The Republic of Honduras occupies a prominent pivotal position in the seven-country Central American land bridge that connects North and South America. Stretching 175 miles across the isthmus from the Caribbean Sea to the Gulf of Fonseca on the Pacific Ocean, Honduras borders Guatemala on the northwest, El Salvador on the southwest and Nicaragua on the southeast. In area Honduras, with more than 43,000 square miles, is the second largest country in Central America, only a bit smaller than neighboring Nicaragua.
Land and Climate
Throughout western and central Honduras rugged mountains of moderate height, reaching 9,000 feet above sea level in a few places, are interspersed with many upland valleys. The mountain ranges run generally from west to east, but some valleys tend northward and southward, as around the large Comayagua Valley of central Honduras. These well-watered zones of moderate slope have provided the most favored sites for human settlement in both aboriginal and modern times.
Temperatures in Honduras are not as high as might be expected from its tropical location of 15 to 16 degrees north of the equator. Near the lowland coastal plans onshore winds provide moderating air flow, and the increased elevation of the mountainous interior contributes cooler temperatures. Seasons are defined not so much by temperature, as in most of North America, as by the distribution of rainfall, which varies throughout the year. January to May marks the dry season, and June to December marks the wet season, when most of the country’s annual average rainfall of 200 inches occurs. The Pacific coast lowland states of Choluteca and Valle occasionally experience severe droughts.
Almost all of Honduras’ major rivers flow into the Caribbean Sea. They are the Ulua, the Aguan, the Negro, the Platano, the Patuca and, forming much of the country’s border with neighboring Nicaragua, the Rio Coco, Central America’s largest river. The downstream portions of these rivers are navigable to shallow-drafts vessels. Upstream from their primary rapids they are accessible only to dugout canoes carrying local travel and commerce. Lake Yojoa, the country’s largest natural lake, is located in western central Honduras. The lake is 10 miles long and noted for its remarkable beauty and world-class bass fishing.
Honduras can be partitioned into three main regions based on physical geography and the composition of its population. The largest of these regions is the western and central highlands, where Spanish-speaking mestizos of Indian-Spanish heritage comprise the bulk of the population. A second zone to the east is the Costa de Mosquitos, or Mosquito Coast, also know as La Mosquitia. This is a region of pine savannas, coastal lowlands, and shallow lagoons. Its slight population of less than two persons per square mile is primarily Indian and speaks Creole English. The third region is La Costa Norte, the north coast, including the Islas de la Bahia, or Bay Islands, just offshore. Minority cultures make up a considerable portion of the population of this region. They include Garifuna (Black Caribs), English-speaking Bay Islanders, whose ancestors once came from the Cayman Islands, and black English Creoles, whose forebears worked the coastal banana plantations.
In spite of serious deforestation from the mid-1960s, Honduras remains a wooded land. The central and western highlands are pine-covered, and the eastern lowlands and north coast grow tropical hardwoods. A vibrant forest products industry and pressure to clear lands for pasture have often produced conflicts over the best policy for forest management. A government agency has the responsibility of overseeing the exploitation and conservation of this major renewable resource.
People
Among themselves Hondurans are known affectionately as catrachos. Generally they live concentrated in the central and western upland valleys and along La Costa Norte. Population is more sparse to the south and east. Almost two-thirds of the people live in rural communities. The largest urban centers are Tegucigalpa, the capital; San Pedro Sula, the country’s second largest city and center to the industrial and commercial agriculture complex of the lower Ulua Valley in the north; the north coast community of La Ceiba, home of the former Standard Fruit Company; and Choluteca, focus of activities in southern Honduras.
The official language of Honduras is Spanish, with certain dialects spoken by the indigenous Misquitos, Payas, and Sumo tribes disseminated throughout the eastern part of the country. English, Chinese and Arabic are also spoken by immigrants who have settled in Honduras.
Economy
Honduras is normally considered the poorest country in Central America. But the annual per capita income of about 1,400 lempiras (some $400 US) belies the fact that many foodstuffs are produced by subsistence farmers and their families for immediate consumption and use. Honduras was once considered the most typical of the so-called “banana republics,” in which foreign investors, particularly those associated with large North American-owned fruit companies, often attempted to direct the internal affairs of the country. The north coast towns of Tela, La Ceiba and Trujillo experienced tremendous growth in the early years of banana exportation, as they were the only outlets for shipping abroad. Today, however, the large port of Puerto Cortes serves as Honduras’ primary site of import and export. Bananas are still the country’s greatest export, but coffee, cattle, sugar cane, lumber, tobacco, and seafood also contribute significantly to regional economies.
Agriculture, the most important sector of the economy, employs 62 percent of the labor force and produces two-thirds of the exports. Still, productivity remains relatively low. Manufacturing, still in its developing stages, employs nine percent of the labor force and generates 20 percent of the country’s exports. The service sectors, including public administration, employ 20 percent of the labor force. Many basic problems
face the economy, including rapid population growth, high unemployment, inflation, a lack of basic services, a large and inefficient public sector, and the dependence of the export sector upon coffee and bananas, which are subject to sharp price fluctuations.
Tourism is showing increased potential for producing the country with much-desired foreign capital. Honduras’ clear, warm Caribbean waters are ideal for sport diving, and the country’s coral sand beaches and climate contribute to a setting favorable to international tourism. The famous Mayan ruins at Copan, which date from the Classic period of AD 300-900, also attract many visitors.
History and Government
What is now Honduras first came to the attention of Europeans in 1502 when Christopher Columbus made his fourth and last voyage to the New World. He sailed along the north coast of the region and made landfall at least twice to meet the Indians and to take possession of the land for the Spanish crown. After inspecting the Islas de la Bahia and stopping at the large protected bay at Trujillo, Columbus’ little fleet of four ships sailed around the easternmost point of land, looking for fairer weather. The name of that cape, “Gracias a Dios” (Thanks to God), reflects their sentiments at having reached a calmer haven.
Spain organized colonial Honduras primarily for the exportation of gold and silver, but indigo, sarsaparilla, and dyewoods also found their way into European markets. There was heavy fighting between the Indians and Spaniards in Honduras during the first part of the sixteenth century. The Indians offered strong resisitance and almost defeated the Spaniards in 1537, but their leader, Lempira, a chief of the Lenca tribe, was deceitfully murdered during peace talks. Today Lempira is a national hero and the currency of Honduras bears his name.
While the Spanish settled the interior, the British eventually established a presence on the northern coast and Bay Islands. British pirates roamed the islands and raided Spanish ships, using the deep hidden bays and inlets as bases for their attacks. By 1600 the Spanish estimated that as many as 5,000 British pirates lived on the Island of Roatan. French and Dutch pirates also had occasional successes in stealing the colonial produce of the Spaniards during this time.
The British were attracted to the Honduran coast by stands of mahogany and other hardwoods. In time the logging of mahogany became a thriving industry in Honduras. Many of the rural villages where Heart to Honduras works were established by logging companies who stripped the land of the trees, leaving behind settlements of poor peasants.
The British retained control of the Honduran coast until 1859, when they relinquished it to the fledgling republic. British influence is still evident today, especially on the Bay Islands, where English is the principal language.
Honduras gained independence from Spain in 1821 and was briefly a part of Mexico. Political parties wrestled for power in Honduras long after independence. The country’s constitution was rewritten 17 times between 1821 and 1982.
During the 19th century, American traders began to take an interest in bananas grown along the fertile north coast of Honduras. With the development of refrigeration, the banana industry boomed, and new markets opened up in the US and Europe. Powerful fruit companies such as the Standard Fruit Company and United Fruit began to buy up thousands of acres of land. By 1912 these two companies, along with the Cuyamel Fruit Company, owned a large part of northern Honduras. By 1918, seventy-five percent of all Honduran banana-producing lands were held by North American companies.
Bananas comprised eleven percent of Honduras’ exports in 1892. By 1913 they were claiming 66 percent. The economic success of this industry made the banana companies very powerful, and they exerted much influence within the country’s political structure. Because of their influence, Honduras never developed an indigenous landholding elite such as those that arose in neighboring Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. As a result, Honduras developed a stronger middle class than did its Central American neighbors.
In 1954 the US and Honduras signed a military pact that promised military training and equipment to Honduras in return for US access to raw materials.
Honduras is a democratic nation, led by a president who is elected popularly every four years. Much like the US government, Honduras’ government is divided into three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. Each is independent from but helps balance the other.
The country is divided into eighteen Departments, each headed by a governor, who is appointed by the president and his cabinet. Regional and municipal elections are held at the same time as the presidential elections. The constitution of the Republic is the basis for all laws in Honduras.
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