Honduras — map and facts

About Honduras

Honduras is a Central American republic bordered by Guatemala to the west, El Salvador to the southwest, and Nicaragua to the southeast, with the Caribbean Sea to the north and a short Pacific coastline on the Gulf of Fonseca to the south. The capital is Tegucigalpa, a mountainous city of approximately 1.4 million people. The total population is around 10.3 million. Honduras is the second-largest country in Central America by area, covering 112,492 square kilometres. The country has a presidential system of government and has experienced significant political turbulence, including a coup in 2009 and contested elections in 2017. Xiomara Castro became the first female president in 2022. Honduras is among the poorest and most unequal countries in the Western Hemisphere, with an economy based on remittances, maquila manufacturing, coffee, bananas, and palm oil. Gang violence and organised crime have driven high homicide rates, though these have declined in recent years from peak levels in the early 2010s.

Geography and Landscape

Honduras is predominantly mountainous, with highlands covering more than three-quarters of the national territory. The interior is crossed by several mountain ranges including the Cordillera Nombre de Dios along the Caribbean coast and the Montañas de Comayagua in the centre. Cerro Las Minas, at 2,870 metres, is the highest peak and lies in the Celaque massif near the border with Guatemala. The Ulúa and Aguán rivers drain the fertile Caribbean lowlands, which are the country's most important agricultural zones, particularly for banana cultivation. The Comayagua Valley is a broad, fertile basin in the centre of the country. The Bay Islands — Roatán, Utila, and Guanaja — lie in the Caribbean Sea offshore and are known for coral reef ecosystems. The Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve in the Mosquitia region of La Mosquitia covers one of the most extensive tropical rainforests in Central America. The Pacific coast on the Gulf of Fonseca is narrow but strategically significant.

History

Honduras was home to the Maya civilisation, particularly at Copán, which flourished as a major Maya city-state from the fifth through ninth centuries AD and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Spanish colonisation began in 1524 under Hernán Cortés and his lieutenant Cristóbal de Olid. The region was incorporated into the Captaincy General of Guatemala. Honduras gained independence from Spain on 15 September 1821 as part of the Central American independence movement and was briefly part of the First Mexican Empire before joining the Federal Republic of Central America. Full independence came in 1838 when the federation dissolved. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were dominated by North American banana companies — particularly the United Fruit Company and Standard Fruit — giving rise to the term "banana republic." A series of military governments ruled through much of the twentieth century. The 1969 Football War with El Salvador, fought over immigration tensions, lasted just one hundred hours. A peace treaty was signed with El Salvador in 1980, and civilian democratic rule was re-established in 1981.