Toponymic Generics, Environment, and Culture History in Pre-Independence Belize*

Abstract

An analysis of 941 toponymic generics in Belize (formerly British Honduras) in terms of historical-cultural environmental development reveals that physical generic terms predominate (77%) over cultural ones (23%). Among the physical terms, landform generics (92%) far outweigh vegetation ones (8%), and fluvial terms (91%) far outnumber marine (9%) ones. These patterns reflect the dominant influence of extractive livelihoods (fishing, logging, farming, smuggling) in pre-independence Belize.