Honduras is the second-largest country in Central America.The country is geographically divided into four distinct regions. They are eastern Caribbean lowlands, central highlands, northern coastal plains and mountains, and Pacific lowlands.Honduras is a country in the torrid zone of America and it is bordered by Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador. It shares its coast with both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The word Honduras has its origin in Spanish diction, it means depths in Spanish. Honduras did not become a complete province till 1580. Before that Honduras was used only used for referring to the eastern part of the province. It became an independent nation in 1821 with Tegucigalpa as the Honduras capital city.Records of many other tribes have also been collected by historians that settled in Honduras during the early medieval period. After the Mayan culture dissolved from Honduras, many tribes slowly began to capture parts of the Honduran territory. These tribes had their own conflicts but also maintained a commercial relationship with each other as well as distant places such as Panama and Mexico. On 30th July, Columbus reached the Bay Islands and landed near the town Trujillo for the first time. While exploring, Columbus’s brother Bartholomew found a rich Mayan cargo with well-dressed people in Yucatan. He stole the cargo and kidnapped its captain. This was the first interaction of the Mayans with the Spanish.Currently, Honduras is the poorest country in Central America and it is identified as a food priority by United Nations. The income inequality between the upper class of Honduras and the rest of the Honduras population is apparent and is one of the causes of the low-income level of the country. An intense and devastating hurricane called Hurricane Mitch hit Honduras in 1998 which took the lives of more than 5,000 people and destroyed properties worth billions in the country. This hurricane made news worldwide and is still considered to be one of the reasons behind the income inequality of the country. Many rural areas are still recovering from the devastating effects of this hurricane. Some famous celebrities from Honduras are Satcha Pretto, Emilio Izaguirre, Wilson Palacios, and Maynor Figueroa.If you are interested in more interesting facts about different countries of the world, then do check out the articles on Austria facts and Finland facts too.Honduras HistoryHonduras was handled independently by numerous diversified tribes until Christopher Columbus discovered this indigenous town on his fourth and final voyage to the Americas in 1502. When the Spanish invaders arrived on the coast of Honduras, they saw the settlements of many indigenous tribes there. All these tribes had cultural and linguistic differences. The Mayans formed an important part of Honduran history, the Mayan civilization was the most advanced and popular settlement of Honduras. They populated the western part of Honduras densely. The Maya world lasted in Honduras from 426 AD to 820 AD.The first Spanish forces arrived on the borders of Honduras from Mexico in 1524 and the first government was established in 1526 in Trujillo. This marked the first years of the Spanish conquest in Honduras. Much of the territories fell in the hands of the Spanish in the next two decades. They ruled the country for the next three centuries. Even though the Spanish succeeded in capturing the Pacific lowlands of Honduras, they could not conquest the northern coast completely. Honduras was a country rich in mining, the Spanish used this wealth for themselves and spent only a little amount of it for the development of the country. This made the Honduras people furious and they started fighting for independence.The independence of the Central American provinces from the hands of Europeans was declared in 1821. In 1838 Honduras separated from the Central American Federation and came to be recognized as an independent republic that had the right of conducting independent elections. The country began to develop as a nation after Honduras President Marco Aurelio Soto came into power, especially the north coast of Honduras saw great flourishment. Misery again struck this newly growing nation and it suffered from the effects of continuous wars. The civil war broke in Central America in 1932 between two parties due to the differences between two parties quarreling for and against Spanish rule. The social reforms of the country began to be structured in 1954. Several economic organizations have been set up from the funding of the Central bank of Honduras, both public and private sectors strive in the country. Honduras once came under military rule in 1969 due to a short war over some dispute with El Salvador. After two decades, it finally returned to civilian rule and a peace agreement was reached with El Salvador. The country had relatively high political stability until 2009. Political instability regarding a military coup and presidential election crept in in the following years which troubled the country in many ways making it one of the poorest countries of South America.What is Honduras famous for?Honduras is the only country in Central America without any volcanic highlands, it is also the second-largest country of Central America after Nicaragua. It is famous as the first country to ban smoking inside the house.The Honduran upper class became rich by exporting livestock and cotton in the post-second world war period. The city of San Pedro Sula is a major commercial center of Honduras. San Pedro Sula is often referred to as La Capital Industrial which means Industrial capital in Spanish since it shelters many large manufacturing companies of the world.While talking about Honduras, mentioning the country’s banana production is a must. It became the world’s largest banana-producing country at the beginning of the 20th century. The term Banana Republic was first coined to describe Honduras’s specialty in banana production although later most of the Latin American countries were referred to collectively by this name. At present, Honduras is no longer the highest banana-producing nation in the world but still, it produces a considerable amount. The development of the Caribbean coast owes its gratitude to the banana companies that started trading through the Caribbean sea.The country is one of the best places to study the Mayan culture. Copan is a beautiful historical spot located in western Honduras whose ruins are preserved by the Honduran government. Copan was possibly a sacred city for many tribes since ruins of many ceremonial spots have been discovered from there. It also has many outstanding Mayan archaeological sites. The longest hieroglyphic text of the Maya civilization can be seen in Copan. This beautiful and culturally rich spot is identified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site at present. With a great number of coral reefs found in the Bay Islands of northern Honduras, the country has the second largest barrier reef in the world after Australia. The mesmerizing reefs following the coastline of the Yucatan peninsula are one of the most popular tourist attractions of the country.Facts About Honduras Culture The popular culture of Honduras includes its current citizens and the events surrounding the present natives of the country. Honduras is a Latin American country and most of its people are Latino, so the culture of the Honduran people is also Latino.Honduras was previously known as Spanish Honduras when Spain colonized the territory. The name Spanish was added to separate the Spanish colony from British Honduras which later came to be known as Belize. The Honduran flag has three equal stripes, the upper and the lower stripes are blue in color and represents the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea respectively. The middle stripe is white in color and it consists of five stars. These five blue stars symbolize the five countries of the Central American Union. The Honduras religion plays a major role in determining the cultural background of the Hondurans. Even though most of the people of the country were Roman catholic, the memberships of the Roman Catholic churches are continuously declining.The Hondurans love to party in extravagant styles, they are fond of vibrant colors as symbols of happiness. Even the national flower of Honduras is beautiful orchids and the national bird is the colorful Scarlet macaw. The local buses of Honduras are very famous in the world and are called Chicken buses. They look very attractive and are painted so brightly that it looks like a party on wheels. Honduras is also very famous for its supreme quality coffee. One of the best kinds of coffee comes from the land of Honduras and the country is now the fifth largest producer of coffee in the world. The demand for Honduran coffee has grown in recent years and its popularity has toppled the flavor of Guatemala and Costa Rica coffee.The Honduran money Lempira was named in the honor of an Indian chief who died while trying to save the territory from Spanish conquests. His face is featured in a one Lempia bill and 20 and 50 cent coins. Honduras is a booming place for media and music, the diversified cuisine of famous has made a significant place in the country’s culture. WHO has determined the life expectancy of Hondurans to be 74.6 years old.Honduras LanguageHonduras was put together as a complete territory by the Spanish for the first time. Therefore Spanish became the official language of the country. Most of the people of Honduras are still Latinos.Before the Spanish came to capture the land, many indigenous tribes used to live there. This has given rise to some indigenous language-speaking people in Honduras. Some of the main indigenous languages that are spoken in Honduras are Garifuna spoken by almost 100,000 people in Honduras, Mískito spoken by 29,000 speakers, Mayangna and Chibchan having less than 1,000 speakers, and Mayan spoken by less than 50 people. The last of the Lenca speaking people perished in the 20th century. Some other languages spoken by the Hondurans include Creole English and Honduran sign language.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! 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Honduras is the second-largest country in Central America.
