BRITISH HONDURAS 1949 KGVI UPU MINT BLOCKS SET SC #137-140 SG #172-175 PLATE #1

Description

BRITISH HONDURAS
BELIZE
1949 KGVI 75 TH ANNIVERSARY of the UPU
MINT NEVER HINGED (MNH) BLOCKS
ALL 4 BLOCKS with PLATE # 1
Era: George VI (1936 - 1952)
CARIBBEAN, WEST INDIES
British Honduras
British Honduras was a British Crown colony on the east coast of CentralAmerica, south of Mexico, from 1749 to 1964, then a self-governing colony,renamed Belize in June 1973,[3] until September 1981, when itgained full independence as Belize. British Honduraswas the last continental possession of the United Kingdom in the Americas.
The colony grew out of the Treaty of Versailles (1783) betweenBritain and Spain, which gave the British rights to cut logwood betweenthe Hondo and Belize rivers. The Convention ofLondon (1786) expanded this concession to include the areabetween the Belize and Sibun rivers.[4] In 1862, the Settlement ofBelize in the Bay of Honduras wasdeclared a British colony called British Honduras, and the Crown'srepresentative was elevated to a lieutenant governor,subordinate to the governor of Jamaica.[5]
Maya emigration and conflict
As the British consolidated their settlement and pushed deeperinto the interior in search of mahogany in the late 18th century, theyencountered resistance from the Maya. In the second half of the 19th century,however, a combination of events outside and inside the colony redefined theposition of the Maya.[5]
During the Caste War in Yucatán, a devastating struggle that halved thepopulation of the area between 1847 and 1855, thousands of refugees fled to theBritish settlement. The Legislative Assembly had given large landowners in thecolony firm titles to their vast estates in 1855 but did not allow the Maya toown land. The Maya could only rent land or live on reservations. Nevertheless,most of the refugees were small farmers, who by 1857 were growing considerablequantities of sugar, rice, corn, and vegetables in the Northern District(now Corozal and Orange Walk districts).In 1857, the town of Corozal, then six years old, had 4,500 inhabitants, secondin population only to Belize Town, which had 7,000 inhabitants. Some Maya whohad fled the strife in the north, but had no wish to become British subjects,settled in the remote Yalbac Hills, just beyond the woodcutting frontier in thenorthwest. By 1862, about 1,000 Maya established themselves in 10 villages inthis area, with the center in San Pedro. One group of Maya, led by MarcosCanul, attacked a mahogany camp on the Bravo River in 1866, demanding ransomfor their prisoners and rent for their land. A detachment of British troopssent to San Pedro was defeated by the Maya later that year. Early in 1867, morethan 300 British troops marched into the Yalbac Hills and destroyed the Mayanvillages, provision stores, and granaries in an attempt to drive them out ofthe district. The Maya returned, however, and in April 1870, Canul and his menmarched into Corozal and occupied the town.[5]
Two years later, Canul and 150 men attacked the barracks at Orange Walk. Afterseveral hours of fighting, Canul's group retired. Canul, mortally wounded, diedon 1 September 1872. That battle was the last serious attack on the colony.[5]
In the 1880s and 1890s, Mopán and Kekchí Maya fled from forced labour inGuatemala and came to British Honduras. They settled in several villages insouthern British Honduras, mainly around San Antonio in Toledo District. The Maya could use Crownlands set aside as reservations, but these people[clarificationneeded] lacked communal rights. Under thepolicy of indirect rule, asystem of elected alcaldes (mayors),adopted from Spanish local government, linked these Maya to the colonialadministration. However, the remoteness of the area of British Honduras inwhich they settled, combined with their largely subsistence way of life,resulted in the Mopán and Kekchí Maya maintaining more of their traditional wayof life and becoming less assimilated into the colony than the Maya of thenorth. The Mopán and Kekchí Maya maintained their languages and a strong senseof identity. But in the north, the distinction between Maya and Spanish wasincreasingly blurred, and a Mestizo cultureemerged. In different ways and to different degrees, then, the Maya whoreturned to British Honduras in the 19th century became incorporated into thecolony as poor and dispossessed ethnic minorities.
By the end of the 19th century, the ethnic pattern that remainedlargely intact throughout the 20th century was in place: Protestants largely ofAfrican descent, who spoke either English or Creole, lived in Belize Town; theRoman Catholic Maya and Mestizos spoke Spanish and lived chiefly in the northand west; and the Roman Catholic Garifuna who spoke English, Spanish, orGarifuna and settled on the southern coast.[5]
Formal establishment of the colony, 1862–1871
The forestry industry's control of land and its influence incolonial decision making hindered the development of agriculture and thediversification of the economy. In many parts of the Caribbean, large numbersof former slaves, some of whom had engaged in the cultivation and marketing offood crops, became landowners. British Honduras had vast areas of sparselypopulated, unused land. Nevertheless, land ownership was controlled by a smallEuropean monopoly, thwarting the evolution of a Creole landowning class fromthe former slaves. Rather than the former slaves, it was the Garifuna,Maya and Mestizos who pioneered agriculture in 19th-century British Honduras.These groups either rented land or lived as squatters. However, the dominationof the land by forestry interests continued to stifle agriculture and kept muchof the population dependent on imported foods.[5]
Landownership became even more consolidated during the economicdepression of the mid-19th century. Exports of mahogany peaked at over 4million linear metres in 1846 but fell to about 1.6 million linear meters in1859 and 8,000 linear meters in 1870, the lowest level since the beginning ofthe century. Mahogany and logwood continued to account for over 80 percent ofthe total value of exports, but the price of these goods was so low that theeconomy was in a state of prolonged depression after the 1850s. Major resultsof this depression included the decline of the old settler class, theincreasing consolidation of capital and the intensification of Britishlandownership. The British Honduras Company emerged as the predominantlandowner of the Crown colony. The firm originated in a partnership between oneof the old settler families and a London merchant and was registered in 1859 asa limited company. The firm expanded, often atthe expense of others who were forced to sell their land.
Largely as a result of the costly military expeditions againstthe Maya, the expenses of administering the new colony of British Hondurasincreased, and that at a time of severe depression in the economy. Largelandowners and merchants dominated the Legislative Assembly, which controlledthe colony's revenues and expenditures. Some of the landowners also hadinvolvement in commerce, but their interest differed from those of the othermerchants of Belize Town. The former group resisted the taxation of land andfavoured an increase in import duties; the latter preferred the opposite.Moreover, the merchants in the town felt relatively secure from Mayan attacksand reluctant to contribute toward the protection of mahogany camps, whereasthe landowners felt that they should not be required to pay taxes on landsgiven inadequate protection. These conflicting interests produced a stalematein the Legislative Assembly, which failed to authorise the raising ofsufficient revenue. Unable to agree among themselves, the members of theLegislative Assembly surrendered their political privileges and asked for theestablishment of direct British rule in return for the greater securityof Crown colony status. The new constitutionwas inaugurated in April 1871 and the Legislative Council became the newlegislature.[5]
Colonialorder, 1871–1931
Under the new constitution of 1871, the Lieutenant Governor andthe Legislative Council, consisting of five ex-officio or "official"and four appointed or "unofficial" members, governed BritishHonduras. This constitutional change confirmed and completed a change in thelocus and form of power in the colony's political economy that had evolvedduring the preceding half-century. The change moved power from the old settleroligarchy to the boardrooms of British companies and to the Colonial Office inLondon.[5]
In 1875, the British Honduras Company became the Belize Estateand Produce Company, a London-based business that owned about half of all theprivately held land in the colony. The new company was the chief force inBritish Honduras's political economy for over a century.[5]
This concentration and centralisation of capital meant that thedirection of the colony's economy was henceforth determined largely in London.It also signalled the eclipse of the old settler elite. By about 1890, mostcommerce in British Honduras was in the hands of a clique of Scottish andGerman merchants, most of them newcomers. This clique encouraged consumption ofimported goods and thus furthered British Honduras's dependence on Britain. TheEuropean minority exercised great influence in the colony's politics, partlybecause it was guaranteed representation on the wholly appointed LegislativeCouncil. The manager of the Belize Estate and Produce Company, for example, wasautomatically a member of the council, while members of the emerging Creoleelite were excluded from holding seats on the council. The Creoles requested in1890 that some seats on the council be opened to election (as had occurred inCanada and New Zealand) in the hope of winning seats, but the LegislativeCouncil refused. In 1892, the Governor appointed several Creole members, butwhites remained the majority. In 1919 demobilised Creole servicemen protestedBritish racism, but British troops soon stopped this spontaneous protest, whichwas indicative of discontent but had little lasting effect. In the 1920s, theColonial Office supported agitation for an elective council as long as theGovernor had reserve powers to allow him to push through any measures heconsidered essential without the council's assent. But the council rejectedthese provisos, and the issue of restoring elections was postponed.[5]
Despite the prevailing stagnation of the colony's economy andsociety during most of the century prior to the 1930s, seeds of change werebeing sown. The mahogany trade remained depressed, and efforts to developplantation agriculture in several crops, including sugarcane, coffee, cocoa,cotton, bananas and coconuts failed. In 1894 mahogany workers rioted against acut in their real wages caused by devaluation, but British troops soon stoppedthis spontaneous protest. A brief revival in the forestry industry took placeearly in the 20th century as new demands for forest products came from theUnited States. Exports of chicle, a gum taken from the sapodilla treeand used to make chewing gum, propped up the economy from the 1880s. Much ofthe gum was tapped in Mexican and Guatemalan forests by Mayan chicleros who hadbeen recruited by labour contractors in British Honduras. A short-lived boom inthe mahogany trade occurred around 1900 in response to growing demand for thewood in the United States, but the ruthless exploitation of the forests withoutany conservation or reforestation depleted resources. The introduction oftractors and bulldozers opened up new areas in the west and south in the 1920s,but this development led again to only a temporary revival. At this time,mahogany, cedar and chicle together accounted for 97 percent of forestproduction and 82 percent of the total value of exports. The economy, which wasincreasingly oriented toward trade with the United States, remained dependentand underdeveloped.[5]
Creoles, who were well-connected with businesses in the UnitedStates, challenged the traditional political-economic connection with Britainas trade with the United States intensified. Men such as Robert S. Turton, theCreole chicle buyer for Wrigley's, and Henry I.Melhado, whose merchant family dealt in illicit liquor during prohibition,became major political and economic figures. In 1927, Creole merchants andprofessionals replaced the representatives of British landowners, (except forthe manager of the Belize Estate and Produce Company) on the LegislativeCouncil. The participation of this Creole elite in the political process wasevidence of emerging social changes that were largely concealed by economicstagnation. These changes accelerated with such force in the 1930s that theyushered in a new era of modern politics.[5]
Government
Before 1884 the colonial administration of British Honduras wasrather haphazard. In the early days, the colonists governed themselves under apublic meeting system, similar to the town meeting systemused in New England. A set of regulations called "Burnaby's Code"was adopted in 1765, which continued in force until 1840, when an executivecouncil was created. Also in 1840, the colony formally became known as BritishHonduras, although it was also referred to as "the Belize". In 1853the public meeting system was abandoned in favour of a legislative assembly,part of which was elected by a restricted franchise. The assembly was presidedover by the British superintendent, an office created in 1784.
From 1749 until 1884, British Honduras was governed as a dependency of the British colony ofJamaica. Upon its designation as a Crown colony in 1871, a Lieutenant Governorunder the Governor of Jamaica replaced the superintendent, and a nominatedlegislative council replaced the legislative assembly. When the colony wasfinally severed from the administration of Jamaica in 1884, it gained its ownGovernor.
In 1935 legislative franchise was reintroduced with a lowerincome qualification. Universal adult franchise was adopted in 1954, and amajority of seats in the legislature were made elective. A ministerial systemwas introduced in 1961, and the colony achieved self-government status in 1964.
Economy
Forestry dominated the economy of British Honduras. Initially,the focus was upon logwood, which was used in dye manufacture. Falling prices forlogwood in the 1770s led to a shift toward logging mahogany, which woulddominate the economy until the mid-20th century. As the logging of mahogany wasfar more labour-intensive, this also led to a significant increase of theimportation of African slaves to the colony, mainly from Britain's Caribbeancolonies. Due largely to extremely harsh working conditions, the colonyexperienced four slave revolts, the first in 1765 and the last in 1820. Slaverywas finally abolished in 1838. Exports of mahogany continued as an economicmainstay, as commercial agriculture remained unprofitable due to unfavourablecolonial tax policies and trade restrictions. Colonial officials providedincentives during the 1860s that resulted in a large influx of Americans fromthe Southern United States, especially Louisiana,during and after the American Civil War. The Confederate settlements in BritishHonduras introduced large-scale sugar production to the colonyand proved that it could be profitable where others had previously failed.
The lack of diversification in the economy left the colony verysusceptible to swings in the mahogany market. The Great Depression of the 1930sand an especially destructive hurricane in1931, further depressed the economy and already low living conditions. From1914 on, the forestry industry was in steady decline, except for a briefrevival during World War II (1939–1945). In the 1950sagriculture finally became a dominant part of economy, and in the 1970s fishingbecame significant. Land reform after World War II aided this expansion ofthe economy.
Demographics
By the time of the colony's 1790 census, three-quarters of thepopulation of British Honduras were a mixed-race people known as "Creolepeople". They were the ancestors of the original Belizean-Creolepopulation, who were, and still are, the biological offspring of European menand enslaved African women. The Europeans who sired the originalBelizean-Creole people consisted mainly of British, Portuguese, Spanish andFrench men.
The abolition of the slave trade in 1807,high death rates and low birth rates substantially reduced the ethnic Africanportion of the population. The white portion of the population remainedconsistently at around 10%. The largest portion of the population became theMestizo people, now about 50% of modern Belize. The Mayans are still present inBelize and comprise around 11% of the population.
The population of the colony was always fairly small. In 1790 itwas around 4,000. In 1856 it was estimated to be 20,000. By 1931 this figuregrew to just over 50,000, and in 1946 to just under 60,000. However, by 1970the population doubled to just under 120,000. On the eve of independence in1980, the population stood at over 145,000.
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BRITISH HONDURAS
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