Burrell Boom is on the
Belize River
The Belize River runs through the center of Belize. It drains more than one-quarter of the country as it winds along the northern edge of the Maya Mountains to the sea just north of Belize City (). The Belize River Valley is largely tropical rainf ...
twenty miles above
Belize City
Belize City is the largest city in Belize. It was once the capital city, capital of the former British Honduras. According to the 2022 census, Belize City has a population of 63,999 people. It is at the mouth of the Haulover Creek, which is a ...
,
Belize
Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...
. Tourists pass through this historic village on their way to the
Community Baboon Sanctuary
The Community Baboon Sanctuary (CBS) is a community-managed protected area in Belize that was established in 1985 to support the conservation of the Yucatán black howler monkey (''Alouatta pigra''), locally known as the "baboon." Spanning over ...
, where the population of
black howler monkeys has grown to over 2,000.
Demographics
At the time of the 2010 census, Burrell Boom had a population of 2,218. Of these, 50.8% were
Creole, 25.2%
Mestizo
( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...
, 15.2%
Mixed, 2.6%
East Indian, 1.3%
African, 1.3%
Caucasian
Caucasian may refer to:
Common meanings
*Anything from the Caucasus region or related to it
** Ethnic groups in the Caucasus
** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus re ...
, 1.0%
Garifuna
The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu in Garifuna) are a people of mixed free African and Amerindian ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and traditionally speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language.
The Garifuna ...
, 0.8%
Asian, 0.4%
Ketchi Maya, 0.3%
Mennonite
Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...
, 0.1%
Yucatec Maya
Yucatec Maya ( ; referred to by its speakers as or ) is a Mayan languages, Mayan language spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula, including part of northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic community of Yucatec Maya speakers in San Fra ...
and 0.1% others.
History
During the 18th century, loggers settled along the Belize River, floating
logwood
''Haematoxylum campechianum'' (blackwood, bloodwood tree, bluewood, campeachy tree, campeachy wood, campeche logwood, campeche wood, Jamaica wood, logwood or logwood tree) is a species of flowering tree in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is na ...
and later
mahogany
Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Universit ...
logs down to
Belize Town
Belize City is the largest city in Belize. It was once the capital of the former British Honduras. According to the 2022 census, Belize City has a population of 63,999 people. It is at the mouth of the Haulover Creek, which is a distributary ...
. Burrell Boom grew as a gathering and milling point for these logs, with its
boom stretched across the river.
In 1837 the
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
ministers Thomas Jefferies and John Greenwood built a chapel in Burrell Boom, and
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
missionary activities ensued along the whole Belize River from the mid-nineteenth century.
The village has now both Methodist and Catholic elementary schools. Each Good Friday
Good Friday, also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday, or Friday of the Passion of the Lord, is a solemn Christian holy day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary (Golgotha). It is observed during ...
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
, Methodist, and Catholic communities in town gather for an ecumenical
Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...
service which rotates among the churches. A number of refugees from neighboring republics have settled near the town and drawn Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...
on mission to the area.
After 2000 the link between the Northern and Western highways was improved, passing near to Burrell Boom and bringing the village greater prominence.
Climate
Burrell Boom has a tropical monsoon climate
An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...
.
References
Populated places in Belize District
Belize Rural North
{{Belize-geo-stub