emprendido en 1603 [Wallace] haya llegado a la desembocadura del Rio Viejo [...]. [...] El 7 de Marzo de 1604 fué reconocido el puerto de Santo Tomas de Castilla [...] Por este tiempo se estableció la flotilla de Honduras, compuesta de dos buques, y es muy probable que tambien por este tiempo haya llegado Wallace a la desembocadura del rio Viejo y establecido la ranchería que mas tarde se llamó Belice. [...] En 1607 el conde Mauricio, al mando de ocho naves holandesas asaltó Santo Tomas, [...].[A]lthough some believe that Wallace settled in Belize as late as 1617, it is likely that this occurred earlier. [...] Wallace bought six ships and manned them with the most heartless people in London and sailed to the Americas on 14 May 1603, [...] Though I cannot prove it, I imagine that it is on this expedition that he [first] reaches the mouth of the OLD RIVER, which since then begins to be called Wallace or BELIZE. [...] It is therefore more likely that on his journey to the Americas, undertaken in 1603 [Wallace] reached the mouth of the Old River [...]. [...] On 7 March 1604, the port of Santo Tomas de Castilla was discovered [...] By this time the flotilla of Honduras, composed of two ships, was established, and it is very likely that, [likewise] around this [same] time, Wallace arrived at the mouth of the Old River and established the settlement that was later called Belize. [...] In 1607 Count Mauricio, in command of eight Dutch ships, assaulted Santo Tomas, [...].
—Asturias 1925, pp. 8–9, 11
- ^ Balize, die jetzige hauptstadt von Britisch-Honduras, benannt nach dem Schotten Wallace (Wallis), einem der abenteurer, welche (um 1610) auf eigne faust in dem (damals span.) lande sich festzusetzen versuchten.Balize, the current capital of British Honduras, named after the Scotsman Wallace (Valais), one of the adventurers who (around 1610) tried to establish themselves in the (then Spanish) country.
—Egli 1872, p. 50, sec. B item Balize
- ^
Our knowledge of the locations and of the towns on New River and the upper Belize River is drawn from the account [by Cogolludo] of Fuensalida's journeys in 1618 and 1641. He [Fuensalida] calls New River "Río de Dzuluinicob" (literally, "river of the foreign men"), which, he says, meant "river of the Spaniards," and indeed Dzul is what the Maya called the Spaniards. J. E. S. Thompson ([personal] communication) suggests [that said toponym might rather or further indicate] the presence of early British logwood cutters, which seems very possible. On the Usumacinta River, however, the Dzul were certain enemies of the Maya Chontal. Their leader had a Mexican name, and they were presumably Nahuatl-speaking inhabitants of Tabasco. Since the remains at Santa Rita near the mouth of the New River display marked Mexican [non-Maya] characteristics, I suggest that the river's Maya name goes back to pre-Spanish times.
— Roys 1957, p. 163 - ^ [A]unque algunos creen que Wallace se instaló en Belice hasta el año 1617, es probable que esto haya ocurrido antes.[A]lthough some believe that Wallace settled in Belize as late as 1617, it is likely that this occurred earlier.
—Asturias 1925, p. 8
- ^
As to the State of the Bay of Honduras, I shall give it you as briefly as possible. The ancient City of Bacalar, situate in that Part of the Province of Yucatan, which lies on the Bay of Honduras, was twice sack'd, and at last totally ruined by the English many Years ago; on which the Logwood-Cutters of that Nation, who settled on the River of Valis, possessed themselves of the New River and that of Hondo; which last is distant from the Ruins of Bacalar about five Leagues. Here they built a great many Houses and Hutts, and employ'd Multitudes of Negroes in cutting Logwood, which was transported to Jamaica and Europe by Numbers of Vessels trading from thence to the Bay.
— RWJ 1732 - ^ (Known) 17th century sackings of Bacalar occurred in–
- in 1617 (s.d.) (Jones 1989, p. 320),
- in 1642 (s.d.) (Winzerling 1946, p. 59),
- in 1648 (s.d.) (Winzerling 1946, p. 59),
- in 1652 (29 May) (Winzerling 1946, p. 59).
- ^
THE PURITAN COLONISTS. In all the published historical records on the colony, the British colonization begins at Belize [City]. This is not true. It is due to insufficient research and the tendency to facile explanation. There are no Spanish geographic names between Monkey River and Belize [City]. Because of this I decided to search the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth century records on insular and mainland Caribbean history in the rare-books' sections of several of the great libraries of Europe. Works in Dutch, English, French, German, Latin, and Spanish were perused. My views expressed in these pages have been tempered in that light, but I have used only such as have a bearing on my subject. [...] On December 4, 1630 there was formed in London a company authorized by Charles I, "whereby Robert Earl of Warwick was made Governor in Chief and Lord High Admirall of all those islands and other plantations, inhabited, planted, or belonging to any of his Majesties the King of Englands subjects, within the bounds and upon the coast of America [...]" [In the Calendar of State Papers, 1574-1660, colonial series, published in 1860]. [...] The Earl of Warwick was a speculator in privateering, and a group of the wealthy Company of Merchant Adventurers in London were also backing him. Privateering was a part of their commercial interests, and in this they used the Puritans, who were in religious opposition to Charles I and his friendship for Spain, to assist them to colonize fortified sites from where they could raid the Spanish shipping and the Spanish Main. [...] The "Seaflower" brought the first batch of colonists to Santa Catalina or Old Providence in May 1631, most of them Puritans, with their governor, Captain Philip Bell, who had been governor of the Somers or Bermuda Islands in 1626-1627. When the colonists arrived this island was inhabited by some Dutch sea rovers amongst whom were the two brothers Captain William Albert Blauvelt and Abraham Blauvelt. [...] The selection of this island which lay in the track of the Plate Fleet was made by the Earl of Warwick's captains because of its position between the two main objectives, the Plate Fleet sailing from Panama to Havana, and the Cockscomb Coast as a base for bartering with the interior fo Guatemala. [...] Soon the colonists found out that the soil of Old Providence was worthless for their agriculture, and they began to look elsewhere. In 1631 they were active in Tortuga and resolved that henceforth that island should be called Association. But the island of Tortuga was also too small and too exposed to attack, and so they began in the same year to establish themselves in increased numbers on the Cockscomb Coast, a region from which they could not be expelled but by a strong Spanish naval force on account of the coral reefs, while to attack from the land would have been still costlier. Small plantations were already established here by Captain Daniel Elfrith who made the preliminary survey and recommendation [sometime during 1613-1624]. They cultivated the fresh soil which was then right on the beach and grew an abundance of potatoes and pumpkins. [...] in May and July 1633 Captain Sussex Camock was appointed director of a trade at Capt Gratia de Dios, with Edward Willaims and Nath. [...] For the trading stand the coast was selected which lies at the foot of the Cockscomb Mountainsn in the Bay of Honduras and is protected by the barrier-reef. Silk-grass grew there in great abundance in the creeks and lagoons where some Moskito Indians lived. [...] Thus the history of British colonization in the Bay began in 1629 with the privateers of the Earl of Warwick. It began with silk-grass and tobacco. This area is over 300 years in unbroken British occupation. They clearly gave the position as between 10 and 20 degrees north latitude, and 290 and 310 degrees of longitude, which of course was not computed from Greenwich but from Ferro, and puts Old Providence, Cape Gracias a Dios, and the Cockscomb Coast within its area, with the 20th parallel passing at Tortuga.
— Winzerling 1946, pp. 33–37, cap.6 - ^ Dícese que un bucanero escocés atrevido y emprendedor, llamado Peter Wallace, [...] determinó buscar un sítio á propósito en que colocar perpetuamente su guarida. Como esto ocurria á mediados del siglo XVII la costa de Yucatan bañada del golfo de Honduras, se hallaba totalmente deshabitada de españoles, pues el único establecimiento que allí habia, el de Bacalar, habia sido aniquilado por la irrupcion del filibustero Abraham (en 1648 y 1652, segun Cogollydo) y por la sublevacion de los indios de aquel distrito. Wallace hizo un perfecto reconocimineto de aquellos bajos y arrecifes, y despues de un exámen diligente halló en nuestras costas un rio enteramente á cubierto con una series de cayos y bajos; y desembarcó allí con unos ochenta piratas, que desde el momento mismo construyeron unas cuantas chozas circunvaladas de una especie de empalizada ó ruda fortaleza. Dieron aquellos aventureros el nombre de Wallace al rio en cuyas márgenes se establecieron, nombre que despues degeneró en Wallix, y por último en Belice, [...].It is said that a daring and enterprising Scottish buccaneer, named Peter Wallace, [...] determined to find a suitable site in which to establish a permanent [pirate's] lair. As this happened in the middle of the 17th century, the coast of [southeaster] Yucatan [which is] bathed by the Gulf of Honduras, was totally uninhabited by Spaniards, since the only establishment that existed there, that of Bacalar, had been annihilated by a depredation of Abraham, the filibuster (in 1648 and 1652, according to Cogolludo) and by the uprising of the Indians of that district. Wallace made a perfect reconnaissance of those shoals and reefs, and after diligent examination he found on our shores a river entirely covered with a series of cayes and shoals; and he landed there with about eighty pirates, who from the same moment built a few huts surrounded by a kind of palisade or rude fortress. Those adventurers gave the name of Wallace to the river on whose banks they settled, a name that later degenerated into Wallix, and finally into Belize, [...].
—F 1849, p. 3
- ^ Intelligence commonly attributed to Justo Sierra O'Reilly, a well-esteemed Meridian journalist, novelist, and historian, and thereby judged reliable or highly reliable by Mexican authorities, though O'Reilly did not make it a practice to cite sources in his historical texts (Nuñez Ortega 1877, pp. 8–9).
- ^
HONDURAS (BRITISH), [...] This coast was discovered by Columbus, in 1502; the date of its first settlement by Europeans is uncertain. It was transferred from Spain to England by treaty, in 1670, but its occupation was contested at different times by the Spaniards, down to 1798, since which it has remained quietly in our possession. (Henderson's Account of Honduras; Parl. Papers, &c.)
— McCulloch 1841, pp. 1014–1015 - ^ Todavía hay otra asercion del Sr. Sierra, relativa á la época en que fué fundado Belice, que merece algun exámen. Colocal el hecho en el segundo tercio del siglo XVII; y aunque esto parece ser la mas probable, no está suficientemente comprobado en la historia. [...]. Todas las probabilidades indican, al contrario, que la fundacion de Belice tuvo lugar en el último tercio del siglo XVII. Al ménos, puede comprobarse suficientemente que desde esta época, existia ya un nido de piratas ó cortadores de palo en el sitio donde hoy se levanta la colonia británica.There is still another assertion of Mr. Sierra's, regarding the time during which Belize was founded, which deserves some attention. He places the event in the second third of the seventeenth century; and although this seems to be the most probable date, it is not sufficiently supported by historical evidence. [...]. All probabilities indicate, to the contrary, that the founding of Belize took place in the last third of the seventeenth century. Or at a minimum, it can be sufficiently demonstrated that by this time, there already existed a nest of pirates or wood cutters in the place where the British colony today stands.
—Ancona 1878, pp. 374–375
- ^ Intelligence attributed to Justo Sierra O'Reilly by Ancona 1878, pp. 374–375.
- ^
1638.----This year a few British subjects first inhabited Honduras, having been wrecked on the Coast.
— HA 1829, p. 40 - ^
Wallice [was a] Lieutenant among the Bucaniers who formerly infested these seas......he first discovered the mouth of the River Belize [in 1638].
— HA 1827, p. 5 via Bulmer-Thomas & Bulmer-Thomas 2016, p. 139 - ^ Die Anfänge der britischen Niederlassungen reichen bis 1640 zurüd, wo wahrscheinlich westindische Flibustier durch Sciffbruch an diese Küste getrieben wurden. Von einem derselben, dem Schotten Wallace (Wallis, Willis) soll sich der Name Valize, Balize (wie die Spanier schrieben) herleiten, den die Engländer in Belize umwandelten.The beginnings of British settlement [in Honduras] date back to 1640, when West Indian flibustiers were driven to this coast, probably by shipwreck. The name Valize, or Balize (as the Spaniards write it), derives from one of these flibustiers, the Scotsman Wallace (Wallis, Willis), which name the English changed to Belize.
—Ungewitter & Hopf 1872, p. 693
- ^
The British Settlement of Honduras, of which Belize is the capital, cannot be traced to be of any greater antiquity than from the administration of Oliver Cromwell, in Great Britain, at which period it was, from its remote and secret situation, used by the English, rather as a place of refuge and concealment, from the dreadful and savage warfare then carried on by the Spaniards [...] .
— HA 1826, p. 5 via WR 1828, p. 4 - ^ 'Cromwell was Lord Protector from 1649 until his death in 1658, although it could be argued that his 'administration' included the years of the Civil War that began in 1642' (Bulmer-Thomas & Bulmer-Thomas 2016, p. 139, footnote no. 8)
- ^
We can be fairly certain that there was no permanent British presence in Belize before 1642 and the reasons for this are straightforward. The Bay of Honduras, including the Belize cayes, was guarded by two Spanish forts. The first was at Salamanca de Bacalar [...]. [...]. While the fortress [at Bacalar] was in full operation, it would have been impossible for the British to gain a permanent foothold. However, Salamanca de Bacalar was sacked by Diego ‘el Mulato’ in 1642. [...]. The fortress at Bacalar was not totally destroyed and the Spanish did their best to rebuild it. However, it was then sacked in 1648 and again in 1652 [...]. From then onwards until 1729, the fortress at Salamanca de Bacalar was abandoned by the Spanish. Meanwhile, Captain William Jackson [...] had sacked Trujillo with exceptional ferocity in 1642 and rendered its fortifications unuseable for a number of years, so that the Spanish could no longer defend the Bay of Honduras from the south either. The necessary conditions for the permanent occupation of the Belizean cayes by the British were therefore in place by the end of 1642. [...]. If the necessary conditions for a permanent British presence had been met by the end of 1642, this did not automatically mean that the British actually took advantage of the new situation. [...]. [...]. [In 1667 and 1670] England agreed to end privateering and to suppress piracy. [...]. For the settlement of Belize by the British, we should therefore distinguish between the period before 1670 and the period after. In the first period, which starts from 1642, there may have been some scope for privateers to make Belize their home but it would not have been easy. The opportunities for laying in stores, refitting ships and spending profits were strictly limited on the Belizean cayes. From 1655, furthermore, Jamaica was a much more attractive base for such activities. Thus, any settlers before 1670 are likely to have been much less glamorous than the privateers. After 1670, when the former privateers were becoming pirates, Belize may have been more tempting [...]. However, settlers in Belize were about to turn to a much more prosaic activity (the extraction of logwood) [...]. Indeed, we know for sure that logwood was being cut and exported by 1680. Although we have shown there were many British subjects who might have had an interest in settling in Belize after 1642, we have very little solid evidence. [...]. After 1670 the attraction of the Belizean coastline for pirates would have been greater. [...]. Most of the privateers [...] opted for a more secure existence after 1670 and many found it in logwood extraction. Their first settlement was at Cabo Catoche at the north-eastern point of the Yucatán peninsula. [...]. Only when the logwood at Cabo de Catoche was exhausted did they turn their attention to the coast of Belize. When they started to arrive, probably in the 1670s, they would likely have found a small number of British settlers already scattered among the cayes.
— Bulmer-Thomas & Bulmer-Thomas 2016, pp. 151–156 - ^
[T]he archaeological investigations that are the focus of the present work provide no corroborating evidence for theories of semi-permanent English settlement during the first half of the seventeenth century. [...] The Belize settlement received regular introductions of new European populations from the early 1680s on, such as the mutinous crew of Captain Coxon, who were sent there to evacuate the logwood cutters [...].
— Finamore 1994, pp. 23–24 - ^ Finamore did not excavate site near the mouth of Haulover Creek, in or near Belize City, nor in nearby cayes, as their fieldwork focussed only on New River, Barcadares (now Grace Bank), and Convention Town (a few miles upstream of Lord's Bank) (Finamore 1994, pp. 108–163, cap. 4).
- ^
[A]fter the conquest of Jamaica by the English, it soon appeared what a formidable rival was now seated in the neighbourhood of the Spanish territories. One of the first objects that tempted the English, was the great profit arising from the logwood trade, and the facility of wresting some portion of it from the Spaniards. Some adventurers from Jamaica made the first attempt at Cape Catoche, the south-east promontory of Yucatan, and by cutting logwood there, carried on a gainful traffic. When most of the trees near the coast in that place were felled, they removed to the island of Trist, in the Bay of Campeachy; and in latter times, their principal station has been in the Bay of Honduras. The Spaniards, alarmed at this encroachment, endeavoured by negociaiton, remonstrances, and open force, to prevent the English from obtaining any footing on that part of the American continent. But after struggling against it for more than a century, the disasters of last war extorted from the court of Madrid a reluctant consent to tolerate this settlement of foreigners in the heart of its territories.
— Robertson 1777, p. 331 - ^ [U]n grupo de escoceses acaudillados por Peter Wallace se asentó allí [en el bosque tintóreo sobre las márgenes del río Belice] hacia 1663, dedicándose al corte y contrabando de este producto.[A] group of Scots led by Peter Wallace settled there [in the dye forest on the banks of the Belize River] around 1663, dedicating themselves to cutting and smuggling said product.
—González Díaz & Lázaro de la Escosura 2010, p. 167
- ^ Para nosotros, la más aproximada [fecha del establecimiento de Wallace en el Río Viejo] es la opinión de Molina Solís, quien dice que en Febrero de 1663 amenazaba a la Provincia de Yucatán un grave peligro "...con la ocupación permanente que habían hecho los filibusteros de la Isla de Términos y un punto de la costa oriental cercano a Honduras, que después se llamó Belize...". Esto concuerda perfectamente con la noticia dada por Fancourt del primer corte de palo en Catoche en 1662, al cual siguieron los demás de la costa oriental. Pero además, y en corroboración de ello podemos aducir los numerosos testimonios documentales que prueban la existencia del establecimiento de Valis antes de 1670. En éstos no se especifica la fecha inicial—cosa no estraña, ya que se trataba de un uso furtivo y oculto—, pero se deja apuntada. Por todo ello, podemos afirmar sin gran temor, fué entre los años 1662 y 1670, cuando con una cierta regularidad quedó establecido el corte de palo en lo que hoy constituye Belice.For us, the most accurate [estimate of the date of Wallace's establishment in the Belize River] is that of Molina Solís, who says that in February 1663 the Province of Yucatan was ominously threatened "...with the permanent occupation that the filibusters had effected in the Isle of Terminos [Tris] and a point on the eastern coast near Honduras, which was later called Belize...". This agrees perfectly with the news given by Fancourt of the first cutting of logwood in [Cape] Catoche in 1662, which was followed by the other logwood stands on the eastern coast. But in addition, and in corroboration of this we can adduce the numerous documentary testimonials that prove the existence of the Valis [Belize] establishment before 1670. In said documents the founding date is not specified—which is not surprising, since Valis was a furtive and hidden plantation—, but it is hinted at. For all these reasons, we can affirm without great fear that it was between 1662 and 1670, when the cutting of wood was established with some regularity in what is now Belize.
—Calderón Quijano 1944, pp. 47–49
- ^ La primera tentativa de este género [de corte de palo de tinte por filibusteros ingleses] se hizo en el Cabo Catoche hácia el año de 1662, y este hecho importante, cuya noticia debemos á un escritor, que fué por muchos años superintendente de Belice [Fancourt] pasa casi desaparcibido en nuestras crónicas. [...]. [L]uego que éstos hubieren agotado los árboles mas inmediatos á la costa, y temiendo sin duda internarse demasiado, se dirigieron, segun asegura Róbertson, primero á la isla de Tris, nombre que entónces se daba al Cármen, y luego á la bahía de Honduras, donde colocaron su principal establecimiento. [...]. [A]unque Fancourt cita el año de 1662, como época en que comenzó el corte de palo en el Cabo Catoche, no conocemos el número de años que medió entre esta primera tentativa y la fundacion de Belice. [...]. [Pero] no es verosímil que hubiesen transcurrido cuarenta ó cincuenta [ó más] años entre la época en que se agotó el palo en Cabo Catoche y la fundacion de un establecimiento permanente en la costa de Yucatan, bañada por el golfo de Honduras.The first attempt of this kind [of logwood cutting by English filibusters] was made at Cape Catoche around the year 1662, and this important fact, the news of which we owe to a writer, who was for many years superintendent of Belize [Fancourt] goes almost unnoticed in our chronicles. [...]. [A]fter they had exhausted the trees closest to the coast, and undoubtedly fearing to go too far inland, they headed, according to Robertson, first to the island of Tris, the name which was then given to [Isla del] Cármen, and then to the bay of Honduras, where they planted their main establishment. [...]. [A]lthough Fancourt cites the year 1662 as the date when the cutting of logwood began at Cabo Catoche, we do not know the number of years that elapsed between this first attempt and the founding of Belize. [...]. [But] it is not probable that forty or fifty [or more] years would had elapsed between the time when the logwood ran out in Cabo Catoche and the foundation of a permanent establishment on the Yucatan coast, bathed by the Bay of Honduras.
—Ancona 1878, pp. 370–371, 374
- ^ Mac Culloch dice que la palabra Belice viene del nombre de un pirata inglés llamado Wallice, y que el primer Establecimiento de los ingleses se hizo poco despues del tratado con España en 1667.Mac Culloch says that the word Belize comes from the name of an English pirate called Wallice, and that the first English Settlement was made shortly after the treaty with Spain in 1667.
—Nuñez Ortega 1877, pp. 7–8
- ^ Todas las probabilidades indican [...] que la fundacion de Belice tuvo lugar en el último tercio del siglo XVII. Al ménos, puede comprobarse suficientemente que desde esta época, existia ya un nido de piratas ó cortadores de palo en el sitio donde hoy se levante la colonia británica. Tenemos para apoyar esta asercion [lo siguiente]. D. Juan de Villagutierre y Sotomayor, que escribió su historia de la conquista del Peten en el año de 1699, hablando de las regiones que median entre Yucatan y Guatemala, dice que era muy peligroso viajar por mar de una á otra provincia, á causa de los bajos y arrecifes que existen en aquella costa, y de los piratas y otros enemigos de España, que se albergaban en sus caletas y ensenadas. [...]. Como la [dicha] descripcion conviene perfectamente al asiento que hoy ocupa la colonia británica, parece fuera de toda duda que desde entónces se comenzó á formar, y que sus fundadores fueron los piratas que asolaban las costas de Yucatan y de la Nueva España.All probabilities indicate [...] that the founding of Belize took place in the last third of the 17th century. At least, it can be sufficiently verified that from this time, there already existed a nest of pirates or wood cutters in the place where the British colony stands today. We have to support this assertion [the following]. Mr. Juan de Villagutierre y Sotomayor, who wrote his history of the conquest of Peten in the year 1699, speaking of the region between Yucatan and Guatemala, says that it was very dangerous to travel by sea from one province to another, because of the shoals and reefs that exist on that coast, and of the pirates and other enemies of Spain, who were sheltering in its coves and inlets. [...]. As [said] description perfectly suits the region that the British colony occupies today, it seems beyond any doubt that it began to form from then on, and that its founders were the pirates who devastated the coasts of Yucatan and New Spain.
—Ancona 1878, pp. 374–376
- ^ Der Ursprung dieser Niederlassung [Balize] gründet sich auf den Berfall des Flibustierwesens zu Anfang des vorigen Jahrhunderts. Engl. Äbenteurer, denen das Seeräuberhandwerk zu gefährlich ward, benutzten ihre genaue Kenntnisß der Festlandküste, um in der an kostbaren Farbehölzern reichen Gegend zwischen dem Balize und Hondoflusse ein anscheinend ehrliches Gewerbe zu beginnen.The origin of this settlement [Balize] is based on the incursion of flibustiers at the beginning of the last century. English adventurers, who found the trade of piracy too dangerous, used their precise knowledge of the mainland coast to begin an apparently honest trade in the region between the Balize and Hondo rivers, which is rich in valuable colored wood.
—Brockhaus 1864, p. 616
- ^ Misattributed to Wallace in Calderón Quijano 1944, pp. 47–48.
- ^ En la época del gobierno colonial, á principios del siglo pasado (1717) comenzó á formarse la poblacion ó colonia de súbditos de la corona de Inglaterra en un extremo de la parte meridional de la Península yucateca, con motivo del corte de palo de tinte. [...] Cuando los ingleses fueron desalojados de la laguna de Términos fueron á posesionarse del extremo meridional de la Península, mas allá del Rio Hondo, y que por el nombre del caudillo de aquellos filibusteros, Walasse, aquel lugar comenzó á llamarse Walix (Belice).At the time of the colonial government, in the beginning of the last century (1717), a population or colony of subjects of the crown of England began to take shape in a far-flung corner of the southern part of the Yucatecan Peninsula, [and its formations was] due to the cutting of dyewood. [...] When the English were evicted from the Laguna de Terminos they went to take possession of the southern end of the Peninsula, beyond the Hondo River, and because of the name of the leader of those filibusters, Walasse, that place began to be called Walix (Belize).
—Carillo y Ancona 1871, pp. 55, 210
- ^ Misdated to 16th century in Calderón Quijano 1944, pp. 47–48.
Short citations
- ^ Finamore 1994, p. 2.
- ^ De la O Torres 2016, p. 43.
- ^ De la O Torres 2020, p. 183.
- ^ Chamberlain 1953, p. 225.
- ^ Marley 2008, pp. 102–103.
- ^ Wright 1932, pt. 1 doc. no. 29.
- ^ De la O Torres 2020, pp. 285–286.
- ^ Wright 1932, pp. 102–108, 196–198.
- ^ Figueroa, Johnson & Goodwin 2021, pp. 186–187.
- ^ Finamore 1994, pp. 21–22.
- ^ Calderón Quijano 1944, pp. 40–41.
- ^ Gerhard 1979, p. 70.
- ^ Lauterpacht et al. 2001, p. 87.
- ^ a b MacLeod 1973, p. 355.
- ^ MacLeod 1973, p. 358.
- ^ Zahedieh 1986, pp. 216–218.
- ^ Obando Andrade 2016, pp. 12–16.
- ^ García Paláez 1852a, pp. 122–126.
- ^ McJunkin 1991, pp. 41, 79–80, 88–89.
- ^ McJunkin 1991, pp. 87, 89–90.
- ^ McJunkin 1991, pp. 100, 102–103.
- ^ Finamore 1994, p. 19.
- ^ Genkins 2018, pp. 51–53.
- ^ De la O Torres 2020, p. 336.
- ^ González Díaz & Lázaro de la Escosura 2010, pp. 182–183.
- ^ Newton 1914, p. 86.
- ^ Newton 1914, p. 103.
- ^ Genkins 2018, p. 69, fn. no. 55.
- ^ Naylor 1989, pp. 30–31.
- ^ Marcus 1990, pp. 71–73.
- ^ Newton 1914, p. 207.
- ^ Genkins 2018, pp. 85–86.
- ^ Offen 2011, p. 23.
- ^ Campbell 2011, pp. 129–130, 138.
- ^ Kupperman 1993, pp. 213, 280–281.
- ^ Newton 1914, pp. 267, 315.
- ^ Ibarra Rojas 2011, p. 82.
- ^ a b Davidson 1974, p. 49.
- ^ Mihok 2013, pp. 92–93.
- ^ Naylor 1989, p. 34.
- ^ Campbell 2011, p. 129.
- ^ Marcus 1990, p. 74.
- ^ Jones 1989, pp. 189–191, 204–210.
- ^ López de Cogolludo 1688, lib. 11 cap. 12.
- ^ Vazquez Barke 2012, p. 50.
- ^ Cárdenas Valencia 1937, p. 97.
- ^ Gerhard 1979, p. 72.
- ^ Calderón Quijano 1944, pp. 41–42.
- ^ Finamore 1994, p. 21.
- ^ Bridges 1828, p. 134.
- ^ Campbell 2011, p. 95.
- ^ Bulmer-Thomas & Bulmer-Thomas 2016, p. 138.
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