Talk:Belize

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[edit] removal

I removed two things that I don't understand the need for.

1) Honduras lies just across the Gulf of Honduras to the east.
2) Main article: Districts of Belize

In the first case, I don't know why the phrasing has been modified to imply that Hounduras and Belize are very close in the description of what borders Belize. Belize and Honduras no more border each other than do the Netherlands and Denmark; in both cases there is an other nation and some sea in between. As far as "Districts of Belize", again I see no need for a separate article; it seems already covered. -- Infrogmation 17:31 Apr 13, 2003 (UTC)

The mention of Honduras is warranted less due to the close proximity (though they are much closer to one another than the Netherlands and Denmark), but rather because of the related former name of Belize, British Honduras, and the shared body of water in between them, the Gulf of Honduras, which may add some confusion. I thought your original objection lay in the text suggesting the two countries bordered on land, so I changed that. At any rate, there is certainly no harm done in mentioning in Honduras IMO.
The link to the Districts article is needed for the country template. Though most countries do not have these articles and other are mere lists, this is not what the template had in mind. The District article is supposed to delve deeper into the governmental structure and historical background of the districts. The primary example for this is still Provinces of the Netherlands. -Scipius 17:59 Apr 13, 2003 (UTC)
Just a hunch, but the portion about Honduras- and the Gulf of Honduras might have been added since Belize was formerly known as "British Honduras." CaribDigita 21:50, 19 Mar 2005 (UTC)
I question the true relevance of Honduras being mentioned in the opening paragraph. It holds no relevance to the rest of the paragraph and does not modify it at all. I suggest deletion of the sentence. --Tainter 00:57, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] coats of arms

Does Costa Rica and Belize really have the same coat of arms? Den fjättrade ankan 21:40, 21 Nov 2003 (UTC)

The coat of arms is correct for Belize and wrong for Costa Rica. I'll remove it from there. Thanks for spotting that! -- Infrogmation 21:48, 21 Nov 2003 (UTC)

[edit] flora and fauna

Hey what about a section on the flora and Fauna of Belize? I have the alot of pics problem is I can't Identify all of em. Belizian 22:09, 2004 Feb 5 (UTC)

[edit] Map

A controversy has erupted over the choice of map for this article. The two candidates are shown here, along with any others that other Wikipedians may choose to enter. Feel free to make any comments. The lower map may also appear in the corresponding Geography article for this country. Kelisi 02:30, 2 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I prefer the lower kelisi map, --SqueakBox 03:06, Apr 2, 2005 (UTC)

Map of Belize Map of Belize

[edit] commonwealth boxes

I hope you two guys are talking to each other about those two commonwealth boxes that keep getting put into and taken out, so you can reach an agreement. Belize is starting to take over my watchlist! (My vote, by the way, is to keep them out: This is a case where too much is worse than not enough) - DavidWBrooks 20:31, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia:Caribbean Wikipedians' notice board

I would like to announce the establishment of the Wikipedia:Caribbean Wikipedians' notice board. Anyone with an interest in the Caribbean is welcome to join in. Guettarda 1 July 2005 03:53 (UTC)

[edit] Language?

This article says that about half of the population of Belize speaks Spanish as their mother tongue, while the Demographics of Belize article says that it's around 35%. Which is it? People need to cite their sources. Can anyone with any knowledge of this please address this situation and correct whichever one is wrong? aliceinlampyland 20:45, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Ok. Sources????

I'm seeing a lot of numbers right this moment getting switched around and overwritten by two 'annon' posters. Do you both- or either one of you have a source. or more than one source availble to cover what's being posted?

Not that I'm up-tight about it right this moment, but you may be challenged about this later on. CaribDigita 18:29, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Ok. I am the Source!!!!

I'm a born Belizean and I can tell you more about Belize off the top of my head than any wikipedia article could tell you. So nuh talk bout weh you nuh know, Aight homebwy! Anonymous Beliceño 18:03, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

Such a charming and sophisticated attitude certainly lends credence to your edits. - DavidWBrooks 00:48, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Mr. Credence

Credence is an acredited trait which one only acquires by a combination of common knowledge and legitmate research. My sources are as legit as a Catholic marriage. I di bring dis infamation from P.G.(Punta Gorda, Belize) and back, my bwy. So nuh talk bout weh you nuh know, Aight homebwy!

If you dont understand that, check out Belizean Creole for even more on Belizean Culture. Anonymous Belizean 19:21, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

Check these out http://www.kriol.org.bz.htm/ http://www.belizeanjourneys.com/ http://www.bjmjr.com/afromestizo/belize.htm

I think its a terrific idea to include Belize and the information of this fledgling nation in Wikipedia. I am a Belizean living and studying in the U.S. I am just ashame of some of the comments made here with such a poor behavior and attitude from Belizeans. My Belizean compatriot, everything is a work in progress and a project of this magnitude deserves patience, knowledge and bright contribution. If you are suffering from cultural or emotional instability please do not comment here. If you can think clearly, Corozal, Orange Walk, and Cayo are spanish speaking districts. We have 6 districts, and even Stann Creek and Toledo have spanish who immigrated from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemal over the past 2 decades, so 50 percent with spanish as their mother tongue is closer to being correct than your 35%. (L. R. Waight/journalist/January 4th 2006)


[edit] The Old Days and happy Britain and Belize

Am going to Belize in July for 6month do many belize remeber the good old days? when Britain and Belize were one nation :) --Miller 15:28, 27 April 2006 (UTC)—

Hint hint. I wouldn't travel on that personal platform. They never were "one". Profits from the colonies were often packaged bundled up and shipped out faster then you could say Belize. Britain would get paid first and then the other nation could be second. Also a citizen in the colonies weren't just allowed to pick-up and move to Britain. CaribDigita 04:20, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] English vs. Spanish in Belize

In the first paragraph it says that Belize is the only English-speaking country in Central America. While I know that the official language of Belize is English, i don't know if I would call it an English-speaking country. (Notice I said "i don't know.") i really don't know though, because when i was there, most of the people i met met spoke spanish as their first language, and in many cases did not speak english at all. i was mostly in rural areas though, and i know that stuff like this varies from place to place within a country, so i'm not going to change anything based off of my knowledge, but if there is some one who knows better, i still think that phrase should be changed. Lastofthetribe 19:20, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

No, I disagree. Not only is English the official language, it is the first language of the majority of the people, and the common language of the vast majority. You encounter lots of folks that only speak Spanish, but you do that in most U.S. cities in the Southwest, too. - DavidWBrooks 21:35, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
There's quite a few Guatemalans that are squatting in rural parts of Belize trying to take the country back. That could- have been what you encountered? CaribDigita 17:45, 6 August 2006 (UTC)
I don't know about "squatting," but certainly in the west - near San Ignacio, for example - the number of people who were born in Guatemala and who speak more Spanish than English is greater than it is on the coast. It's still fair and reasonable, however, to describe Belize as CA's only English-speaking country, I think. - DavidWBrooks 17:52, 6 August 2006 (UTC)
CIA World Factbook -- [1] "Guatemalan squatters continue to settle in the largely uninhabited rain forests of Belize's border region..." See bottom. CaribDigita 22:10, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Demographics

I notice that the percentage of people under 65 is 50%. I suspect that, since the percentage under 15 is listed as 40%, either the percentage or the age is incorrect! InvictaHOG 19:04, 11 August 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Source? It sounds like an advert

"Belizeans are by nature a tolerant, friendly, fun-loving people. It has long been regarded as both a curse and blessing on the nation, with some critics saying that Belizeans are not willing to sometimes fight for what they want and end up having foreigners walk all over them.

Courtesy is important to most Belizeans. It is not uncommon for Belizeans to greet each other on the street even if they have never seen each other before, or for acquaintances to spend minutes at a time chatting, oblivious to what is happening around them. Belize has retained an old world charm long lost in other countries."

Please, cite a source, mabye more. It sounds too much like advertising. I think it could be right (see, for example some articles on http://www.joebageant.com). GeoAtreides 07:54, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Who is removing Belizenews.net link?

I am tired of the person removing the belizenews.net link from the link section. That link is not spam and has every right to be there. I see they're not removing belizenews.com. I hope it's not that site trying to monopolize the board.

belizeans

[edit] Editors calling Belizeans.com site spam!

Wikipedia, which is "The Free Encylopedia" to the world is being controlled by a few overzeolous editors who think a site about the people of Belize www.belizeans.com is a spam site. Belizeans.com is a site that deals with "Belizeans", people of "Belize", and it's culture. The site is not spam. It contains important information that helps Wikipedia users to learn more about the country of Belize, it's people, it's mores, culture, history and events. The site contains a few ads that most site contains, but yet these editors are ruining the Wikipedia experiance and guidelines by continously removing the link and by threatening to block my IP because I stand up for the Belizean peoples. I will cease to post the link until this matter is mediated as per the Wikipedia dispute rules. It seem the indegenous people of Belize voice is being censored. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Belizeans (talk • contribs) 03:00, 4 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Official language

Not willing to start an edit war over this but Spanish is not an official language of Belize. More than enough people speak it (I took classes from Grade 7/Standard Five through Junior College) but not enough to qualify it as a national language on the order of English. I will fix this to say that significant numbers of people speak Spanish; if we're going to include that then Belize Creole should be added too for the same reason.--Aaronhumes 22:37, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed WikiProject

In my ongoing efforts to try to include every country on the planet included in the scope of a WikiProject, I have proposed a new project on Central America at Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals#Central America whose scope would include Belize. Any interested parties are more than welcome to add their names there, so we can see if there is enough interest to start such a project. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 17:04, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Culture and correction

Added some stuff on the culture of Belize. Going to work on the sources. And to whoever says Belmopan is the capital of Belize District, kindly check your geography; it's in Cayo. Belize country, yes, district, no.--Aaronhumes 21:25, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Clarification on Religion?

I noticed that the religion section states that about half of the population is Catholic and 1/4 Protestant, with the other 25% comprised of several other religions, but the Demographics of Belize page states that 80% of the population is Catholic. Just wondering which is true?

Corrected. The numbers match now.--206.27.244.160 18:52, 5 February 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Merge with Culture of Belize article

I suggested merging the Culture of Belize article into this one. It looks like the standalone Culture article contains mostly: 1. information that is already in the Culture section of this article, like ethnic demographics, and 2. definitions of these ethnic groups, which mostly duplicates the information in those articles. Zadeez 01:01, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Please note that all country articles have a Culture of subarticle as a matter of convention. Feel free to trim it down/expand it (or merge certain portions) as you see fit. But it should remain as a separate entry. Hope that makes sense. El_C 01:12, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Belize's size

Belize is not actually the smallest country on the American mainland. El Salvador is. Use of the term "smallest" should be restricted to descriptions of size. I suggest using "least populated" if that is the intention. -Laikalynx 20:09, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

I'll be darned - you're right. I thought Belize was smaller in area. - DavidWBrooks 21:36, 21 March 2007 (UTC)
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