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After [[Hurricane Hattie]] in 1961 destroyed approximately 75% of the houses and business places in low-lying and coastal Belize City, the government proposed to encourage and promote the building of a new capital city.<ref name="bmp"/> This new capital would be on better terrain, would entail no costly [[Land reclamation|reclamation of land]], and would provide for an industrial area. In 1962, a committee chose the site now known as Belmopan, {{convert|82|km|mi}} southwest of the old capital of Belize City.<ref name="bmp"/>
Since Belize was a British colony (known as [[British Honduras]]) in 1964, Premier [[George Cadle Price]] led a delegation to London to seek funds to finance the new capital.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=12107 |title=Exhibition highlights history of Belmopan |date=30 July 2004 |website=channel5belize.com |access-date=27 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111106035720/http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=12107 |archive-date=6 November 2011 }}</ref> Although they were not ready to commit to funding such a large project, the British government showed interest due to the logic of locating the capital on high ground safe from [[storm surge]]s. To encourage financial commitment from the British government, Premier Price and the [[People's United Party]] government invited [[Anthony Greenwood, Baron Greenwood of Rossendale|Anthony Greenwood]], [[Secretary of State for the Colonies|Secretary of State for the Commonwealth and Colonies]], to visit Belize. One of the highlights of this visit was the unveiling of a monument at mile 49 on the Western Highway. The monument records that Lord Greenwood dedicated the site for the new capital on 9 October 1965.
The name chosen for the new capital, Belmopan, is derived from the union of two words: "[[Belize River|Belize]]", the name of the longest river in the country, and "[[Mopan River|Mopan]]",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mybelizeadventure.com/destinations/cayo/belmopan/ |title=Belmopan at MyBelizeAdventure.com : Destinations: Cayo : Belmopan |access-date=7 February 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070502132359/http://www.mybelizeadventure.com/destinations/cayo/belmopan/ |archive-date=2 May 2007 }}</ref> one of the rivers in this area, which empties into the [[Belize River]]. The initial estimated cost for building this new city was 40 million [[Belize dollar]]s (US$20.5 million). Only 20 million Belize dollars (US$10 million) were available, but the momentum was not to be lost.<ref>"Belmopan: Perspective on a New Capital", Kevin C. Kearns, ''Geographical Review'', p. 153 (footnote #13), © 1973 American Geographical Society</ref>
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