   san ignacio and santa elena are towns in western belize. san ignacio serves as the cultural-economic hub of cayo district. it got its start from mahogany and chicle production during british colonialism. overtime, it attracted different people from the surrounding areas, which led to the diverse population of the town at present day. ==history== the town was originally named el cayo by the spanish. on october 19, 1904, el cayo was officially declared a town by the government of british honduras. in the past a creek ran between the macal and the mopan rivers one mile outside of san ignacio going toward benque viejo. this creek then fulfilled the definition of an area of land completely surrounded by water and thus the name cayo. there was a big wooden bridge across this creek in the late nineteen forties, but since the creek eventually dried up the area was filled with lime stone gravel and today there remains no evidence of its past existence. this unfortunate demise of the creek, however, took away the distinction of the classification 'cayo' from the venerable western town of 'el cayo' and returned it to a regular land mass no longer an island. ==geography== san ignacio is situated on the banks of the macal
Populated_places_in_Cayo_District