<P> The history of Central America is the study of the region known as Central America . </P> <P> In the Pre-Columbian era, the northern areas of the relaxing Central America were inhabited by the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica . Most notable among these were the Mayans, who had built numerous cities throughout the region, and the Aztecs, who had created a vast empire . The pre-Columbian cultures of eastern El Salvador, eastern Honduras, Caribbean Nicaragua, most of Costa Rica and Panama were predominantly speakers of the Chibchan languages at the time of European contact and are considered by some culturally different and grouped in the Isthmo - Colombian Area . </P> <P> 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 British settlers who would eventually form British Honduras (the modern - day nation of Belize), a sparsely populated area that was inhabited by the British through the Treaty of Madrid from Spain . When Spain failed to regain control over British Honduras, the British continued to inhabit the country, and eventually colonized it . When Guatemala gained its independence, they assumed inheritance of British Honduras from Spain . British Honduras had been a British settlement, not a Colony (the treaty between Spain and The United Kingdom prohibited British Colonies in the territory) for several years . After many years of controversy, a treaty was signed between Guatemala and the United Kingdom in which the Guatemalan President of the time recognized the original territory (granted by the kingdom of Spain to the British Crown) 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 declared the treaty null and void . British Honduras for the British and Belize for the Spaniards and Guatemalans gained its independence from Great Britain in 1981 and adopted the name "Belize". Guatemala still disputes the Belizean Territory . </P> <P> 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 . </P>

What central american country was a british colony until 1981