San Antonio is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the

Toledo District Toledo is the southernmost and least populated district in Belize. Punta Gorda is the District capital. According to the Human Development Index (HDI), it is the second most developed region in the country. The district has a diverse topograph ...

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 ...

. It is the largest Maya settlement in Belize, with a population of approximately 1,000 people, predominantly Mopan Maya. About 88% of the inhabitants are

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 ...

, with 8% belonging to other Christian denominations, and 4% being

non-denominational A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination. The term has been used in the context of various faiths, including Jainism, Baháʼí Faith, Zoro ...

. Along with 29 other mission parishes in the Toledo District, it is pastored by

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

from St. Peter Claver church in Punta Gorda. The village was founded in 1883 by Maya fleeing persecution in

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. This was a part of a larger migration which also included Q’eqchi’ from Alta Verpaz who settled further south in the Crique Sarco, Dolores, and later Sarstoon, Temash, and Moho River areas. Economic development came to San Antonio in the early 1950s with the founding of a

credit union A credit union is a member-owned nonprofit organization, nonprofit cooperative financial institution. They may offer financial services equivalent to those of commercial banks, such as share accounts (savings accounts), share draft accounts (che ...

and cooperative that enabled villagers to market their own produce. Fr. William Ulrich, S.J., spearheaded this movement. San Antonio features several attractions, including San Antonio Falls, a stone

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

built in 1950, and ecotourism guest houses.

Demographics

At the time of the 2010 census, San Antonio had a population of 1,204. Of these, 94.6% were Mopan Maya, 1.3% Ketchi Maya, 1.3% Mixed, 1.2%

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 ...

, 0.4%

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 ...

, 0.2% Creole, 0.2%

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 ...

, 0.1% Asian, 0.1%

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 ...

, 0.1%

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 ...

and 0.5% others.Population & Housing Census
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References

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External links

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

at Wikivoyage
Photo archive, early 20th century
Populated places in Toledo District Toledo West Populated places established in 1883