Known as British
Honduras until 1973, Belize
is located on the southeastern part of the Yucutan Peninsula on the Caribbean coast of Mexico-Central America, bordered by Mexico to the north and Guatemala to
the west and south. Its climate is subtropical (dry and wet seasons), and it is
hot and humid. Annual rainfall ranges from 60 inches in the north to
200 inches
in the south. The terrain is largely flat, with a swampy coastline and low
mountains in interior. However, the Caribbean coastal waters of Belize contain
one of the largest barrier reefs in the world, which is a major tourist
attraction.
This small nation of 8,867 square miles (about the size of Massachusetts) has more historical ties to the Caribbean
than to the rest of Central America. It was
settled by British buccaneers in the mid-1600s who used its sheltered cays and
coves as hideouts from which they could prey upon Spanish shipping. British influence
continued to grow along the Caribbean coast of Central
America, while the Spanish neglected the area. During the 1700s,
British colonists and their African slaves came to Belize
from other British-controlled islands of the Caribbean
to exploit the forests for lumber and dyes, as well as for agricultural
development. Belize has
evolved as an English-speaking Caribbean culture and is part of the British
Commonwealth of Nations, although it achieved its independence from Britain in
1981. Nevertheless, Guatemala
has continued to insist that part of southern Belize
belongs to the Republic of Guatemala, and maps of that country have historically
included Belize
as part of its national territory.
Because of its British influence, Belize
is the only country in Central America where
English is the national language and Protestantism has been the dominant
religion. However, due to the large-scale immigration of
Spanish-speaking peoples from Mexico,
Guatemala and El Salvador
during the 19th and 20th centuries, the size of the
Spanish-speaking population has notably increased to about half of the nation's
total population of 240,200
in mid-2000.
Most Belizeans are of multi-racial descent. About
46.4% of the population is of mixed Mayan and European descent (Mestizo); 27.7% are of African and Afro-European (Creole)
ancestry; about 10% are of Mayan descent; and about 6.4% are Afro-Amerindian (Garifuna). The remainder, about 9.5%, include European,
East Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern (mainly Jews and Lebanese), and North
American groups. The European population includes many Mennonites of
Swiss-German descent who arrived in the 1950s-1960s by
way of Canada and Mexico. There
is a sizeable community of East Indians whose ancestors came to Belize as
indentured servants to work on the sugar plantations in the 1880s. There is
also a small community of Jews and Arabs (mainly Lebanese Christians) in Belize.
Geographical distribution of major ethnic groups. Most
of the Creoles are concentrated in Belize
City (the principal port, commercial center and former capital), where about two-thirds of them
live. The Mestizo population is located mainly in the
northern part of Belize,
the Garifunas in the south (Stann
Creek and Toledo Districts), and the Mennonites (about 7,100 in 1990) in the
central region of the country, specifically in the districts of Cayo and Orange Walk. The Mayan population is located in
the northern, west-central and southern areas of Belize, with the Yucateco-Maya (about 6,000) mainly in the north, the Itzá-Maya in the central region, and the Mopán-Maya (about 6,000) and the Kekchí-Maya
(about 20,000) in the south.
Religiously, about 60% of the population is Roman Catholic and
Protestant groups account for most of the remaining 40%. The
East Indians in Belize are
traditionally Hindus, and the Lebanese are traditionally Maronite
Christians (Eastern Rite believers who recognize the authority of the Pope in Rome). Many of the Mayans
are nominal Roman Catholics who also maintain native Amerindian religious
practices, such as Shamanism and Bujería
(witchcraft). The Garifunas (Afro-Amerindian), who
were deported by the British from the island
of St. Vincent in 1797 to the Bay Islands
of Honduras, eventually
settled along the Caribbean shore of Central America, from Belize
in the north to Nicaragua
in the south. Most Garifunas are marginal Christians
(some claim to be Roman Catholics or Protestants) who still maintain their
unique cultural and animistic religious practices, in which spirit-possession
is a strong component of normal village life in southern Belize.
Although the Roman
Catholic Church was not officially present in British Honduras
until 1851 when the first Catholic missionaries arrived, by 1860 the Catholic
Community in Belize City
accounted for 15% of the total population. However, the growth of the Catholic
Church in Belize prior to
1900 occurred chiefly among the Indian and mestizo
peoples in rural areas, and not among the Creoles in Belize City. Even as the early
Protestant Churches in Belize grew mainly from the influx of West Indian
migrants, so also the Catholic Church there increased principally due to the
arrival of Mayan Indian refugees from Yucatán who
settled in the northern lowlands of Belize during the late 1840s, as well as
from the migration of other Indian and mestizo
peoples from Guatemala after 1850.
The missionary zeal of the English
Jesuits prior to the 1890s, and of the American Jesuits from
Missouri since that date, have strengthened the position of the Roman Catholic
Church in Belize, mainly among the Indian and mestizo
peoples. The Vicariate of Belize was created in 1893, but it was not until 1956
that a Bishopric was organized there. The Jesuits, aided by other religious
orders, established schools and social ministries, in addition to parish
churches, throughout the country among the larger ethnic groups.
Today, Catholics predominate in every administrative district, with the
exception of the District of Belize, where 55% of the population is Protestant
and largely Creole. As the mestizo and Indian
segments of the population increase during coming years, along with a
corresponding decrease in the proportion that is Creole, the size of the
Catholic Community will tend to increase as well.
The Anglican Church (also known as the Church of England) in Belize is part of the Anglican
Province of the West Indies, which
also includes the Caribbean islands as well as Guyana
and Surinam, with
headquarters in St. Johns, Antigua, West Indies. Anglican chaplains
were sent to the Colony of British Honduras, beginning in the 1770s, by the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts to attend to the
spiritual needs of the British colonists and the military garrison concentrated
in Belize City, a former pirate enclave at the
mouth of the Belize
River, probably founded
in 1638. Until the 1860s the Anglican Church (financed by the colonial
government) dominated the religious life of the colonists, which was centered in St.
John's Anglican Cathedral, built in 1815. During most
of the 19th century in many remote settlements of Belize, the
Anglican church and school were the center of village community life. Many Anglican mission
stations were served by English laymen who were testing their missionary
vocation, or by local catechists trained for the work and officiating in church
and school, under the direction of the Anglican bishop and the Colonial
educational authorities.
The size of the Anglican community in Belize has gradually increased over
the years, mainly due to natural population growth. From about 12,000 adherents
in 1936, the number of Anglicans increased to 17,783, according to the 1970s
Census. In 1978, there were about 20,000 adherents, scattered among 26
organized parishes and mission stations, and the Anglican Church operated 23
primary schools and two secondary schools in Belize. By 2000, the number of
Anglican adherents was expected to reach about 28,800, or 12% of the total
population, although there were only 20 churches and 3,300 communicant members.
The Anglican Church has historically been the dominant Protestant
denomination in Belize,
but that position is being challenged by the growth of Evangelical groups,
mainly Pentecostals, since the 1960s. During the
early 1800s, groups of nonconformists or dissenters (meaning non-Anglicans)
began arriving in British Honduras, which led
to a slow erosion in Anglican influence even though it
was the Established Church. English Baptist and Methodist missionaries were
sent to the colony in 1822 and 1824, respectively, and Scottish
Presbyterians began work in Belize
City in 1825. By 1856, the Protestant community of Belize City, where most
of the inhabitants of the colony resided, included 2,500 Anglicans, 500
Methodists, 500 Baptists and 200 Presbyterians, in addition to 1,000 Roman
Catholics and 2,260 "others" in a total population of about 7,000
people.
Most of the early Baptist and Methodist missionaries, as well as some of
the Anglican chaplains, were active abolitionists, who argued against the slave
trade and its abuses. It was clear that the economy, indeed the very existence
of Belize Colony, depended upon slave labor, even
though the Abolition Act of 1807 made it illegal for British subjects to engage
in the slave trade. However, the Abolition Act did not put an end to slave
traffic and ownership in the Caribbean until
1833, when special provisions were made to bring about emancipation.
The origin of British Methodist work in Belize
is attributed to a British merchant, William Jeckel,
who arrived in the early 1800s and was instrumental in organizing Methodist
societies in Belize City, Burrell Boom and Freetown. In 1824, Jeckel requested help from the Wesleyan Methodist
Missionary Society in England,
which soon sent three missionaries to Belize: Thomas Wilkinson in 1825,
Thomas Johnston in 1827, and William Wedlock in 1829. However, when Wedlock
arrived, both Wilkinson and Johnston had died of malaria and Methodist work
consisted of one small chapel in Belize
City and a few preaching points along the inland
rivers. When Wedlock left for Jamaica
in 1832 due to poor health, he left behind a congregation of 36 members, mainly
free blacks and colored living in or near Belize City.
However, under the ministry of James Edney
(1832-1850) and Richard Fletcher (1855-1880) and other dedicated missionaries,
Methodist work in Belize City grew significantly
and the Belize District expanded to include circuits in the Bay Islands
of Honduras,
among the Garifuna in Stann
Creek, and among the Yucateco-Maya in Corozal. Fletcher learned Spanish and Yucateco
and translated the Gospels into the latter, which were published by the British
and Foreign Bible Society beginning in the 1860s. Many other missionaries
served in the Belize District, including the remarkable ministry of James
William Lord (1881-1889, 1900-1911), who mainly worked among the Garifuna in the south and the Yucateco-Maya
in the north.
Early Methodist missionary endeavors in Belize were
plagued by sickness and death, storms and fires, staff shortages and financial
hardships, and membership growth and decline for more than a century. In 1913,
the British Methodist District of the Wesleyan Methodist
Church consisted of 2,000
communicant members and was served by nine ministers, including three native
Belizeans. After the withdrawal of the Wesleyan Missionary Society from the
Western Caribbean in 1930, the British Honduras District was under the
supervision of the Methodist Church in Jamaica from 1932 to 1952. In 1967, the
Belize-Honduras District became a founding member of the autonomous Methodist
Church in the Caribbean and the Americas, with headquarters in Antigua, West Indies. In 1960 there were 1,800 communicant members
among the 15 Methodist congregations in Belize; in 1978, 22 churches were
reported with about 1,700 communicant members; and in 2000 the situation was
about the same.
The London-based Baptist Missionary Society began work in Belize
City in 1822, with the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Bourne, not to serve the
spiritual needs of the English colonists but to Christianize their slaves and
freedmen (former African slaves who had gained their freedom). In 1832, the
population of the Colony of Belize totaled about 4,550,
which included 2,100 slaves, 2,200 free colored and
Negroes, and less than 300 whites.
Baptist ministry in shared a similar history of trials and tribulations
in an inhospitable climate that caused much sickness and death among the early
missionaries. Bourne organized the First Baptist church in 1825 and served a
small congregation of 20 members until leaving the Colony in 1834. Another
Englishman, Alexander Henderson, arrived in late 1834 to continue the work of
evangelism among slaves, soldiers and discharged prisoners in the poorer
sections of Belize City, and within a year the congregation had doubled in size
and had 200 children enrolled in the Baptist school. Henderson
also reorganized the British Honduras Bible Society, founded by
Armstrong--an Anglican chaplain--in 1818, which was instrumental in translating
the scriptures into various languages and in distributing them among various
ethnic groups in Belize.
During the 1840s, a young English seaman, Frederick Crowe, became
interested in Henderson's work, joined the Baptist church, became a teacher in
the Baptist school, assisted with scripture distribution, worked as a
lay-evangelist, and eventually became a missionary with the Belize Baptist
Mission and an agent of the British Honduras Bible Society (1841-1846). Crowe
became the first Protestant missionary to work in Guatemala
(1843-1846), and his experiences were recorded in his book, The Gospel in
Central America, published in England in 1850.
Henderson was also
assisted by other missionaries from England during the 1840s, but not
without controversy. Because Henderson
practiced "closed communion" (only baptized Baptists could receive
the Lord's Supper), several new recruits from the London Missionary Society
refused to work with him. Henderson was forced
to resign from the Mission
in 1850, but he soon organized the Independent Baptist Mission of Belize later
that year with the support of most of his former members. Consequently, the
London Missionary Society decided to abandon Belize,
recalled its missionaries, and sold the Society's properties, leaving Henderson as the
uncontested leader of the Baptist movement. In 1850, Baptist work in Belize included
two organized churches, seven preaching stations, three day schools, five
Sunday schools, and about 230 baptized members. Henderson
pioneered the founding of the Queen
Street Baptist
Church in 1850, which he pastored from 1850-1879.
Following Henderson's retirement in 1879
due to failing health, Baptist work was carried on by laymen until the arrival
of missionary David Waring from England in
1881. Waring continued the work begun by his
predecessors, including outreach to the Yucateco-Maya
in the north and the Garifuna in the south, as well
as supporting Baptist work in the Bay Islands of Honduras, begun by Mr. &
Mrs. John Warner in 1849. Waring sought assistance
from the Jamaican Baptist Missionary Society, which sent James Bryant to
Belize
in 1886. When Waring returned to England in
1888, Bryant was placed in charge of the Belize Baptist Mission.
Encouraged by Bryant, the Jamaican Society was invited to assume
responsibility for the Belize
field. Soon thereafter, Mr. & Mrs. Charles Brown arrived from
Jamaica along with their
nephew, Robert Cleghorn, to administer the work in Belize, which
began to prosper under the new leadership. Additional lay-workers were sent
from Jamaica
and local leaders were recruited to expand Baptist work to new settlements
along the riverbanks and in the interior. New buildings were constructed and
old ones were repaired to accommodate scores of new believers in many parts of
the Colony. By 1901, the Baptist Mission reported 353 baptized members and
1,324 adherents among nine organized congregations, along with six schools and
more than 600 children enrolled.
After Brown's retirement in 1901 due to poor health, Cleghorn
became the chief pastor and superintendent of the Baptist Mission in a
distinguished career that ended in 1939, after celebrating his 50th
year of service in Belize.
To commemorate the occasion, Cleghorn wrote A
Brief History of Baptist Missionary Work in British
Honduras (1822-1939), from which much of the foregoing account
was taken. Not much is known about Baptist work in Belize
between 1940 and 1960, but in 1961 the Conservative Baptist Home Mission
Society (USA)
was invited to work with the Belize Baptist Mission. The N. T. Dellingers arrived soon thereafter to supervise the work
and rebuild the ministry. By 1978 there were six organized churches and 330
baptized members, mainly among the Creoles. Several Southern Baptist
missionaries arrived in Belize
in the late 1970s to begin work in the interior and to assist with Baptist work
in Belize City.
In 2000, there were a total of 25 Baptist congregations in Belize with
about 2,500 baptized members.
Presbyterians in Belize
trace their origin to Scottish immigrants who arrived in the Colony during
1820s, along with the Baptists and Methodists.
However, it was not until the 1850s that a permanent church building was
constructed. A group of Scottish Presbyterians were allotted
public funds on July 24, 1850, for the construction of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (a brick building) in Belize City. This
congregation became affiliated with the (Presbyterian) Free Church of Scotland,
who sent the Rev. David Arthur to Belize in 1850 and he served until
his retirement in 1876. In
1905, the affiliation of St. Andrew’s Church was changed to the (State
Presbyterian) Church of Scotland.
For several decades, St. Andrew’s Church had an intermittent life: sometimes it was closed (1903-1905), and for
long periods it was pastored by Methodist (1914-1919,
1939-1953, 1955-1968) or Baptist ministers (1922-1923). In 1933-1934 an attempt was made to unite the
Presbyterians with the Anglican Church, and in 1945 another attempt was
proposed to unite with the Methodists; however, both times the church preferred
to maintain its independence.
Until the mid-20th century, St. Andrew’s Church was dominated
by the European population in the capital city.
In 1958, with the help of the
National Presbyterian Church in Mexico, mission work started
among the Mayan population in the northern part of Belize.
It was mainly due to the ministry of Manuel Beltran, a Mayan evangelist from Mexico,
that a few Mayan and Spanish- speaking congregations came into existence. Missionaries
Tom and Helen Lacey arrived in Belize in 1970
to build on the work begun by Beltran. The first new church built was in Patchakan; the dedication of the building and the
organization of the church occurred in April 1974 with a commission from the
National Presbyterian Church of Mexico present. The Cristo
Rey church followed in 1975 followed by San Jose, San
Pablo, San Narciso, Louisville
and Concepción.
Later, new buildings were added or additions to the old ones, often
replacing thatch buildings. In 1985
St. Andrew’s Church in Belize City joined with
these Mayan and Spanish-speaking congregations to form a provisional presbytery
and on June 7, 1987, the
national Presbyterian
Church of Belize (with support from the Presbyterian Church in America,
Mission
to the World) was established with three organized churches and 10 preaching
points. In 1988
a ministry among the Chinese
population was begun.
The Seventh-Day Adventist
Church entered Belize in early 1900s as an extension of their
work in Honduras
that began in 1887. The Adventist Mission in British
Honduras was officially organized in 1922, and in 1930 the two
countries were separated administratively. By 1960, the Adventist community in Belize numbered
1,050, grew to about 2,500
in 1970, and increased to about 12,000 in 1978. Adventist
work was centered in the Districts of Belize and Corozal. In 2000, the Adventists reported 48 congregations
and 10,700 members, which made this the largest Protestant denomination in Belize in terms
of communicant membership.
The Church of the Nazarene began work in Belize in the 1930s as an extension of their
work in Guatemala, after two
Mayan Indian lay-preachers walked more than 60 miles from their home
in the Petén of Guatemala to Benque
Viejo on the border to evangelize and start new churches in British
Honduras. In 1931 the Mission Council of the Church of the
Nazarene decided to enter Belize
as a new field of service, and eventually sent two veteran, elderly, single
female missionaries to work in Benque Viejo, Cayo District: Leona Garner (1934-1938) and Augie Holland (1936-1943). Their duties included being
midwife, nurse, carpenter, preacher, teacher, undertaker, spiritual counselor and church leaders. Beginning with the appointment
of the Harold Hamptons in 1943, numerous other
Nazarene missionaries served on the Belize field, which was originally
part of the Guatemala District: Joyce Blair (1943), the Ronald Bishops (1944),
the David Brownings (1944). After 1946, Nazarene work
in Belize
was administered separately from the Guatemalan field. In 1947, the Holland
Memorial Clinic was build and operated by Miss Blair. By 1955, 11 Nazarene
missionaries were serving in Belize,
assisted by 22 national workers, who served 10 organized churches with about
450 members and 300 children enrolled in six Nazarene schools. In 1966, there
were 16 churches and 11 missions. During the 1960s work began among East
Indians, Garifuna, Kekchí
and Mopan-Maya near Punta Gorda
in the Toledo District, under the leadership of Paul Beals
and Naomi Heman. The Nazarene
High School was established in 1964 in Benque
Viejo and later was moved to Belize
City. Also, the Nazarene's began a program of
Theological Education by Extension (TEE) throughout Belize in several languages:
English, Spanish and various Indian dialects. By 1978 there were 18 organized
churches in Belize with
about 630 members and about 2,500 adherents, mainly located in the Districts of
Cayo, Stann Creek and Toledo. In 2000, the
Nazarenes reported 28 congregations with 1,820 members.
The Gospel Missionary Union (GMU), an independent Holiness
mission, sent their first missionaries to Belize
in 1955, the Gordon Lees, who established the Yarborough
Bible Church
in Belize City
in 1956. The GMU acquired a 20-acre tract of land about 30 miles from Belize City in 1956,
where they opened a camping-conference center and a
Bible school, known as Carol Farm. Outreach began among the Yucateco-Maya
in 1960 in
Orange Walk district, and a Christian bookstore was established in Belize City in 1962. By
1978, there were seven organized churches and five mission stations with 326
baptized members. In 2000, the GMU reported 17 congregations with about 940
members.
Numerous Anabaptist-Mennonite groups began arriving in Belize in
the 1950s from Mexico, Canada and the USA, and by 1978 there were at least a
dozen Mennonite agricultural colonies in the country, mainly composed of Old
Colony Mennonites (Rhinelanders) and Kleingmeinde Mennonites ("The Little
Brotherhood") that still speak Low-German. After Hurricane Hattie
devastated parts of Belize
in 1961, a
number of Mennonite agencies arrived to offer disaster relief, including the Beachy-Amish and the Eastern Mennonite
Board of Missions and Charities. The later sent their first missionaries to
Belize
in 1964, Paul and Ella Martin. In 1969, the Mennonite Central Committee
established the Mennonite Center in Belize City to assist the Mennonite Colonies
both economically and socially. By 1978, the Belize Evangelical
Mennonite Church
had been organized with five congregations and 122 communicant members among
Creoles, Mestizos, Mayans and Garifuna.
In addition, 11 distinct Mennonite groups reported 37 organized congregations
and about 1,900 communicant members. Overall, the total Mennonite community in Belize numbered
about 5,000, most of whom resided in agricultural
colonies at Spanish Lookout, Blue Creek and Shipyard.
Early Mennonite colonists signed an agreement with the Belizean
government, which guaranteed them complete freedom to practice their
distinctive beliefs and operative their own schools within their closed
communities. In 1978, the Mennonites operated 39 primary schools and two
secondary schools, almost exclusively for the educational needs of their own
children. Under this special agreement, the Mennonites are exempt from military
service and from paying compulsory insurance, although they are liable for all
other taxes. By 1978, the Mennonites held about 15,000 acres, mainly
in Orange Walk and Cayo Districts, and had
transformed unproductive bush into fertile farmland. Their agricultural and
dairy products have had a favorable impact on the
economy and eating habits of the population in general, particularly in the
nation's largest urban area, Belize
City.
Other non-Pentecostal groups in Belize
include the independent
Churches of Christ, the Christian Brethren, the Salvation Army, the Quakers,
the Wesleyan Church, and dozens of
independent churches.
Although there were few Pentecostal churches in Belize in 1960,
since that time the Pentecostal
Movement has experience substantial growth throughout the
country. From five organized churches and about 200 members in 1960, the
Pentecostals grew to 67 congregations and 1,656 baptized members in 1978. However,
the largest Pentecostal denomination in the country only reported 15
congregations and 750 members, the Kekchí and
Mayan Churches of Belize, founded in 1968. The Church
of God (Cleveland, TN)
arrived in 1944, but in 1978 there only reported eight churches and 360
members; in 2000, there were 22 churches and 610 members. The Assemblies of
God began work in Belize
in 1951 and reported three churches and 90 members in 1960, but internal
controversies led to the formation of two rival groups with a combined membership
of about 100 in
1978; in 2000, the Assemblies of God reported 41 churches with about 1,000
members. The Church of God in Christ has worked in Belize since 1953, but there were
only five churches and 540 members in 1978; in 2000, this denomination reported
14 churches and 1,060 members.
Recent arrivals include the Church of God of Prophecy, the Pentecostal Church of God of America,
the United Pentecostal Church, the Pentecostal Missionary Baptist
Church, the Pentecostal Church of God (Puerto Rico), the
Apostolic Faith Churches, Resurrection Churches and Ministries, and the
Caribbean Light and Truth Mission (Mennonite).
Marginal Christian groups in Belize include the Jehovah's
Witnesses (25 churches and 1,180 members), the Mormons (six churches
and 950 members), Christadelphians, Unity
School of Christianity, and the Children of God ("The
Family").
Non-Christian groups include Hinduism (East Indians), Judaism,
Islam, Mayan religions, Garifuna religion, and
Obeah-Myalism among the Creoles.
SOURCES:
BRIERLY, Peter, editor.
World Churches Handbook. London: Christian Research, 1977.
CANTON, William
A History of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Volume V. London: John Murray Press, 1910.
CLEGHORN, Robert.
A
Brief History of Baptist Missionary Work in British Honduras
(1822-1939). London: The Kingsgate
Press, 1939.
CRAGER, Stephen L.
Honduras Ahoy! (British
Honduras). London: Society for the Propogation of the Gospel, 1949.
CROWE, Frederick
The Gospel in Central America. London:
Charles Gilpin Publishers, 1850.
FINDLAY, George G. and W. W. Holdeworth
The History of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society. Volume II. London:
The Epword Press, 1921.
HARMON, Nolan B., general editor
"British Honduras"
in The
Encyclopedia of World Methodism. Volume I, pp. 1151-1152. Nashville,
TN: United Methodist Publishing House, 1974.
HOLLAND, Clifton L., editor.
World
Christianity: Central America and the Caribbean. Monrovia, CA: MARC-World Vision, 1981.
IINDEPTH-PROCADES
Directory of Protestant
Churches, Organizations and Ministries
in Belize. San José, Costa Rica: IINDEPTH-PROCADES,
1979.
PASCOE, Charles F., editor.
Two-Hundred Years
of the S.P.G.: An Historical Account of the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1701-1900. Volume I. London:
SPG, 1901.