Belizean–Guatemalan territorial dispute

Uncommon card · No. 193597

A territorial dispute exists between the two Central American countries of Belize and Guatemala. In the latter half of the 1600s and all through the 1700s, there were many treaties made between the countries of Britain and Spain about territories in the Americas. It had been decided that the territory of Belize was a part of Spanish territory but the British people could make use of the land, certain areas only and for particular purposes. The region was never completely under the control of either the British or the Spanish at that point of time, and the British had continually trespassed the limits imposed on them by the treaties. Once the Spanish Empire collapsed, Guatemala declared that it had the sovereign rights of Spain to that territory. Guatemala and Britain negotiated the Wyke-Aycinena Treaty in 1859 regarding the disputed area. The treaty stated that Guatemala would recognise British sovereignty over the region and formed the modern-day boundary lines of Belize. The treaty also...

Read on Wikipedia · Image File:Belize location map.svg: NordNordWest derivative work: Janitoalevic Bettyreategui, CC BY-SA 3.0