Belize

Belize is unique, the only country in Central America where the official language is English. A former British colony Belize is located between Mexico and Guatemala. Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and five states in Mexico were part of the Mayan Empire that existed from 2000 B.C. to 1697 A.D. Since the collapse of the empire both Spanish and British claimed Belize until the Battle of St. George’s Caye in 1798. Belize has an extraordinarily rich and diverse culture and like other nations in the America’s slavery was in existence. However, unlike the states or parts of the Caribbean Islands the slaves were primarily used for logging until the abolishment of slavery in 1833. The black population is represented by the Garifuna people that are consist of indigenous and African ancestry and creole that are primarily descendants of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Then in 1635, when two Spanish ships shipwrecked in the area, carrying hundreds of indentured Nigerians, many of the surviving slaves were able to seek refuge on the island among the Carib-Arawak population. This event further added to the genetic emergence of St. Vincent’s ethnic population. Anthropologists recognize the Garifuna as a product of ‘voluntary assimilation’, which indicates the peaceful creation of this new ethnic group, but the ensuing years of searching for a homeland saw very little peace for the Garifuna.
https://belize.com/history-of-the-garifuna-people/

The Garifuna destined to be slaves from their journey from Africa took a different path after their shipwreck, today the Garifuna take pride for their fortune and they were not the forced into slavery.

Today Belize economy is generated by tourism and agriculture. “A combination of natural factors—climate, the Belize Barrier Reef over 450 offshore Cays (islands), excellent fishing, safe waters for boating, scuba diving, snorkeling and freediving, numerous rivers for rafting, and kayaking, various jungle and wildlife reserves of fauna and flora, for hiking, bird watching, and helicopter touring, as well as many Maya sites—support the thriving tourism and ecotourism industry. It also has the largest cave system in Central America.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belize

Punta the style of music in Belize has African Roots and is originated by Garifuna community.