It is well known that Belmopan is the capital of Belize, but you may hear in passing that it was not the first capital of Belize. The question hangs, what was the first capital of Belize?
The first capital of Belize was Belize City. It is the largest city in Belize, but it was moved after it was devastated by Hurricane Hattie in 1961, which damaged 70% of buildings and left over 10,000 people homeless. Belize City is a coastal city, its elevation is zero, and thus the capital was moved to Belmopan, an inland city with an elevation of 250 feet (or 76 meters). Belmopan is a combination of “Belize” and “Mopan”, a river in the area, and it took three years to construct, from 1967 to 1970.
Belmopan started off as a very small city and was likely the smallest capital city in the world. Since the 1970s, Belmopan has grown significantly – going from a few thousand to over 20,000 people today. This growth was helped by the move of multiple embassies from Belize City to Belmopan – especially the arrival of the United States Embassy in December of 2006.