Who are Belizeans?

Belize, formerly known as British Honduras, has a very ethnically diverse population, in large part because of its history as part of the British Empire. Current ethnic and/or cultural groups include: Creoles, Mestizos, Garifuna, East Indian, Chinese, Lebanese, Mennonite (German), Hispanics, Mayan, and a mixture I'll call Ex-Pats. I'll write about each group here, which will necessarily include a bit of history. I'm not going to do it all at once, because it will take to much time and space to do it in one posting.

I'll start by saying how nice it is to live in a society where race is a non-issue. At the same time, there is cultural pride with some of the populations, and a desire to maintain cultural identity. This desire manifests itself in music, land ownership policy, settlements, and food. Before discussing these groups, I should mention that there are more Belizeans living in Los Angeles than in the country's biggest city, Belize City. There are also significant populations in Chicago, New York and Texas. Like other peoples of Cental America, they go to the U.S. in search of greater opportunity, and the money they send back to Belize is an important part of the nation's economic picture.

I want talk first about East Indians, because although only 3 or 4% of the 300,000 population of the country, they are close to home for me in the form of Bradley's wife Rilda. Before I load the pictures, a little history. Africans were brought to the Caribbean as slaves by successive dominant European powers, ending with the British, who abolished slavery in 1838. A result was a shortage of labor, and between 1838 and 1917 the Brits brought over 500,000 people from India as "indentured servants" - under contract to provide labor in exchange for passage+. Especially early in this period there was a drought and extreme hardship in India, making this a method of escape from those conditions. They were referred to as "Coolies". Early in that migration they were not allowed to intermarry with other groups by the British administrators, causing some friction with the African cultural community.

In 1857, 3000 East Indians migrated from Jamaica to Belize due to the expiration of their contracts. This group included 382 who had been born in India. This group is responsible for the East Indian population in Belize now. What follows are pictures of Rilda and family members, taken at the wedding when she and Bradley married in 2005.

This is a cute picture of Rilda. She and her sisters wore saris (sp?) for the wedding.

This one of Rilda's brothers. All her siblings are attractive.

I think this is one of Rilda's nieces. I've taken thousands of pictures - this one is a favorite!

Another picture from this generation - Bradley and Rilda's son and my grandson Peter.

I'll stop here - it's 10:30 and time for bed!