BELIZE, the capital and principal seaport of British Hondu ras, on the Caribbean Sea, in i7° 29' N., 88° 11' W. (Pop. [1931] 16,687), occupies both banks of the river Belize, at its mouth. The ground is very little above sea level and the town is divided from the mainland by miles of swamps, the unhealthiness of which is mitigated by tidal inflow and fresh sea breezes. Its houses are generally built of wood on piles, with high roofs and wide verandahs, and shaded by coconut or cabbage palms. The town is not unhealthy and the winter climate is pleasant. The swamps adjacent are being cut back and cleared and the level of the land raised by dredgings. Belize is connected by telegraph and tele phone with the other chief towns of British Honduras, but com munication by road is defective. The chief exports are mahogany, cedar, logwood, coconuts, sarsaparilla, tortoiseshell, deerskins, turtles and fruit, especially bananas. Breadstuffs, cotton fabrics and hardware are imported.
Belize probably derives its name from the French balise, "a beacon," some signal for the guidance of the buccaneers who once infested this region. Local tradition, however, connects the name with that of Wallis or Wallace, a Scottish buccaneer who, in 1638, settled with a party of logwood cutters on St. George's Cay, a small island off the town. In the 18th century the names Wallis and Belize were used interchangeably for the town, the river and the whole country. (See BRITISH HONDURAS.)