Circle the area on this map
B. Belize is bordered on the north by Mexico, to the south and west by Guatemala and to the east by the Caribbean Sea. Last week, Guatemala found former military leader Efrain Rios Montt guilty of genocide for ordering the deaths of 1,771 ethnic Mayas during the 1980s.
D. Aboriginal or indigenous people are members of the earliest known population of a region. The term Native American covers all the indigenous people of North, South and Central America.
A. A former British colony, Belize is the only country in the area where English is the official language even though it is spoken by only 3.9 percent of the population. Spanish is the most commonly spoken language at 46 percent followed by Creole at 32.9 percent and Mayan dialects at 8.9 percent.
C. English and Scottish buccaneers first settled on the coast of Belize in 1638, seeking a sheltered region from which they could attack Spanish ships. They later began cutting a tree known as logwood which they sold to Europe for making dye. Still later, the British settlers brought in slaves to cut other timber for export. About 60 percent of Belize is still covered by forest.