9/29/22: Belize's Slave History

After a relaxing day visiting Belize's much ballyhooed Caye Caulker, Steven and I explored the meager sights in Belize City. Also difficult to find were any food options close to where we had stayed for a couple of nights. This local takeout worked okay for breakfast.

Views along the seawall walking into town en route to the Museum of Belize:

The Museum of Belize was formerly known as the Belize Prison in 1857 but was substantially enlarged in 1887 with the addition of more cells for men and women. The prison was moved a century later to Haiteville where we had seen it the previous day. The building didn't become the Museum of Belize until early 2001.

The museum focused on the country's history of slavery. 'Imported' African labor was the basis for developing and expanding the timber industry when they arrived in the settlement in 1724. Until the 1770s, there was a high demand in the European market for Belize logwood, a species of flowering tree that was primarily used as a natural source of dye. 

'Forestocrats' were affluent white landowners who rose to complete dominance in the settlement by increasing slave ownership for cheap labor to generate extra income in the timber industry. Once logwood became less desirable, it was replaced by mahogany, a hard reddish-brown timber of the tropical hardwood family that was dominant in Belize. It became the country's valuable export in the mid-19th century.

The timeline for slavery in what came to be known as Belize after slaves arrived in 1724: 1773 marked the largest slave revolt along the Belize River.

The British slave trade was abolished in 1807.

The Proclamation for the Abolition of Slavery in the British Colonies was passed in 1834.

But it took until 1838 until slaves in Belize and throughout the British Empire were emancipated. 

Slaves in Belize were given two suits of working clothes, normally made of plain weaved flax, that would be saved for special occasions like Christmas celebrations at the end of the logging season or going into Belize Town. While working in the forests, they wore long pants with the ends rolled up.

Allownaces of flour or plantain and Irish pork were provided to the slaves. Those skimpy rations were supplemented by the slaves cultivating small plots of land with a variety of vegetables. I hadn't known that the slaves' strenuous logging work required greater dietary intake. That was why they hunted wild game, selling the excess at local markets to boost the family's income.

Former cells:

Slave Auctions: As we had read about in the US and other countries, newly arrived slaves were prepared to be sold like livestock at Slave Markets. To increase their sale price, they were washed, shaved, and covered with coconut oil or tar to have them appear in the best of health. Slaves were weighed, examined, measured, and actually prodded by prospective buyers. Other slaves were just grabbed by buyers who wished to purchase them in what was called a 'scramble.'

Like cattle, the slaves were branded and assigned new names after being purchased at public auctions. After they arrived at a master's property, a previously bought slave was responsible for the new slave's 'seasoning.' That was the process of discovering about life in their new surroundings and carrying out the master's wishes. Most slaves sold in Belize came from Jamaica and had been somewhat seasoned.

The slave journey from Africa: The term, Middle Passage, is applied to the two-to-three-month journey from the West African coast across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. The human cargo aka captured slaves were stripped naked, chained, and stuffed into ships called 'Slavers.' Though licensing stipulated the ships were never to exceed 350 slaves, it wasn't unusual for almost 800 captured African men, women, and children to be stowed below deck lying in their own waste and vomit. During the Middle Passage, malnutrition and communicable diseases like dysentery, smallpox, and cholera, led to many deaths.

The Brookes had to be among the worst of the slavers. The Regulation Act of 1788 permitted the ship to carry 454 slaves by allowing a space of 6' by 1'4" for each man, 5'10" by 1'4" for each woman, and a smaller space for each boy. Even after the Regulation Act, so 'much' space was seldom allowed. Slave merchants confessed that before the act the Brookes had once carried as many as 609 slaves by removing the slaves' irons and locking them spoon-wise so they were stowed one within the distended legs of another.

Through our extensive travels in the American South year after year, Steven and I had purposely learned much about the horrific trans-Atlantic slave trade here in the US. However, this was the first time I read that the experiences of the slave trade to the markets in Jamaica and Bermuda were some of the worst in human history.

The museum showcased this Belize flag that had been discovered in the rubble after the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. It was salvaged by the New York City Fire Department.

Though we only had had time to see a few sights in Belize, Steven and I caught a small tour bus early that afternoon for the long drive to Flores, Guatemala, our next destination in our tour of Central America. I smiled when I saw the Ontario signs as I'm from the province of the same name in Canada!

After a 6.5 hr. journey, we were happy to see this lovely view from our hotel balcony in Flores. We'd planned to stay there for a couple of nights before flying to Guatemala City and then exploring more of the country and then El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica over the course of the next seven weeks. As you will read in the next post, the plans of mice and men have a way of changing sometimes.

Next post: The marvelous Mayan ruins in Tikal and Humpty Dumpty falls!

Posted on June 30th, 2023, from waterlogged Denver. Since this is our first summer at home in about 15 years, we're hoping to feel the sun's intense rays really soon after hail and constant rain have made this Denver's wettest June ever! Peace and wellness to you and your loved ones.