The Central American region has been subjected to multiethnic and multilingual influences over the last centuries, starting with Spanish rule in the 15th and 16th century. The location of English speakers in Central America reflects the tumultuous conflicts that opposed Spain and England between the 17th and the 19th centuries, as well as some later traces of labor immigration. All English-speaking regions are located on the Caribbean coast of Central America, and except for Belize, they are all part of overwhelmingly Spanish-speaking republics. In multiethnic Belize, an English-based creole is the mother tongue for some groups and a widely-used lingua franca and second language for most others.