# History Belize City was probably settled by Peter Wallace when he landed at the mouth of the Haulover Creek in 1638. Fort George was constructed in 1803 on the island later named Fort George Island as a defense for Belize City.https://quod.lib.umich.edu/g/genpub/AKD5459.0001.001/34 [[bridge:18]], constructed in 1859 was the first bridge connecting the [[settlement:356]] and [[settlement:357]] of Belize Town and was also the first bridge in British Honduras.https://quod.lib.umich.edu/g/genpub/AKD5459.0001.001/52 Under Chapter 118 of the Consolidated Laws of 1924, a partly nominated and partly elected Town Board was established. This town board also functioned as a District Board and thus administered [[settlement:299]], [[settlement:47]] and Ambergris Caye. In 1970 the capital of Belize was relocated to [[settlement:14]] after the devastating effects of Hurricane Hattie. ## Etymology **Belize Settlement** derived it's name from the [[waterway:20]] which in turn came from the Mayan word Balis meaning "muddy waters" or possibly the name is a corruption of Wallace from Peter Wallace. In 1783 the Belize Settlement was incorporated as a town and made the capital of Belize as **Belize Town**. In 1981 Belize Town was upgraded to a city, **Belize City**. ## Natural Disasters The Great Fire of 1854 happened in the [[settlement:357]] of Belize City.https://quod.lib.umich.edu/g/genpub/AKD5459.0001.001/19 ## Important Structures **St. John's Cathedral** St. John's Church was built between 1812 and 1820 with bricks used as ballast aboard ships. It is situated on Regent St. in Belize City. It was the first church to be built in British Honduras. The exterior of the church is of brick; the interior is fitted out in mahogany and sapodilla. It was built by the British using slave labour. The cathedral is a historical landmark of Belize from the colonial influence of the country's past. Attached to the church is the oldest cemetery in the country, Yarborough Cemetery. On January 18, 1816 George Frederic Augustus I was crowned king of the Miskito Kingdom in St. John's Church. When George Frederic Augustus I was murdered by his wife, his brother Robert Charles Frederic was crowned King. The coronation happened in St. John's Church on April 23, 1824. It was a strategy of the British to use the Church of England to crown their kings as a means to control the indians from the Miskito Kingdom in Honduras and Nicaragua. Initially a parish church, St. John's Church was renamed St. John's Cathedral in 1891, a few years after the diocese of British Honduras had been erected. On September 2, 2018 his Excellency Pedro Moore Ricardo came to Belize and was crowned in St. John's Cathedral by Anglican Bishop Philip Wright. The reason was to restore ties with the Miskito people that settled in British Honduras in the 1700s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s_Cathedral_(Belize_City) **Government House** The Government House was constructed in 1814 and was surrounded by *"grounds tastefully laid out and planted with cocoanut, bamboo, mango and other trees"*.https://quod.lib.umich.edu/g/genpub/AKD5459.0001.001/52 **Courthouse** The Court-House was constructed in 1880 and occupied a central position in town.https://quod.lib.umich.edu/g/genpub/AKD5459.0001.001/52 ## Education Sometime around 1926 the compulsory attendance age was lifted from 12 to 14 years.https://www.jacar.archives.go.jp/acv/contents/pub/pdf/B02/B02032223100.ba0141a.a-0980.00000198.pdf ## Banking The Savings Bank was established in 1846.https://quod.lib.umich.edu/g/genpub/AKD5459.0001.001/62 ## Transportation Improved mail and passenger services by motor vessels were established in 1924, the routes being [[settlement:12]]-[[settlement:64]]-[[settlement:186]] and [[settlement:12]]-[[settlement:79]]-[[settlement:387]]-[[settlement:172]]-[[settlement:202]]. These services were subsidized by the government and mail was carried under contract.https://www.jacar.archives.go.jp/acv/contents/pub/pdf/B02/B02032223100.ba0141a.a-0980.00000198.pdf