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With a Rare Map by Tomás López of the Rio Hondo in Belize

This Madrid publication of the Treaty of Versailles between Great Britain and Spain is accompanied by a handsomely engraved map showing part of present-day Belize. The Treaty of Versailles was signed in France at a pivotal meeting of world powers including Britain and Spain, Britain and the United States. The text of the treaty is herein printed in French and Spanish on facing pages.

The present treaty between Britain and Spain, known as the Treaty of Versailles, resulted in the ceding of East and West Florida to Spain in exchange for the Bahamas, and the navigation of the Belize and Hondo rivers being made common to both nations.

The engraved map, Territorio señalado a los Ingleses para el corte del palo o de tinte, created by the renowned Spanish cartographer Tomás López, focuses on the coast and river systems of present-day Belize and the Bay of Honduras, illustrating the region affected by the treaty’s resolution of Anglo-Spanish territorial disputes in the southern edge of the Yucatan Peninsula. It highlights key waterways such as the Río Hondo and New River, as well as settlements including Belize, El Pinal, and various British and Spanish outposts. Specifically, it shows the region between the Wallis River (Belize) and the Rio Hondo. The map was intended to document the geographic boundaries relevant to British logging rights and Spanish sovereignty. The treaty allowed the British to log between the Wallis River and Rio Hondo. Both countries retained navigational rights, but the Spanish King retained Sovereignty. By this treaty, the two nations also settled the conflict of jurisdiction in Belize (British Honduras) which had existed since British pirates first began to take timber there in 1638.

Context of the American Revolution and the Treaty of Paris

The present treaty between Great Britain and Spain of course relates to the Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, which formally ended the American Revolutionary War and marked a pivotal moment in both American and global history. By recognizing the independence of the United States, Britain relinquished its hold on its most significant North American colony, reshaping the global balance of imperial power. These treaties thus redrew territorial boundaries, with Britain ceding vast lands east of the Mississippi River to the U.S., while France and Spain, American allies during the war, secured their own strategic gains—France regaining some Caribbean holdings and Spain reclaiming Florida. The agreement signaled the decline of British colonial dominance in the Americas and the emergence of the United States as a new, independent player on the world stage.