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TOLEDO DISTRICT(Stop 16 of 18)
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The Belize Virtual Guide TOLEDO DISTRICT(Stop 16 of 18) |
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The residents of the remote Toledo District, in the far south of Belize, often refer to their home as " the forgotten land". This district covering 1669 square miles is the poorest part of the country, with many isolated Mayan Indian villages surviving on subsistence farming. |
| The Toledo District is first and foremost Mayan Indian country: over half of the population is Mayan. Travelling south along the Southern Highway, clusters of thatched huts appear with increasing regularity. Mayan women herd their children along the roadside while balancing washloads on their heads; Mayan men return from their milpas or working plantations with machetes and shotguns in hand. | |
| This southern district is divided into two main areas. The uplands, located in the interior, include the southern ramparts of the Maya Mountains. These are rugged remains of a hard, white, limestone shelf, now blanketed by some of the most pristine rainforest in Belize. |
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| The coastal lowlands consist of softer sediments, formed from the deposits of silt laden rivers. Here, striking groups of steep, jagged, limestone hills stick up like Mayan pyramids. Six major rivers snake through these hills, draining the torrential rains of the uplands. When these rivers flood, vast flood plains and seasonal swamps become important breeding and feeding grounds for birds, mammals, reptiles and fish. | |||
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This complex terrain has influenced human settlement of the far south. For centuries, Mayan cities and ceremonial centers dotted the region. Pacified and converted by the Spanish in the 1600's, they were driven out by the British in the 18th and 19th centuries to the great Peten forest in northern Guatemala.
In the mid 1800's, Garifuna settlements were founded at Punta Gorda, Punta Negra and Barranco, followed by Confederate gun runners seeking asylum at the end of the American Civil War. Sugar quickly became the dominant cash crop and by 1870,twelve distinct sugar mills, all owned by the North American immigrants, were in full operation. But the price of sugar began to drop; tired of fighting the rains and insects, most of the North Americans returned to their homeland. |
From the 1880's, two distinct groups of Mayan Indians, Mopan and Ketchi, began moving back into the region as laborers. Although related, tradition separates the two cultures, and their languages are as distinct as is Italian and Portuguese. Coming back from Peten, the Mopan Maya have a long tradition as independent small farmers; they settled in the uplands of Toledo around the village of San Antonio. The Ketchi Mayan on the other hand, immigrated from Alta Verapaz District of central Guatemala to the lowlands of Toledo. The Mayan villages are small and isolated, often requiring long treks over muddied trails to reach, making them the most self-reliant as well as the poorest of many ethnic groups in Belize. Adding to the melange are Mestizos, Creole, Chinese and East Indians who came to Toledo as loggers and sugar-cane laborers and never left. |
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| But Toledo is rich in Belize's other resources - primary rain forest, monstrous caves and jungle-covered ruins- making it an exciting destination for the adventurous traveler. The farther south in Belize you travel, the farther the Barrier Reef splits from the mainland. Off the Toledo District, the reef lies 40 miles east and makes a great hook as the Caribbean deepens into the Bay of Honduras. There are many small islands to visit including, Sapodilla Cayes, the southermost island in Belize. | |||
| District Attractions: | |
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| Lubaantun Mayan Ruin | Nim Li Punit Mayan Ruin |
| Bladen Nature Reserve | Sapodilla Cayes |
 
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