Belize is a small country in Central America, on the Caribbean Sea, with Mexico to the north and Guatemala to the west and south. It was a British colony for a long time — English speakers used to call it British Honduras — and it became independent in 1981. The capital is Belmopan, inland; Belize City, on the coast, is older and still feels like the noisy heart of the country. English is the official language, which makes Belize the only Central American country where that is true, though many people also speak Belizean Creole, Spanish, and Maya languages. Outsiders know it for rainforest, Maya ruins, and a long coral reef. The name is not settled. One old story said it came from a Scottish sailor, Peter Wallace, twisted by Spanish mouths into Belize; modern scholars mostly treat that as a colonial tale. A stronger guess is Maya: balix or belix, 'muddy waters,' for the Belize River, or perhaps Bel Itza, 'the road to the Itzá.' Early maps already show forms like Balesia and Belleze. So the state is young; the place-name is older, and still carries more than one story.