BookRags.com Literature Guides Literature
Guides
Criticism & Essays Criticism &
Essays
Questions & Answers Questions &
Answers
Lesson Plans Lesson
Plans
My Bibliography Periodic Table U.S. Presidents Shakespeare Sonnet Shake-Up
Research Anything:        
History | Encyclopedias | Films | News | Create a Bibliography | More... Login | Register | Help

Search "Belize"

Contents Navigation
 
Not What You Meant?  There are 35 definitions for San Pablo.  Also try: San Ignacio or Santa Elena or Libertad or UTC-6.

Belize

Print-Friendly  Order the PDF version  Order the RTF version
About 12 pages (3,459 words)
Belize Summary

Bookmark and Share Know this topic well? Help others and get FREE products!

Belize

POPULATION 262,999
ROMAN CATHOLICISM 49.6 percent
PROTESTANTISM 27.0 percent
OTHER 14.0 percent
NONRELIGIOUS 9.4 percent

Country Overview

Introduction

Belize, known as British Honduras until 1973, is located on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. It is bordered by Mexico to the north and Guatemala to the west and south.

During the 1700s British colonists and their African slaves went to Belize from other British-controlled Caribbean islands for agricultural development and to exploit the forests for lumber and dyes. Belize achieved its independence from Britain in 1981 and became part of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Its government is a parliamentary democracy with a prime minister. Nevertheless, Guatemala has continued to insist that part of southern Belize belongs to the Republic of Guatemala, and maps of that country have historically included Belize as part of its national territory.

Because of its British influence, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the national language. Protestantism was the dominant religion until the 1930s. As a result of the large-scale immigration of Spanish-speaking peoples from Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the size of the Spanish-speaking Catholic population had increased to about half of the nation's total population by the year 2000.

This is a free page. This page contains 201 words. This article contains 3,459 words (approx. 12 pages at 300 words per page).

Read the rest of this Article with our Belize Access Pass.

Ask any question on Belize and get it answered FAST!
Answer questions in BookRags Q&A and earn points toward
discounted or even FREE Study Guides and other BookRags products!
Learn more about BookRags Q&A
Copyrights
Belize from Encyclopedia of Religious Practices. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.

Join BookRagslearn moreJoin BookRags




About BookRags | Customer Service | Report an Error | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy