Open AccessToponymic Generics, Environment, and Culture History in Pre-Independence Belize*
Author(s) -
Robert E. Ford
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
names
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1756-2279
pISSN - 0027-7738
DOI - 10.1179/nam.1991.39.1.1
Subject(s) - livelihood , landform , independence (probability theory) , geography , fishing , toponymy , fishing village , logging , vegetation (pathology) , fluvial , ethnology , archaeology , history , ecology , agriculture , cartography , geology , forestry , paleontology , medicine , statistics , mathematics , pathology , biology , structural basin
An analysis of 941 toponymic generics in Belize (formerly British Honduras) in terms of historical-cultural environmental development reveals that physical generic terms predominate (77%) over cultural ones (23%). Among the physical terms, landform generics (92%) far outweigh vegetation ones (8%), and fluvial terms (91%) far outnumber marine (9%) ones. These patterns reflect the dominant influence of extractive livelihoods (fishing, logging, farming, smuggling) in pre-independence Belize.