Orange Walk District: History
Industry in Orange Walk was previously dominated by logging for over a hundred years until the refugees of the Caste War arrived in the late 19th century. At the time of logging, all the timber was floated down the New River into the Corozal Bay, then to Belize City and shipped abroad. At the time of the arrival of the Caste War refugees, the logging industry was in decline and eventually the sugar industry was established. There has been evidence that some Yucatec Maya were still living in a remote area of Yalbac hills of the district when the British arrived in the Orange walk District.
Although the Orange Walk District has no coast because it is locked inland, it boasts the remains of two forts, Forts Mundy and Cairns, built by soldiers of the British Honduras West India Regiment. The forts were built in the 19th century after battles between earlier Mayan inhabitants of the district, most notably Marcus Canul and his Icaiche Indians, and settlers.