Monkey River Town
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Monkey River Town is a village in the north of the Toledo District of the Central American nation of Belize. It is on the Caribbean Sea on the southern shore of the mouth of Belize's Monkey River. In 2000 the estimated population was 200 people. As no roads reach Monkey River Town, all traffic is by sea and by way of Monkey River itself. The main occupations are fishing, ecotourism and rice farming.
[edit] History
The village was incorporated as a town in 1891 at which time it had a population of some 2500 people, mostly engaged in the lumber and banana industry. With the decline of these industries and a blight of banana trees in this area in the second half of the 20th century the population declined, and in 1981 was legally reclassified as a village again, although retaining the historic name of "Town".
On October 9, 2001, Hurricane Iris made landfall at Monkey River Town as a 145 mph Category Four storm. The storm demolished most of the homes in the village, and destroyed the banana crop. The area's formerly large population of black howler monkeys was similarly greatly reduced. Researchers from the University of Calgary lead by Dr. Mary Pavelka study the monkey population year round.
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