During the 1786 Convention of London it was agreed upon by Spain to grant more land, from the Belize River to the Sibun River in exchange for the British to leave the Mosquito Shore. But at that time there were only 450 people (100 free men and 350 slaves) in Belize, versus the 2100 displaced British that were to settle in British Honduras.

Seeing as how they were about to be outnumbered 5 to 1, the Baymen took action and designated a new town ten miles upriver called Convention Town after the Convention of London.

The Baymen voted that the only people that could own a Mahogany or Logwood Work was someone with 4 able bodied slaves. This eliminated most of the new settlers. They also voted that anyone that had holdings, or a representative of said holdings in British Honduras from before 1779 and was no longer in British Honduras, was deemed to have abandoned his property. This allowed the Baymen to grab up more land. By these different restrictions and others allowed the Baymen to claim about 75% of the land within the treaty limits.^[1]