A History Of Belize Thirteen Chapters

It’s been seventeen years since the book 13 Chapters of a History of Belize was first published by renowned Belizean historian Assad Shoman.  The acclaimed Thirteen Chapters was adopted into the classrooms by a number of secondary and tertiary level institutions across the country.  But since 1994, there have been significant developments in the areas of politics and economics which have shaped the nation’s history since independence.  Those milestones prompted Shoman to update the annals of Belizean history for his latest publication.  While its name is a play on the title of the first installment, A History of Belize in Thirteen Chapters, is an in-depth look at the achievements and setbacks of the nation from the often provocative viewpoint of one author.

Assad Shoman, Author/Historian

ASSAD SHOMAN

“It’s called A History of Belize in Thirteen Chapters.  There was a first edition seventeen years ago which was called Thirteen Chapters of a History of Belize.  This one is much bigger than the last edition because I’ve included a lot more material on the territorial disputes we have with both Guatemala and Mexico.  It’s a lot richer in every sense, every stage of it, you know, both the old history as well as everything including the mediation, the Webster Mediation and everything as it flowed after that until the present day that is brought up to date completely.  And I also go into the border dispute we have with Mexico which is still outstanding and then I include a lot more material on what has happened in Belize since independence.  In particular the economics, everything that has happened in, well not everything but an explanation.  Remember this has to be fairly brief because you’re covering a huge period of time and you’re really just introducing students and others to the subject.  I have a very extensive, I believe, bibliography there which I believe will allow people to delve deeper into the issues which they have to do because all we can do in a book like this, of this sort, which is just like skim the surface, you know and point to issues that need to be researched more and discussed more and debated more, you know.  So that is the essence of what I’ve done.  I’ve cut down a little on earlier periods to give more time, more space to the later period and questions of governance and questions of economy and also an attempt to, as I did in the earlier part of the book and also in this latter part, to show how Belize fits into the world economy and the world governance so to speak.”