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The Belizean Creole or Kriol are Creole descendants of African slaves who were brought primarily from Jamaica and Nicaragua's Mosquito Coast to cut down mahogany trees.(Shoman) Because of a lack of European women, their Irish and Scottish slave owners would either marry or engage in sexual relations with female slaves, creating a new ethnic group. (NKC) The word Creole (and its cognates in other languages, such as crioulo, criollo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kriulo, kriol, krio, etc. ...
World map showing location of Africa A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second_largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
Mosquito Coast, Honduras/Nicaragua The article is about the Central American area. ...
Mahogany The name mahogany is used for numerous varieties of dark-colored wood. ...
Until the early 1980s, Belizean Creoles constituted close to 70% of the population of Belize, but today they are about 25% of the population. (CSO) This was due to an influx of Central American refugees coming in from neighboring countries as well as emigration of approximately 85,000 Creoles abroad, primarily to the United States and England.(NKC) It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Immigration. ...
In Belize, Creole is the standard term for any black person who is not Garinagu. This includes immigrants from Africa and the West Indies who have settled in Belize and intermarried with locals. GarÃfuna is a spanish term for the people and language of the GarÃnagu. ...
History
According to local research, the Belizean Creole originated from the union of European settlers masterminding the logwood trade in the former British Honduras and the African slaves they imported to actually cut and ship the logwood. The National Kriol Council of Belize says that black slaves had been established on the Central American coast from the 1500's and earlier and were working for the Spanish further down the coast. By 1724, the British too were acquiring slaves from Jamaica and elsewhere to cut logwood and later mahogany. By all accounts they led a better life than their fellows in the West Indies, but were still mistreated and bullied. Even so, these slaves assisted in the defence of the fledgling settlement for much of the late 1700's, particularly in the 1798 Battle of St. George's Caye. Binomial name Haematoxylum campechianum The Logwood tree (Haematoxylum campechianum) was once an important source of red dye. ...
Flag of British Honduras British Honduras was the former name of a British colony on the east coast of Central America just to the south-east of Mexico, now the independent nation of Belize. ...
Mahogany The name mahogany is used for numerous varieties of dark-colored wood. ...
The Battle of St. ...
With the winding down of slavery it became increasingly clear to the Europeans that they were at a disadvantage population-wise. It behooved them to find a way to divide the colony's inhabitants. By intermarrying, procreating with and freeing slave women, they could ensure a class of lighter-skinned blacks who would be loyal to them rather than to their blacker fellows. The British exploited this difference in what came to be known as the Creole middle class by promoting and assisting those with higher aspirations and lighter skin to achieve their dreams while shunning those from whom they had sprung, and teaching them to dislike other ethnic groups such as the Garinagu, East Indians, Mayans and Mestizos. The word Maya or maya can refer to: // The Maya, Native American peoples of southern Mexico and northern Central America Maya peoples, the contemporary indigenous peoples Maya civilization, their historical pre-Columbian civilization Mayan languages, the family of languages spoken by the Maya Maya people, an Australian Aboriginal tribe Maya...
Mestizo (Portuguese, Mestiço; French, Métis: from Late Latin mixticius, from Latin mixtus, past participle of miscere, to mix) is a term of Spanish origin used to designate people of mixed European and indigenous non-European ancestry. ...
The Creoles settled mainly in Belize Town (now Belize City) and along the banks of the Belize River in the original logwood settlements including Burrell Boom, Bermudian Landing, Gracie Rock, Rancho Dolores and Flowers Bank. As the 1800's progressed they spread out to all the districts, particularly Dangriga and Monkey River, as the colony grew. Their sense of pride led to occasional clashes with authority, such as the 1894 currency devaluation riots, that foreshadowed greater conflicts to come.
In the 1900's the Creoles took the lead in organizing the development of the settlement. Riots in 1919 and 1934, combined with terrible conditions resulting from a disastrous hurricane in 1931, led to Belize's first trade unions and eventually to its first political party, the People's United Party (PUP). Creoles continue to lead the nation in politics. But conditions in Belize City worsened after another major hurricane in 1961 and shortly thereafter large scale migration began (and continues) to the United States and England, where successful individuals sent back monies to assist those they left behind. Attempts to unite Creoles for development, such as the United Black Association for Development, met mixed results. The Peoples United Party is the ruling Christian Democratic political party of Belize. ...
Hurricane Hattie was a powerful hurricane that hit Central America on Halloween, 1961. ...
United Black Association for Development (UBAD) was a cultural and political party established in Belize in February 1969 and based on traditional Black Power tenets. ...
Creoles today face a decline in numbers and a reputation as self-destroyers unable to rid themselves of a growing crime situation, poverty, and hopelessness. While some Creoles have gone on to greater prosperity abroad, the majority face unemployment, problems with drugs and crime, and general malaise.
Kriol organizations The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA) is, according to its 1929 constitution, a social, friendly, humanitarian, charitable, educational, institutional, constructive and expansive society, and is founded by persons desiring to the utmost to work for the general uplift of the people of African ancestry of the...
United Black Association for Development (UBAD) was a cultural and political party established in Belize in February 1969 and based on traditional Black Power tenets. ...
Language -
Creoles have adopted their own language, which owes much to both Africa and the West Indies and borrows from Standard English. Nevertheless, the National Kriol Council maintains that it is separate from English and has called for it to be taught in schools as a primary language on par with English. Belizean Creole, also called Belizean Kriol, Kriol or Belizean, is closely related to Miskito Coastal Creole, Colón Creole, and San Andrés and Providencia Creole. ...
Culture According to the National Kriol Council, there are several characteristics of Creoles in Belize which identify them as Creole. However, it is an inclusive group: anyone who feels him or herself Creole are welcome. Below are a few of these characteristics.
Food and Drink Creoles in general eat a relatively balanced diet. Among the main staples of a Creole dinner are rice and beans with some type of meat and salad, whether potato, vegetable, or coleslaw, seafoods including fish, conch, lobster, some game meats including iguana, deer, peccary and gibnut; and ground foods such as cassava, potatoes, cocoa and plantains. Fresh juice or water are typically served, ocasionally replaced by softdrinks and alcoholic beverages (homemade wines made from berries, cashew, sorosi, grapefruit and rice are especially common). Typical desserts include sweets such as wangla and powderbun, cakes and pies, and potato pudding (pound). Usually to be seen on a breakfast table are specially made bread and bun (officially named after them), johnny-cakes and frycakes. In recent years Creoles have adopted foods from other groups as they have adopted theirs.
Music and Entertainment From colonial days, music and dance have been an essential part of the Creole culture. Drum-led dancing was a major part of Christmas and other celebrations in Creole communities. A style of music called brukdown originated from the all night brams thrown by Creole families that focuses both on social commentary and hijinks. This music and the party associated with it are on the decline as youths adopt the culture of the outside world. Other favorite pastimes of the Creoles are story telling, particularly of the trickster spider Anansi, and construction of handicrafts.
References - Krohn, Lita and Froyla Salam. Readings in Belizean History 3rd ed. 2005: Print Belize, Belize.
- National Kriol Council Website [1]
- Shoman, Assad. 13 Chapters of A History of Belize. 1994: Angelus Press, Belize.
- St. John's College. Notes and Readings in Introductory Anthropology. 2006.
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