History of Central America - Spanish Colonial Era

Spanish Colonial Era

Central America is composed of seven independent nations: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. After the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, most of the inhabitants of Central America shared a similar history. The exception was the Western Caribbean Zone, which included the Caribbean coast and encompassed both semi-independent indigenous polities, runaway slave communities, and settlers, especially English settlers who would eventually form British Honduras (the modern-day nation of Belize), a sparsely populated area that was inhabited by the English through the through the Treaty of Madrid from Spain. When Spain failed to regain control over British Honduras, the English continued to inhabit the country, and eventually colonized it. When Guatemala gained its independence, they assumed inheritance of British Honduras from Spain even though it had been a colony of Britain for several years. After many years of controversy, a treaty was signed between Guatemala and England in which the Guatemalan President of the time recognized the territory of Belize. Within this treaty, was also an agreement that a cart road be built from Guatemala City through British Honduras to the Caribbean Sea. Since the cart road was never built, Guatemala unlawfully declared the treaty null and void. British Honduras for the English and Belice for the Spaniards and Guatemalans gained its independence from Great Britain and all its legal transactions in 1981 and adopted the name "Belize". Though their claim has no legal backing, Guatemala still disputes the Belizean Territory.

From the 16th century through 1821, Central America formed the Captaincy General of Guatemala, sometimes known also as the Kingdom of Guatemala, composed by a part of the state of Chiapas (nowadays Mexico), Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Officially, the Captaincy was part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain and therefore under the supervision of the Spanish viceroy in Mexico City. It was, however, administered not by the viceroy or his deputies, but by an independently appointed Captain General headquartered first in Antigua Guatemala and later in Guatemala City.