<P> In the 1880s and 1890s, Mopan and Kekchí Maya fled from forced labor in Guatemala and settled in several villages in southern British Honduras . Under the policy of indirect rule, a system of elected alcaldes (mayors) linked these Maya to the colonial administration . However, the remoteness of their settlements resulted in the Mopan and Kekchí Maya becoming less assimilated into the colony than the Maya of the north, where a Mestizo culture emerged . By the end of the 19th century, the ethnic pattern that remained largely intact throughout the 20th century was in place: Protestants largely of African descent, who spoke either English or Creole and lived in Belize Town; the Roman Catholic Maya and Mestizos who spoke Spanish and lived chiefly in the north and west; and the Roman Catholic Garifuna who spoke English, Spanish, or Garifuna and settled on the southern coast . </P> <P> Largely as a result of the costly military expeditions against the Maya, the expenses of administering the new colony of British Honduras increased, at a time when the economy was severely depressed . Great landowners and merchants dominated the Legislative Assembly, which controlled the colony's revenues and expenditures . Some of the landowners were also involved in commerce but their interest differed from the other merchants of Belize Town . The former group resisted the taxation of land and favored an increase in import duties; the latter preferred the opposite . </P> <P> Moreover, the merchants in the town felt relatively secure from Maya attacks and were unwilling to contribute toward the protection of mahogany camps, whereas the landowners felt that they should not be required to pay taxes on lands given inadequate protection . These conflicting interests produced a stalemate in the Legislative Assembly, which failed to authorize the raising of sufficient revenue . Unable to agree among themselves, the members of the Legislative Assembly surrendered their political privileges and asked for establishment of direct British rule in return for the greater security of crown colony status . The new constitution was inaugurated in April 1871 and the new legislature became the Legislative Council . </P> <P> Under the new constitution of 1871, the lieutenant governor and the Legislative Council, consisting of five ex officio or "official" and four appointed or "unofficial" members, governed British Honduras . This constitutional change confirmed and completed a change in the locus and form of power in the colony's political economy that had been evolving during the preceding half century . The change moved power from the old settler oligarchy to the boardrooms of British companies and to the Colonial Office in London . </P>

Before belize got its independence the elite cuisine was primarily