Abstract
Evidence of farming settlements at Cuello in northern Belize dates to around 2000 BC. Over the following centuries Mayan towns and villages encompassed Belize, Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula and much of Guatemala. The city of Caracol, near Belize’s border with Guatemala, is estimated to have spread over 140 sq. km, with some 180,000 residents at its height in the 7th century AD. However, the Mayan civilization declined rapidly after AD 900 for reasons that are still unclear. Construction of the great pyramid temples ceased, literacy was abandoned and subsistence farming returned.
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Further Reading
Leslie, Robert, (ed.) A History of Belize: Nation in the Making. 3rd ed. 1997
Shoman, Assad, Thirteen Chapters of a History of Belize. 1994
Sutherland, Anne, The Making of Belize: Globalization in the Margins. 1998
Twigg, Alan, Understanding Belize: A Historical Guide. 2006
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Turner, B. (2014). Belize. In: Turner, B. (eds) The Statesman’s Yearbook. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-67278-3_181
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-67278-3_181
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-32324-8
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