And one place in Belize that is rich in foundational African history and culture is Gales Point Manatee. The stories of the past live within the traditions of the residents, passed down orally from generation to generation. And that's because the village was initially formed by maroons - those that had escaped their enslavers. Encalada spoke more about the important heritage of the village.
Nigel Encalada, Director, Institute of Social and Cultural Research, NICH
"You had in the period of slavery, you had enslaved persons running away and you had communities like Runaway Creek, Freetown Sibun, and gales point. The most prominent one that is still there today is Gales Point. Gales point is interesting because they were able to survive for quite a while, they've been able, even up to today, by running away setting up in this very remote part of the country, it's just today that the road is being built to properly access the Gales Point village so the people there have a strong - that's a good example in Belize - where the people have a strong sense of their linage, they can tell you stories that the houses used to be on one side of the lagoon first then it moved over on the other side, the reason is that that was to prevent the authorities to access them without first seeing who was coming. They also had passages that people who were running away could follow particularly routes and get to the village and so on."
"If you visit gales point versus Flowers bank, you can see variations how the same culture exist but different manifestations. So the sambai music and gunjai and so forth survived in gales point but that didn't survive in flowers bank and Scotland half moon. That area became more, bruk down music is more prominent in those areas."
