TheCapture of Cayo Cocina (also known asSaint George's Caye) was the result of aSpanish military operation on the 15 September 1779 against aBritish settlement onSaint George's Caye, just off the coast of present-dayBelize, during theAnglo-Spanish War. The settlement was at the time the major British population center in the area, until Spanish forces from theCaptaincy General of Guatemala attacked it.
The Spaniards removed the entire population (140 Baymen along with 250 of their slaves), forced them to march overland fromBacalar toMérida, and then transported them by sea toHavana.[1] Settlers who had been working on the mainland eventually made their way to other nearby British settlements atRoatán orBlack River. In 1782 the Spaniards released the prisoners and sent them toJamaica.[1] The entire Belizean territory was abandoned until 1784, after British logging rights were confirmed in the 1783Treaty of Paris.[2][3]
17°33′11″N88°4′26″W / 17.55306°N 88.07389°W /17.55306; -88.07389