Editing Belize (section)

====White Belizeans====
[[White people|Whites]] in Belize form around 4.8% of the population, largely from Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, [[Lebanese people|Lebanon]], [[Mennonites|Mennonite communities]] and others brought to assist the country's development.  Irish settlers and migrants and veterans from [[Louisiana]] and other Southern states established [[Confederate settlements in British Honduras]] and introduced commercial sugar cane production to the colony, establishing 11 settlements in the interior.
The biggest White group are the Mennonites: they divide themselves into traditional and conservative or orthodox Mennonites and modern or reformed Mennonites.

{{Main|Mennonites in Belize}}
[[File:Menonite Children.JPG|thumb|[[Mennonites|Mennonite]] children selling peanuts near Lamanai in Belize.]]

Over 12,000 [[Plautdietsch language|Plautdietsch]]-speaking [[Mennonites in Belize|Mennonites]] live in Belize, farming the land and living according to their religious beliefs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sib.org.bz/Portals/0/docs/publications/census/2010_Census_Report.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127084833/http://www.sib.org.bz/Portals/0/docs/publications/census/2010_Census_Report.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Belize Population and Housing Census – Country Report 2010|archive-date=27 January 2016}}</ref>

The majority of the [[Mennonites|Mennonite]] population comprises so-called [[Russian Mennonites]] of German descent who settled in the [[Russian Empire]] during the 18th and 19th centuries. Most Russian Mennonites live in Mennonite settlements like [[Spanish Lookout]], [[Shipyard, Belize|Shipyard]], [[Little Belize]], and Blue Creek. These Mennonites speak [[Plautdietsch]] (a [[Low German|Low German dialect]]) in everyday life, but use mostly [[Standard German]] for reading (the Bible) and writing. The Plautdietsch-speaking [[Mennonites in Mexico|Mennonites came mostly from Mexico]] in the years after 1958 and they are trilingual with proficiency in Spanish. There are also some mainly [[Pennsylvania Dutch]]-speaking [[Old Order Mennonites]] who came from the United States and Canada in the late 1960s. They live primarily in [[Upper Barton Creek]] and associated settlements. These Mennonites attracted people from different [[Anabaptist]] backgrounds who formed a new community. They look quite similar to [[Amish|Old Order Amish]], but are different from them.