colony · Mesoamerica and the Caribbean

Colony of the Bay Islands

1852 CE – 1860 CE · capital Coxen Hole

Brief British colony on Roatán and the neighbouring islands off Honduras, whose creation clashed with a treaty with the United States.

Origins

From the 1830s English-speaking settlers, many from the Cayman Islands and other British Caribbean islands, settled on Roatán, Utila and Guanaja, where Garifuna communities already lived. The superintendent of Belize claimed the islands for Britain, and in 1852 Britain proclaimed them the Colony of the Bay Islands, under the oversight of the Jamaican governor.

Rule and society

The colony was small, with a few thousand inhabitants living by fishing, turtling, coconuts and fruit trade with New Orleans, and was run by a lieutenant governor and local council at Coxen Hole. The United States protested that the colony breached the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850, in which both powers had agreed not to colonise Central America. Honduras also claimed the islands as its own.

Decline and legacy

Seeking better relations with Washington, Britain signed the Wyke-Cruz Treaty with Honduras in 1859 and handed over the islands in 1860. Their English-speaking, largely Protestant population remained, and the islands are now a department of Honduras.

Lineage

Colony of the Bay IslandsRepublic of Honduras 1838 CE – present

Connections (1)

Colony of the Bay Islands was a colony of British Empire1852 CE – 1860 CE

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Cite this page

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Colony of the Bay Islands. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/colony-of-the-bay-islands
MLA: “Colony of the Bay Islands.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/colony-of-the-bay-islands. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Colony of the Bay Islands.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/colony-of-the-bay-islands.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Colony of the Bay Islands’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/colony-of-the-bay-islands (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻