History Of The Cayes
The earliest inhabitants of the cayes were Maya peoples or their ancestors. By the Classic period (300-900 AD) the Maya had developed an extensive trade network stretching from the Yucatan to Honduras, with evidence of settlements and trading centres on several of the islands. Probably the most infamous residents of the cayes were the buccaneers , usually British, who lived here in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, taking refuge in the shallow waters after plundering Spanish treasure ships. In time the pirates, now calling themselves Baymen , settled more or less permanently on some of the northern and central cayes, establishing their first capital on St George's Caye. In 1779 a Spanish force sacked the caye and imprisoned 140 of the Baymen and 250 of their slaves. The Baymen returned in 1783 and took revenge on the Spanish fleet in 1798, during the celebrated Battle of St George's Caye . Fishermen and turtlers continued to use the cayes as a base for their operations, and refugees fleeing the Caste Wars in the Yucatan towards the end of the nineteenth century also settled on the islands in small numbers. During the twentieth century the island population increased steadily, and the establishment of the fishing cooperatives in the 1960s brought improved traps, ice plants, and access to the export market - though there's now the possibility that the lobster-fishing industry will destroy itself by overfishing. At around the same time came another boom, as the cayes of Belize, particularly Caye Caulker, became a hangout on the hippy trail, and then began to attract more lucrative custom. The islanders generally welcomed these visitors and a new-found prosperity began to transform life on the cayes.
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