Abstract
British indirect rule in colonial Belize entailed the designation of alcaldes (headmen) in indigenous villages. Although the alcalde system was based on Spanish-Maya precedents, during the nineteenth century it was introduced to Gari- funa (Black Carib) communities as well. Ethnohistorical evidence indicates that Garifuna alcaldes became consensual leaders who attained considerable legitimacy and that the Garifuna modified the alcalde system to accord with indigenous ante- cedents. With the replacement of alcaldes by elected village councils in the I96os, consensual leadership was supplanted by partisan politics.
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