History in the Colonial Period: the Arrival of the Expatriate
Community
The bust in the mahogany business, which was the primary product
in the almost totally export based economy, caused the old settler elite to
either go into partnerships with or be taken over by London based
investors. As a result, by 1890, it was this newly arrived expatriate
community, a dominant racial and social minority of some 400 persons,
which formed the tiny apex of the controlling social order in Belize
town.
They had settled in town as early as 1830 and formed marriage
alliances with the Belize-born elite, cementing the two groups together
as the upper echelon of the town's society. This landed monopoly, which
by 1890 controlled almost 85% of the land in Belize, had control that made
it so no income or property tax accrued on their worth. They kept out the
building of public works and paved roads, and no rail lines were laid in the
entire country. (Foster,1987)
The city finally dredged the canals in 1885, which had served as
sewer and drainage utilities since the building of the city. The richer
north side's canal was dredged in the winter, at a greater expense, than
the south side which was drained in the heat of the summer, piling sewage
imbued sediment on the banks. This caused more outbreaks of disease, and
creating political turmoil.
State of the city by 1930:
In 1930, the city had 150,00
people. The
streets of the capital, in many instances were tracks through the mud and
housing was flimsy, closely packed and a perpetual fire risk. At the same
time, yards were mostly swamps, accessible only by duck boards. The
water supply, which depended on vats, was unreliable and for six months
out of the year, the poorer classes suffered much inconvience and
distress due to a lack of water for everyday uses. This compounded and
was a cause of the 'appalling sanitary conditions in the capital which
were either very primitive or entirely lacking.'
In consequence, 36% of all deaths in Belize City were attributable to
Malaria and 29% to dysentery, while internal parasites and Tuberculosis
were rife. (Foster, 1987)
>Early Migrations and their effect:
In 1848, after the
mahogany
bust, thousands of refugees from the caste war in the Yucatan in Mexico
more than doubled the population of the settlement and introduced a large
number of Mestizo's and Maya with a different culture, location and a
history of Agricultural activity. Before that, some rum was being
produced, but the sugar came from the Yucatan, although in Belize, sugar
grew abundantly.
The immigrants settled in northern Belize, establishing there the
first villages of small and independent cultivators of rice, corn,
vegetables, tobacco and sugar.
Local rulers continued to prevent the African population from
agricultural activity in order to maintain a secure labor supply for the
now diminished mahogany trade. They, however encouraged the new
immigrants to pursue agricultural activity.
At the turn of the century, the dominant features of Belize's
political economy were an extreme monopolization of land ownership,
with "Belize Estate" owning well over a million acres of land, and the
economy still almost totally based on Mahogany export. (Shoman, SPEAR;
second annual studies, 1990)