Capture of Cayo Cocina 1779
.jpg){kind=link}
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 15 September 1779 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1779 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Belize | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | North America | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | American Revolutionary War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | British Empire, Spanish Empire | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 17.5531, -88.0739 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Capture of Cayo Cocina (also known as Saint George's Caye) was the result of a Spanish military operation on the 15 September 1779 against a British settlement on Saint George's Caye, just off the coast of present-day Belize, during the Anglo-Spanish War. The settlement was at the time the major British population center in the area, until Spanish forces from the Captaincy General of Guatemala attacked it.
The Spaniards removed the entire population (140 Baymen along with 250 of their slaves), forced them to march overland from Bacalar to Mérida, and then transported them by sea to Havana. Settlers who had been working on the mainland eventually made their way to other nearby British settlements at Roatán or Black River. In 1782 the Spaniards released the prisoners and sent them to Jamaica. The entire Belizean territory was abandoned until 1784, after British logging rights were confirmed in the 1783 Treaty of Paris.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Capture of Cayo Cocina (revision 1366231642), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of St. George's Caye 1798 · 0 km
- Capture of Río Hondo 1779 · 107 km
- Battle of San Fernando de Omoa 1779 · 198 km
- Battle of Roatán 1782 · 219 km
- Battle of La Arada 1851 · 354 km
- Naval Battle of Campeche 1843 · 376 km
Other battles of the American Revolutionary War
- Capture of St. Lucia 1778
- Cherry Valley massacre 1778
- Frederica naval action 1778
- Mount Hope Bay raids 1778
- Siege of Boonesborough 1778
- Battle of Baton Rouge (1779) 1779
- Battle of Beaufort 1779
- Battle of Brier Creek 1779
- Battle of Flamborough Head 1779
- Battle of Grenada 1779
All 190 battles of the American Revolutionary War →
Browse more: battles in Belize · North America · Early modern battles