Editing Belize (section)

===As part of the British Empire (1862–1981)===
{{Main|British Honduras}}
[[File:Flag of British Honduras (1919-1981).svg|thumb|Colonial flag of British Honduras, 1919–1981]]
In the early 19th century, the British sought to reform the settlers, threatening to suspend the Public Meeting unless it observed the government's instructions to eliminate slavery outright. After a generation of wrangling, slavery was [[Slavery Abolition Act 1833|abolished]] in the [[British Empire]] in 1833.<ref>{{cite web|title=3° & 4° Gulielmi IV, cap. LXXIII An Act for the Abolition of Slavery throughout the British Colonies; for promoting the Industry of the manumitted Slaves; and for compensating the Persons hitherto entitled to the Services of such Slaves.|url=http://www.pdavis.nl/Legis_07.htm|access-date=14 August 2015|archive-date=24 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080524010152/http://www.pdavis.nl/Legis_07.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> As a result of their enslaved Africans' abilities in the work of [[mahogany]] extraction, owners in [[British Honduras]] were compensated at £53.69 per enslaved African on average, the highest amount paid in any British territory. This was a form of reparation that was not given to the enslaved Africans at the time, nor since.<ref name="Johnson2003">{{cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Melissa A. |title=The Making of Race and Place in Nineteenth-Century British Honduras |journal=Environmental History |volume=8 |date=October 2003 |pages=598–617 |jstor=3985885 |issue=4 |doi=10.2307/3985885 |bibcode=2003EnvH....8..598J |hdl=11214/203 |s2cid=144161630 |url=https://suscholar.southwestern.edu/bitstream/11214/203/1/Johnson%20--%20The%20Making%20of%20Race.pdf }}{{Dead link|date=February 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The end of slavery did little to change the formerly enslaved Africans' working conditions if they stayed at their trade. A series of institutions restricted the ability of emancipated African individuals to buy land, in a debt-peonage system. Former "extra special" mahogany or logwood cutters undergirded the early ascription of the capacities (and consequently the limitations) of people of African descent in the colony. Because a small elite controlled the settlement's land and commerce, formerly enslaved Africans had little choice but to continue to work in timber cutting.<ref name="Johnson2003" />

In 1836, after the [[Spanish American wars of independence|emancipation of Central America from Spanish rule]], the British claimed the right to administer the region. In 1862, the United Kingdom formally declared it a [[British Crown Colony]], subordinate to Jamaica, and named it British Honduras.<ref>{{cite book|author=Greenspan|title=Frommer's Belize|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AneYREkUJecC&pg=PA279|access-date=15 August 2012|year=2007|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-471-92261-2|pages=279–|archive-date=3 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703152529/https://books.google.com/books?id=AneYREkUJecC&pg=PA279|url-status=live}}</ref> Since 1854, the richest inhabitants elected an assembly of notables by censal vote, which was replaced by a legislative council appointed by the British government.<ref name="clio">{{cite web |url=https://www.clio.fr/CHRONOLOGIE/pdf/pdf_chronologie_lamerique_centrale.pdf |title=L'Amérique centrale – Une Amérique indienne et latine |website=clio.fr |language=fr |access-date=22 December 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190811231440/https://www.clio.fr/CHRONOLOGIE/pdf/pdf_chronologie_lamerique_centrale.pdf |archive-date=11 August 2019 }}</ref>

As a colony, Belize began to attract British investors. Among the British firms that dominated the colony in the late 19th century was the Belize Estate and Produce Company, which eventually acquired half of all privately held land and eventually eliminated [[peonage]]. Belize Estate's influence accounts in part for the colony's reliance on the mahogany trade throughout the rest of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

The [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s caused a near-collapse of the colony's economy as British demand for timber plummeted. The effects of widespread unemployment were worsened by a [[1931 Belize hurricane|devastating hurricane]] that struck the colony in 1931. Perceptions of the government's relief effort as inadequate were aggravated by its refusal to legalize labour unions or introduce a minimum wage. Economic conditions improved during [[World War II]], as many Belizean men entered the armed forces or otherwise contributed to the war effort.

[[File:British Honduras 1962 Hurricane Hattie stamp.jpg|right|thumb|A British Honduras postage stamp overprinted in 1962 to mark [[Hurricane Hattie]]]]
Following the war, the colony's economy stagnated. Britain's decision to [[Devaluation|devalue]] the British Honduras dollar in 1949 worsened economic conditions and led to the creation of the People's Committee, which demanded independence. The People's Committee's successor, the [[People's United Party]] (PUP), sought constitutional reforms that expanded voting rights to all adults. The first election under [[universal suffrage]] was held [[British Honduras general election, 1954|in 1954]] and was decisively won by the PUP, beginning a three-decade period in which the PUP dominated the country's politics. Pro-independence activist [[George Cadle Price]] became PUP's leader in 1956 and the effective head of government in 1961, a post he would hold under various titles until 1984.

Progress toward independence was hampered by a [[Belizean–Guatemalan territorial dispute|Guatemalan claim to sovereignty over Belizean territory]]. In 1964 Britain granted British Honduras self-government under a new constitution. On 1 June 1973, British Honduras was officially renamed Belize.<ref name="caricom">{{Cite web|title=Belize|url=https://caricom.org/country_profiles/belize/|access-date=2021-11-23|website=CARICOM|language=en-US|archive-date=14 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214182247/https://caricom.org/country_profiles/belize/|url-status=dead}}</ref>