Punta Gorda, declared a town on Monday, 21 January 1895, known locally as P.G., is the capital and largest town of Toledo District in southern

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 ...

. Punta Gorda is the southernmost sizable town in the nation, with a population of about 5,000 people. Although the town bears a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

name, its inhabitants are mostly Kriol/ English-speaking and are primarily of

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 ...

, East Indian, Kriol, and

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

descent. Punta Gorda is a

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

town on the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

. It was a small fishing village before it was settled by a number of Garifuna emigrants from

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

in 1823. The Garifuna refer to the town as Peini. The town is about fifteen feet above sea level.

Demographics

At the time of the 2010 census, Punta Gorda had a population of 5,351. Of these, 24.2% were

, 17.2%

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 ...

, 14.2% Ketchi Maya, 13.8% Mixed, 10.5% Creole, 8.3% East Indian, 8.1% Mopan Maya, 1.4% Caucasian, 0.9% Asian, 0.5% African, 0.1%

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

, 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 ...

, 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 0.4% others.

Religion

St. Peter Claver Catholic parish, with a large elementary school, serves the predominantly Catholic population of the town.

Climate

The climate is

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Af''), similar to that found in the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries ...

, with precipitation being high and with temperatures always above 25 °C on average every month.

Tourism

There are several hotels in Punta Gorda that draw tourists with their ocean views. Punta Gorda is also a gateway to several well-regarded jungle accommodations, The Lodge at Big Falls, Copal Tree Lodge, and Hickatee Cottages. Every May, the town hosts the Toledo Cacao Festival, held over the Commonwealth Day holiday weekend, which celebrates Toledo district's ancient and modern-day links with cacao and chocolate.

Transport

Punta Gorda is the main point of transportation for people visiting the Toledo district and the offshore southern cayes. There is a small

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

which serves domestic flights from Maya Island Air and Tropic Air. James Bus Line is based in Punta Gorda and offers a regular service to points north, such as Independence, Dangriga, Belmopan, and Belize City. Water taxis offer daily crossings to Puerto Barrios and twice weekly service to Livingston in Guatemala. Unlike the purpose-built water taxis plying the routes between Belize city and the northern cays, the services from Punta Gorda are provided by small, open boats. Punta Gorda will have railway lines to

Dangriga Dangriga, formerly known as Stann Creek Town, is a town in southern Belize, located on the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean coast at the mouth of the North Stann Creek River. It is the capital of Belize's Stann Creek District. Dangriga is served by the ...

and

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 ...

that are currently in the feasibility study being conducted by CRECG.

Health care

The town is served by Punta Gorda Polyclinic, as well as a few private doctors.

Education

Punta Gorda is served by 3 primary schools: St. Peter Claver School, Bethel Seventh Day Adventist School, and Punta Gorda Methodist School. It also has one high school, the Toledo Community College, and the Punta Gorda campus of the University of Belize.

Notable people

Notable people from Punta Gorda include paranda musician Paul Nabor, Belize's "Queen of Brukdown", Leela Vernon and Destiny Wagner, Miss Earth 2021, the first Belizean woman to win the Miss Earth title.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Populated places in Toledo District Toledo East Garifuna communities