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Most Belizeans are of multiracial descent. About 52.9% of the population is of mixed Indigenous (mostly Maya) and European descent (or Mestizo), 24.9% are Kriols, about 10.6% are Maya, and about 6.1% are Afro-Amerindian . [1] The remaining population includes European, East Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and North American groups.
The Maya Region is firmly bounded to the north, east, and southwest by the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and the Pacific Ocean, respectively. [1] [2] It is less firmly bounded to the west and southeast by 'zones of cultural interaction and transition between Maya and non-Maya peoples.' [3] [2] The western transition between Maya and non-Maya peoples roughly corresponds to the Isthmus of ...
OpenStreetMap map of Belize, showing landcover, protected areas, major cities and administrative divisions. Belize is on the Caribbean coast of northern Central America. It shares a border on the north with the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, on the west with the Guatemalan department of Petén, and on the south with the Guatemalan department of ...
The Maya are thought to have been in Belize and the Yucatán region since the second millennium BC. Much of Belize's original Maya population died as a result of new infectious diseases and conflicts between tribes and with Europeans. They are divided into the Yucatec, Kekchi, and Mopan. These three Maya groups now inhabit the country.
The Spanish employed them as soldiers, and they spread along the Caribbean coast of Central America. The Garinagu settled in Seine Bight, Punta Gorda and Punta Negra, Belize by way of Honduras as early as 1802. However, in Belize 19 November 1832 is the date officially recognised as "Garifuna Settlement Day" in Dangriga. [10]
The peoples and cultures which comprised the Maya civilization spanned more than 2,500 years of Mesoamerican history, in the Maya Region of southern Mesoamerica, which incorporates the present-day nations of Guatemala and Belize, much of Honduras and El Salvador, and the southeastern states of Mexico from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec eastwards, including the entire Yucatán Peninsula.
The Lowlands have been deemed the 'most central [subdivision of the Maya Region] to the story of Maya civilisation,' with tentative estimates placing the region's population in circa AD 800 at 2–10 million, and 17 of the largest 19 ancient Maya cities located in the region. [25] [26] [note 13]
The country of Belize has roughly 386 km of coastline, and has many coral reefs, cayes, and islands in the Caribbean Sea.Most of these form the Belize Barrier Reef, the longest in the western hemisphere stemming approximately 322 km (200 mi).