BELIZE AREA: 22,965 sq km (8,867 sq mi). POPULATION: 214,000. CAPITAL: Belmopan, pop. 3,700. RELIGION: Roman Catholic, Protestant. LANGUAGE: English, Creole, Spanish. LITERACY: 91%. LIFE EXPECTANCY: 68 years. ECONOMY: Industry: food processing, clothing, wood products. Export crops: sugar, citrus, bananas, seafood, timber. Food crops: rice, corn, beans. PCI: $2,440.

The United Kingdom relinquished its last colony on the mainland of the Americas in 1981. By 1994 only a handful of British troops remained in Central America's only English-speaking nation. Peace and plentiful land attract refugees from troubled neighboring countries, while ruins of the Maya civilization, wildlife such as jaguars, howler monkeys, and toucans, and the Western Hemisphere's longest barrier reef lure tourists. Text source: National Geographic Atlas of the World Revised Sixth Edition, 1995

Map Courtesy of National Geographic Map Source