José Milla y Vidaurre
| José Milla y Vidaurre | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
August 4, 1822 Guatemala City, First Mexican Empire |
| Died | September 30, 1882 -61 |
| Pen name | Salomé Jil |
| Nickname | Pepe Milla |
| Nationality | Guatemalan |
| Wyke-Aycinena treaty | |
|---|---|
| Created | April 30, 1859 |
| Ratified | September 26, 1859 |
| Location |
 United Kingdom United Kingdom and  Guatemala, Guatemala City. |
| Author(s) | Pedro de Aycinena y Piñol and Charles Lennox Wyke |
| Purpose | Define the borders between the British settlement of Belize and Guatemala. |
José Milla y Vidaurre (August 4, 1822 in Guatemala City — September 30, 1882) was a notable Mexican/Guatemalan writer of the 19th century. He was also known by the name Pepe Milla and the pseudonym Salomé Jil. Son of a governor of the state of Honduras in the Federal Republic of Central America, José Justo de la Milla y Pineda and Mrs. Mercedes Vidaurre Molina, the daughter of a wealthy Guatemalan family. He was married to a cousin, Mercedes Vidaurre and had 7 daughters and sons.
Milla grew up in a time of great instability, where the struggles between liberals and conservatives were bringing chaos to Guatemala. He came from a well-to-do family and was not a politically relevant figure. However, it is known that he had conservative tendencies and came to public office under conservative governments.
His works can be qualified under various literary genres, although they were mainly dedicated to story-telling, novels and more specifically historical novels. His main theme was life in the colonial Guatemala. His "novelas costumbristas" are about the customs of Guatemalan people during colonial times and during the first years after Guatemalan independence.
In his works, he shows an ability for story-telling and imagination. For him, one of the main functions of literature was to entertain and his books are examples of such function. Jose Milla was well-educated, an expert of Guatemalan idiosyncrasies, its history and its customs.
The Belize region in the Yucatan peninsula was never occupied by either Spain or Guatemala, even though Spain made some exploratory expeditions in the 16th century that serve as her basis to claim the area as hers; Guatemala simply inherited that argument to claim the territory, even they it never sent any expedition to the area after the Independence from Spain in 1821, due to the Central American civil war that ensued and lasted until 1860. On the other hand, the British had set a small settlement there since middle of the 17th century, mainly as buccaneers quarters y then for fine wood production; the settlements were never recognized as British colonies even though they were somewhat under the jurisdiction of the Jamaican British government. In the 18th century, Belize became the main smuggling center for Central America, even though the British accepter Spain sovereignty over the region by means of the 1783 and 1786 treaties, in exchange for a cease fire and the authorization for the Englishmen to work with the precious woods from Belize.
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