You are warmly invited to the following seminar jointly hosted by the Institute for the Study of the Americas and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies on Wednesday 15 December:
The Rise, Decline and Fall of the Belize Economy before Independence
Victor Bulmer-Thomas, Professor Emeritus, London University
Venue: G32, Senate house, Malet St, London WC1E 7HU
Time: 5pm
This is the last seminar of the autumn term Caribbean seminar series. We hope you can rejoin us in the spring - details of spring seminar series to be posted shortly.
Abstract: At the close of the Napoleonic Wars, the small population of Belize had the highest average income in the Caribbean. This was due to its specialisation in high value timber products and a very profitable entrepot trade with Central America. By the time Belize became a British colony in 1862, this privileged position was starting to erode due to the decline of the re-export trade and severe difficulties in the mahogany industry. Crown Colony rule did nothing to reverse this, the efforts to diversify the economy towards agricultural exports were both too little and too late, and the Belize economy entered a long period of relative decline. When the Great Depression struck in the 1930s, the material basis of the economy was undermined and the economy endured a sharp fall.
Bio: Professor Victor Bulmer-Thomas is Professor Emeritus of London University and Senior Distinguished Fellow of the School of Advanced Studies. He served as Director of the Institute of Latin American Studies between 1992 and 1998 and recently served as Director of Chatham House. He is currently Visiting Professor at Florida International University where he is working on an economic history of the Caribbean since the Napoleonic Wars.
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