Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, and to the north by the Gulf of Honduras, a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea. Its capital and largest city is Tegucigalpa.
Geography and Area
Honduras spans approximately 112,492 square kilometers (43,433 square miles). The northern portions of the country are part of the western Caribbean zone, as reflected in the area's demographics and culture.
Population and Demographics
Honduras has a population exceeding 10 million. Honduran society is predominantly Mestizo; however, there are also significant Indigenous, Black, and White communities. Hondurans are often referred to as either the masculine catracho or the feminine catracha in Spanish.
Economy
Honduras is known for its rich natural resources, including minerals, coffee, tropical fruit, and sugar cane, as well as for its growing textiles industry, which serves the international market. The economy is primarily agricultural, making it vulnerable to natural disasters such as Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
Honduras has a Human Development Index of 0.624, ranking 138th in the world. In 2022, according to the National Institute of Statistics of Honduras, 73% of the country's population lived in poverty, and 53% lived in extreme poverty. The country is one of the most economically unequal in Latin America, with the lower class primarily agriculturally based while wealth is concentrated in the urban centers.
Early History
Honduras was home to several important Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya, before Spanish colonization in the 16th century. In the pre-Columbian era, the territory was split between two pan-cultural regions: Mesoamerica in the west and the Isthmo-Colombian area in the east. Maya civilization flourished in the extreme west, with the dominant state located in Copán. In 2012, LiDAR scanning revealed that several previously unknown high density settlements existed in La Mosquitia. It is estimated that these settlements reached their zenith from 500 to 1000 AD.
Spanish Conquest and Colonial Period
On his fourth and final voyage to the New World in 1502, Christopher Columbus became the first European to visit the Bay Islands when he landed near the modern town of Trujillo. In March 1524, Gil González Dávila became the first Spaniard to enter Honduras as a conquistador, followed by Hernán Cortés and other Spanish forces. Much of the conquest took place over the following two decades, though many regions in the north of Honduras, notably the Miskito Kingdom, never fell to Spanish control.
The Spanish introduced Catholicism and the Spanish language, along with numerous customs that have blended with the indigenous culture. Honduras was organized as a province of the Kingdom of Guatemala, with the capital first at Trujillo on the Atlantic coast, later at Comayagua, and finally at Tegucigalpa. Silver mining was a key factor in the Spanish settlement of Honduras. The Spanish ruled the region for approximately three centuries.
Modern History
Honduras gained independence from Spain in 1821 and became an independent republic, with regular elections held since 1838. However, it has consistently endured much social strife and political instability, and remains one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.
In the early 20th century, Honduras was dominated by transnational agricultural companies, whose interests were protected militarily by the United States. The term "banana republic" was originally coined to describe Honduras's politically unstable, corporate-dominated democracy. The civilian government was overthrown in a 1963 military coup, and the nation returned to civilian rule in 1979.
The United States re-established its military presence in Honduras in the 1980s, using Honduras as a base of operations to oppose the Nicaraguan government in the Contra war. In 1960, the northern part of what was the Mosquito Coast was transferred from Nicaragua to Honduras by the International Court of Justice.
A 2009 military coup toppled the government of Manuel Zelaya. Controversy arose from claims of electoral fraud in the subsequent 2013 and 2017 presidential elections. In 2021, Xiomara Castro was elected to the presidency, returning the left to power for the first time since the 2009 coup. Nasry Asfura won the 2025 election amid claims of fraud and electoral interference by the United States.
Etymology
The literal meaning of the Spanish term "honduras" is 'depths'. The name could refer either to the bay of Trujillo as an anchorage or to Christopher Columbus's alleged quote that "Gracias a Dios que hemos salido de esas honduras" ("Thank God we have departed from those depths"). It was not until the end of the 16th century that Honduras was used for the whole province. Prior to 1580, Honduras referred to only the eastern part of the province, with Higueras referring to the western part.