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| Belize Belix - Belikin - Bel Itza | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |
_-_BLZ_-_UNOCHA.svg) | |
| Capital | Belmopan |
| Largest city | Belize City |
| Dominant mode of production | Capitalism |
| Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
• Monarch | Charles III |
• Prime Minister | Johnny Briceño |
| Area | |
• Total | 22,966 km² |
| Population | |
• 2025 estimate | 424,603 |
Belize is a capitalist country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north, and Guatemala to the west, and south. It is a former British colony, and retains the British monarch as head of state.
History
Precolonization
Pre-Mayan Settlements
The first evidence of human activity within Belize dates back to 30,000 years ago, with human-made carvings on the bones of a giant sloth. The second site, called August Pine Ridge, dates to 13,000 years ago, where various stone tools were found, including fluted bifaces (spearheads), flint spearheads, and grinding mortars and pestles for food processing.[1]
Around 4,500 BCE, we see the first known small farming villages within the region of Belize, where people domesticated corn, beans, squash, and chili peppers. They mixed hunting and foraging alongside farming. Archaeological records dating to 2200 BCE show an ancient network of canals used by pre-Mayan people as large-scale fishing traps. These canals were connected to ponds that were used to harvest fish.[2]
- ↑ Jean T. Larmon et al. (2019). A year in the life of a giant ground sloth during the Last Glacial Maximum in Belize. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aau1200 [HUB]
- ↑ Rosenswig, Robert M. Archaic period settlement and subsistence in the Maya lowlands: new starch grain and lithic data from Freshwater Creek, Belize.