Tiana Sterling

WJC
HIST 110
26/01/2023

Have you read the first 5 pages of A History of Belize in 13 chapters? I have and in my essay
summary I am going to be bringing you the most important part of those five pages in my own
words. In the first paragraph of chapter one it talks about the coming of Christopher Columbus to
the Americas and the subsequent incursions by various European powers. Furthermore, into
chapter one it speaks about how Belize came to be what it is. We must place it in the context of
the European invasion, especially in the Caribbean Sea.

In the second paragraph of chapter one it talks about how Columbus thought he landed in India.
It goes on to say that Columbus claimed the entire area of Spain. It says that in 1493 the Pope
divided the “new worlds” that was discovered between Spain and Portugal, but other European
powers disregarded this Papal Bull. In the 16th Century they were unsuccessful to pose an
military challenge with the Spanish and Portuguese, but in the 17th Century the British, French
and Dutch succeeded in wresting many parts of the Americas from Spain. Moving on to page 2
where it talks about how the Mayas were in Belize before Spain and Britain. The Maya
civilizations are from way back to thousands of years ago before the calendar. The Ancient Maya
civilization was broken down into 3 time frame the 1200 B.C. to A.D. 250, 250 to 900 and the
900 to the 1508 and that is the date when the Spanish first made contact with the Maya.

In the second paragraph of chapter one page two it talks about how civilization undergoes
changes, resulting from political, social, natural causes and economical. The 1200 B.C. to A.D.
250 saw some great achievements such as the arts, mathematics, astronomy and writing. In the
3rd third paragraph of page two it talks about the 9th and 10th centuries which is know as the
“Classic Maya Collapse” whereas historians cannot agree on what caused the “collapse”. In the
fourth paragraph of paper 2 it talks about where all the are the Maya were including such as
Southern Mexico, Western Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Belize where some of the
most powerful and oldest centuries of Maya occupation happened. Furthermore, into the
paragraph 4 it talks about how they were several sites in Belize that were huge trading points
including Ambergris Cay and Moho Cay. In the 600 A.D. the Maya dug a one-mile canal to
create an Island which serves the boarder between Belize and Mexico. The Spaniards came into
contact with the Indigenous people in the early age of the 16th Century. At that time there was no
Guatemala, Belize, or Mexico. Also before the Spanish came they were so many different
societies that only shared common stuff through war and trade.

In paragraph six of page two it talked about how the May has various groups but no political
authority but it helped them to stay in order until the 19th Century where the Guerrilla war
started in Guatemala and lasted up until the 20th Century. In paragraph seven it says that in all
history text they had denied the Spanish and Maya presence in Belize before the British had
come. In addition, it states that the Spanish pursued jurisdiction over the Maya communities in
the 16th and 17th Century. In paragraph eight page four its speaking about when the Spanish first
arrived at the place that was known as Belize where the Maya has 3 areas they controlled which
was Chetumal Province, Dzuluinicob Province and the Sarstoon Rivers. Chetumal was the most
important because it controlled the Coastal trade. In paragraph 8 it talks about where different
areas were located. In paragraph nine it speaks about how the Spaniards established the villa in
Bacalar in the 1500s. It stated that between 1544 and 1707 the Maya and Spaniards controlled it.
It furthermore states that in the middle of the 16th Century a large number of refuges came from
deep further into the north who then converted the zone to exile from Spanish colonialism that
was to challenge the Spanish frontier for the next century and a half. The frontier is described as
the Grant Jones.

Lastly on page 5 paragraph twelve it brings us back to the so called “Classic Maya Collapse” in
the 9th and 10th centuries A.D. It states that the Maya continued to live organized and practiced
religion and engaged in trade relations with different communities. The work of Nancy Farris
stated that the Maya were formed in an extended family which was larger and more permanent
groups that were needed to maintain reproduction and food production. Furthermore, in
paragraph in states the Maya relied primarily on collective labour to meet various obligations.
Traditional Maya societies only integrated vertically through reciprocity and the masses never
took part in choosing their leaders or shaping decisions. So, in the last paragraph of page five it
speaks about how the Elite controlled the trade and other relations communities and later the
Spaniards. It states that long before the Europeans came the Maya had extensive trade work
along the entire southern Yucatan and Central America, Central Mexico, Guatemalan highlands,
Pacific Coasts etc. The Maya towns of south-eastern Yucatan were producers of corn, beans, and
others produced other things.