Peter Wallace (buccaneer)

Peter Wallace is commonly held to have been an English or Scottish buccaneer who, in 1638 aboard the Swallow, founded the first English settlement in present-day Belize.

This article is about the 17th century buccaneer. For other uses, see Peter Wallace (disambiguation).

Captain

Peter Wallace
The Buccaneer by Walter A. Clark for Scribner’s Magazine (1907)
Bornbefore 1630s
England or Scotland
Diedafter 1630s
colonial Belize (presumed)
Known forfounding the first English settlement in the Bay of Honduras in 1638
Piratical career
TypeBuccaneer
Years active1630s
RankCaptain
Base of operations
CommandsSwallow

Buccaneering

In 1638, Wallace is believed to have landed at Swallow Caye aboard the Swallow, with a crew of some 80 British men. This is often regarded as the first non-Mayan, non-Hispanic settlement in present-day Belize.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][note 1]

Legacy

Social

'Belize' is commonly held to be a corruption of 'Wallace' or 'Wallis.'[12][13][5][7][8][9][10][14][15][note 2][note 3] Swallow Caye is similarly believed to be named after the Swallow.[10]

Identity of Wallace

It has been suggested that Wallace was–

  1. the chief mate of Walter Raleigh,[16]
  2. Willis, the Governor of the Anglo-French settlement of buccaneers in Tortuga,[17][18]
  3. a settler of the Providence Island colony.[5]

Wallace as apocryphal

It has been suggested that Wallace is of doubtful historicity.[19][20][21]

Notes
  1. Variations of this story exist. For instance, anon. 1829, p. 40 states
    1638. ---- This year a few British subjects first inhabited Honduras, having been wrecked on the Coast.
    (which story is accepted by Avery 1900, p. 333, by Bristowe & Wright 1888, p. 23, by Wayne 1917, p. 162, and [broadly] by Gibbs 1883, p. 22), while anon. 1828, p. 4 (quoting anon. 1826) states
    The British Settlement of Honduras, of which Belize is the capital, cannot be traced to be of any greater antiquity than from the administration of Oliver Cromwell, in Great Britain, at which period it was, from its remote and secret situation, used by the English, rather as a place of refuge and concealment, from the dreadful and savage warfare then carried on by the Spaniards ... .
    (which story is accepted by Temple 1857, p. 116), whereas Ancona 1877, pp. 7–8 states
    1. (quoting a column entitled Ojeada histórica sobre el establecimiento británico de Belice in the Fénix newspaper by Justo Sierra) that Wallace landed in the mid-17th century at the mouth of the Belize River, where he and his crew built defensive trenches (accepted by Peniche 1869, pp. 218–219, and by Rubio Alpuche 1894, p. 34),
    2. (quoting a biography of Antonio de Figueroa y Silva by Crescencio Carrillo) that Wallace led British buccaneers from their base in Laguna de Terminos to the Belize River in 1717 (repeated in Carillo y Ancona 1878, pp. 260–261),
    3. (quoting a geographical dictionary by Ungewitter) that Wallace landed in 1640 (accepted by Craig 1969, p. 55 and Winzerling 1946, pp. 53–56),
    4. (quoting a geographical dictionary by Egli) that Wallace landed in 1610,
    5. (quoting a geographical dictionary by MacCulloch) that Wallace landed after the signing of the Earl of Sandwich's Treaty on 23 May 1667,
    while Asturias 1925, pp. 8–9, 11 states that Wallace landed in 1603 or 1604.
  2. For instance, the following variants of 'Wallace' or 'Wallis' appear in Spanish records– 'Walis,' 'Wallix,' 'Valiss,' 'Valiz,' 'Balis,' 'Balles,' 'Balize,' 'Bellesse,' 'Bellize,' 'Belize,' 'Belice,' per Ancona 1877, p. 6, 10-12.
  3. Though the following alternatives have been proposed for the etymology of 'Belize'–
    1. from French balise (lit. beacon), as in Ancona 1877, pp. 6, 9–12 (quoting Squier), in Bristowe & Wright 1888, p. 23, in Kinsbruner & Langer 2008, second para, and in Morris 1883, pp. 12–13,
    2. from Mayan belix (lit. muddy water) or belikin (lit. sea-facing land), as in Griffith, Alford & Bolland 2022, third para, and in Kinsbruner & Langer 2008, second para.

Citations
  1. Winzerling 1946, p. x.
  2. Ancona 1877, pp. 5–8.
  3. Ancona 1878, pp. 371–373.
  4. Asturias 1925, p. 7-9, 11.
  5. Craig 1969, p. 55.
  6. Curry 1956, p. 32.
  7. Donohoe 1964, pp. 27–28.
  8. Gibbs 1883, pp. 21–22.
  9. Griffith, Alford & Bolland 2022, third para.
  10. Kinsbruner & Langer 2008, first para.
  11. Waight 2022, second to fourth para.
  12. Ancona 1877, pp. 5–7.
  13. Bristowe & Wright 1888, p. 23.
  14. Morris 1883, pp. 12–13.
  15. Waight 2022, first para.
  16. Asturias 1925, p. 7-9.
  17. Ancona 1877, pp. 12–14.
  18. Winzerling 1946, pp. 53–56.
  19. Ancona 1878, p. 373-374.
  20. Bulmer-Thomas & Bulmer-Thomas 2016.
  21. Humphreys 1961, p. 1.

References
  1. anon. (11 November 1828). "Honduras (From the Honduras Almanack for 1826.)". The Weekly Register. Vol. XV, no. 759. St. John's, Antigua & Barbuda: Loving & Hill. p. 4.
  2. anon. (1826). The Honduras almanack, for the year of our Lord 1826 ... : Calculated to the meridian of Belize (1st ed.). Belize: Published by Authority of the Magistrates. OCLC 950944267.
  3. anon. (1829). The Honduras almanack, for the year of our Lord 1829 ... : Calculated to the meridian of Belize (1st ed.). Belize: Published by Authority of the Legislative Assembly. OCLC 682190774.
  4. Ancona, Eligio (1877). Belice, estudio sobre el origen de ese nombre (1st ed.). Mexico: Imprenta de Gonzalo A. Esteva.
  5. Ancona, Eligio (1878). Historia de Yucatan desde la època mas remota hasta nuestros dias. Vol. 2 (1st ed.). Merida: Imprenta de M. Heredia Argüelles.
  6. Asturias, Francisco (1925). Belice (1st ed.). Guatemala: Sociedad de Geografía é Historia de Guatemala.
  7. Avery, W. L. (1900). "British Honduras". Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York. 32 (4): 331–333. JSTOR 197063.
  8. Azpiroz, Manuel, ed. (23 March 1871). "Establecimiento inglés de Belice". Boletín de la Sociedad de Geografía y Estadística de la República Mexicana. 2. 4: 698–715.
  9. Barbour, Violet (April 1911). "Privateers and Pirates of the West Indies". The American Historical Review. 16 (3): 529–566. JSTOR 1834836.
  10. Brandow, James C.; Hotten, John Camden, eds. (1982). Omitted chapters from Hotten's original lists of persons of quality and others who went from Great Britain to the American plantations, 1600-1700: census returns, parish registers, and militia rolls from the Barbados census of 1679/80 (1st ed.). Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. OCLC 8533128.
  11. Bristowe, Lindsay W.; Wright, Philip (1888). The Handbook of British Honduras for 1888-89 : Comprising Historical, Statistical, and General Information Concerning the Colony, Compiled from Official and Other Reliable Records (1st ed.). Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood & Sons.
  12. Bulmer-Thomas, Victor; Bulmer-Thomas, Barbara (19 November 2016). "The Origins of the Belize Settlement". Tempus (4): 137–160. ISSN 2422-2178.
  13. Burdon, John Alder (1927). Brief Sketch of British Honduras (1st ed.). London: The West India Committee. OCLC 11423776.
  14. Burdon, John Alder (1931). Archives of British Honduras ... : being extracts and précis from records, with maps. Vol. 1 (1st ed.). London: Sifton, Praed & Co. OCLC 3046003.
  15. Cardona Amaya, José Manuel (2020). Invasiones de corsarios a la Honduras de Felipe IV (1633-1643) (1st ed.). Tegucigalpa: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras. ISBN 9789992612620.
  16. Carillo y Ancona, Crescencio (9 November 1878). "El orígen de Belice". Boletín de la Sociedad de Geografía y Estadística de la República Mexicana. 3. 4: 254–264.
  17. Craig, Alan K. (April 1969). "Logwood as a Factor in the Settlement of British Honduras". Caribbean Studies. 9 (1): 53–62. JSTOR 25612108.
  18. Curry, Jr., Herbert F. (July 1956). "British Honduras: From Public Meeting to Crown Colony". The Americas. 13 (1): 31–42. JSTOR 979212.
  19. Donohoe, William Arlington (1964). A History of British Honduras (1st ed.). Montreal: Provincial Publishing Co.
  20. Finamore, Daniel (1994). Sailors and slaves on the wood-cutting frontier : archaeology of the British Bay settlement, Belize (PhD). University of Boston. OCLC 33382653.
  21. Gibbs, Archibald Robertson (1883). British Honduras: an historical and descriptive account of the colony from its settlement, 1670 (1st ed.). London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington.
  22. Gregg, Algar Robert (1968). British Honduras. The Corona Library (1st ed.). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. OCLC 465800813.
  23. Griffith, William J.; Alford, Alfred E.; Bolland, Orlando N. (10 January 2022). "Belize". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  24. Grunewald, Donald (July 1965). "The Anglo-Guatemalan Dispute over British Honduras". Caribbean Studies. 5 (2): 17–44. JSTOR 25611880.
  25. Hotten, John Camden, ed. (1874). The original lists of persons of quality; emigrants; religious exiles; political rebels; serving men sold for a term of years; apprentices; children stolen; maidens pressed; and others who went from Great Britain to the American plantations 1600-1700 (1st ed.). London: John Camden Hotten.
  26. Humphreys, R. A. (1961). The Diplomatic History of British Honduras, 1638-1901 (1st ed.). London: Oxford University Press.
  27. Kinsbruner, Jay; Langer, Erick Detlef, eds. (2008). "Wallace, Peter". Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. Vol. 6 (2nd ed.). Detroit: Cengage. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  28. Marcus, Linda C. (1990). English influence on Belize and the Peten region of northern Guatemala, 1630 to 1763 (PhD). Southern Methodist University. OCLC 48275365.
  29. McJunkin, David Morgan (1991). Logwood : An inquiry into the historical biogeography of Haematoxylum campechianum L. and related dyewoods of the neotropics (PhD). Los Angeles: University of California. OCLC 24057056.
  30. Morris, Daniel (1883). The Colony of British Honduras, its Resources and Prospects; with Particular Reference to its Indigenous Plants and Economic Productions (1st ed.). London: Edward Stanford.
  31. Pavía, Lázaro (1888). Los ingleses en Mexico, ó sea, el origen y fundacion de las colonias británicas en el seno mexicano (1st ed.). Mexico: Imprenta de Jose V. Castillo.
  32. Peniche, Manuel (1869). "Historia de las relaciones de España y México con Inglaterra, sobre el establecimiento de Belice". Boletín de la Sociedad de Geografía y Estadística de la República Mexicana. 2. 1: 217–256, 377–403.
  33. Rubio Alpuche, Nestor (1894). Belice : Apuntes historicos y colección de tratados internacionales relativos a esta colonia británica (1st ed.). Merida: Imprenta de "La Revista de Mérida".
  34. Rushton, Elizabeth Anne Cecilia (December 2014). 'Under the shade I flourish' : An environmental history of northern Belize over the last three thousand five hundred years (PhD). University of Nottingham.
  35. Swayne, Eric (September 1917). "British Honduras". The Geographical Journal. 50 (3): 161–175. JSTOR 1779904.
  36. Temple, Robert (16 January 1857). "On British Honduras, its History, Trade, and Natural Resources". Journal of the Society of Arts. 5 (217): 113–130. JSTOR 41323634.
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  39. Uring, Nathaniel (1726). A history of the voyages and travels of Capt. Nathaniel Uring. With new draughts of the Bay of Honduras and the Caribbee Islands; and particularly of St. Lucia, and the Harbour of Petite Carenage; into which Ships may run in bad Weather, and be safe from all Winds and Storms. Very useful for Masters of Ships that use the Leeward Island Trade, or Jamaica (1st ed.). London: Printed by W. Wilkins, for J. Peele.
  40. Waight, Larry (2022). "Peter Wallace : "To Be, Or Not To Be"". Belize Hub. Belize Hub. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
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