Belizean-Guatemalan Territorial Dispute - Early Colonial Era

Early Colonial Era

The present dispute originates with imperial Spain's claim to all "New World" territories west of the line established in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. England, like other emerging powers of the late 15th century, did not recognize the treaty that divided the world between Spain and Portugal. After the native Mayans had ejected Spanish conquistadors and missionaries from Tipu and surrounding areas, shipwrecked English seamen, then English and Scottish Baymen, settled by 1638, making their presence permanent by 1779, with a short military alliance with Amerindians from the Mosquito Coast south of Belize, and often welcoming former British privateers. In the Godolphin Treaty of 1670, Spain confirmed England was to hold all territories in the Western Hemisphere that it had already settled; however the treaty did not define what areas were settled, and despite the historic evidence that England did indeed occupy Belize when they signed the Godolphin Treaty, Spain later used this vagueness to maintain its claim on the entirety of Belize. Meanwhile by the 18th century, the Baymen and Mayans increasingly became enemies.

Without recognition of or permission from either the British or Spanish governments, the Baymen in Belize started electing magistrates as early as 1738. After the Treaty of Paris and with the following conditions re-affirmed in the Treaty of Versailles (1783), Britain agreed to abandon British forts in Belize that protected the Baymen and give Spain sovereignty over the soil, while Spain agreed the Baymen could continue logging wood in present-day Belize. However, the Baymen agreed to none of this, and after the 1783 Treaty of Versailles, the governor of British-controlled Jamaica sent a superintendent to control the settlers, but had his authority usurped by wealthy loggers.

When Spain attempted to eject them, the Baymen revolted. Spain's last military attempt to dislodge the rebellious settlers was the 1798 Battle of St. George's Caye, which ended with Spain failing to re-take the territory. The Baymen never asked for or received a formal treaty with Spain after this, and the UK was only able to get partial control of the settlers by 1816; British people simply continued operating their own local government without permission from either imperial power, until they joined the British Empire in 1862.