An English captain, Philip Bell, was the leader of a settlement of 600 Puritans , 200 Mosquito Indians, and 100 slaves that was established around 1634 or 1636. Winzerling places this settlement at Jonathan Point (16°39 1 N., 88°19' W. ), but Caiger locates it 10 miles to the south at Placentia Point. Regardless of where Bell's settlement was situated, it was, according to Winzerling, the largest of a series of plantations of various sizes found in the area in the mid l630s. The settlement did not survive.[1]
A small hurricane shelter was constructed in 1963.[2]
On May 15, 2026 a public meeting was held by the Ministry of Rural Transformation on a village boundary dispute between Placencia and Seine Bight.[3]
Placencia used to be known as Punta Placentia until sometime after 1941.[4]
On July 15, 1960 Hurricane Abbey felled over 500 coconut trees in Placentia.[1]
In 2002 Settlement 195 and Settlement 124 were moved from the Toledo East Constituency to the Stann Creek West Constituency.[5]
On January 27, 1969 the British Honduras Newsletter reported an "Electricity project for Placencia". On April 21, 1969 it reported a "New electricity system for Placencia".[6] In 2004 Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) reported that the completion of the line to the south had reduced the cost of power to Placencia and increased its reliability.[7] Tourism developments led BEL to begin line extensions in Placencia in 2007, together with a second overhead feeder connecting the peninsula to the Independence substation. The new distribution line was completed in 2008.[8][9] By 2015 customers in Placencia could pay their bills locally and no longer had to travel by road or boat to Settlement 124 to do so.[10]