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Honduras

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Central & South American
Countries; Countries

                           República de Honduras
   Republic of Honduras

   Flag of Honduras Coat of arms of Honduras
   Flag             Coat of arms
   Motto: Libre, Soberana e Independiente
   (English: "Free, Independent and Sovereign")
   Anthem: Himno Nacional de Honduras
   Location of Honduras
   Capital
   (and largest city)    Tegucigalpa
                         14°6′N 87°13′W
    Official languages   Spanish
   Government            Democratic constitutional republic
    - President          Manuel Zelaya
       Independence      from Spain
    - Declared           15 September 1821
    - Recognized         1823
                                    Area
    - Total              112,492 km² ( 102nd)
                         43,278 sq mi
    - Water (%)          Negligible
                                 Population
    - July 2006 estimate 7,326,496 ^2 ( 96th)
    - 2000 census        6,975,204
    - Density            64/km² ( 128th)
                         166/sq mi
        GDP ( PPP)       2005 estimate
    - Total              $21.74 billion ( 107th)
    - Per capita         $3,009 ( 124th)
        HDI  (2003)      0.667 (medium) ( 116th)
         Currency        Lempira ( HNL)
         Time zone       CST ( UTC-6)
    - Summer ( DST)      CDT ( UTC-5)
       Internet TLD      .hn
       Calling code      +504
   ^1 Although Honduras has no official motto, "NO PASARÁN" or "They shall
   not pass" became popular during the 1969 war with El Salvador. This is
   an allusion to the El Salvador's stated goal to reach the Honduran
   Caribbean coast during their offensive.

   Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, often formerly known as
   Spanish Honduras, is a country in Central America, bordered to the west
   by Guatemala, situated at 3 Hours from Guatemala City, to the southwest
   by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the
   Pacific Ocean and to the north by the Gulf of Honduras and the
   Caribbean Sea, with Belize (formerly British Honduras) situated 50
   miles (75  km) away, across the Gulf of Honduras.

History

   The Pre-Columbian city of Copán is a locale in extreme western
   Honduras, in the department of Copán near the Guatemalan border. It is
   a major Maya city that flourished during the classic period (150-900
   A.D). It has many beautiful carved inscriptions and stelae. The ancient
   kingdom, named Xukpi, flourished from the 5th century AD to the early
   9th century, with antecedents going back to at least the 2nd century
   AD. The Maya civilization changed in the 9th century AD, and they
   stopped writing texts at Copan, but there is evidence of people still
   living in and around the city until at least 1200 AD. By the time the
   Spanish came to Honduras, the once great city-state of Copán was
   overrun by the jungle.

   On his fourth and final voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus
   reached the coast of Honduras in 1502, and landed near the modern town
   of Trujillo, somewhere along the Guaimoreto Lagoon, and had his priests
   say mass. After the Spanish discovery, Honduras became part of Spain's
   vast empire in the New World within the Kingdom of Guatemala. The
   Spanish ruled Honduras for approximately three centuries.

   Honduras declared independence from Spain on September 15, 1821 with
   the rest of the Central America provinces. In 1822 the Central American
   State was annexed to the newly declared Mexican Empire of Iturbide. The
   Iturbide Empire was overthown in 1823 and Central America separated
   from it, forming the Federation of the United Provinces, which
   disintegrated in 1838. The states of the United Provinces became
   independent nations.

   Following the attack on Pearl Harbour, Honduras joined the Allied
   Nations on the 8th of December, 1941. Less than a month later, on the
   first day of 1942, Honduras, along with 25 other governments signed the
   Declaration by United Nations

   The so-called Soccer War of 1969 was fought with El Salvador. There had
   always been border tension between the two countries after Oswaldo
   López Arellano, past president of Honduras, blamed the poor economy on
   the large number of immigrants from El Salvador. From that point on the
   relationship between El Salvador and Honduras had been a sour one. It
   reached a low when El Salvador met Honduras for a three-round football
   elimination match as a preliminary to the World Cup. Tensions
   escalated, and on July 14, 1969, the Salvadoran army launched an attack
   against Honduras. The Organization of American States negotiated a
   cease-fire which took effect on July 20, with the Salvadoran troops
   withdrawn in early August. The war lasted approximately 100 hours and
   led to an arms race between the two countries.

   During the 1980s, the United States established a military presence in
   Honduras with the purpose of supporting the anti-Sandinista Contras
   fighting the Nicaraguan government and to support the El Salvador
   military fighting against the FMLN guerrillas. Though spared the bloody
   civil wars wracking its neighbors, the Honduran army quietly waged a
   campaign against leftists.

   Hurricane Fifí caused severe damage while skimming the northern coast
   of Honduras on September 18 and 19, 1974. Many years later, Hurricane
   Mitch devastated the country and wrecked its economic system in 1998.

Politics

   A Presidential and general election was held on November 27, 2005.
   Manuel Zelaya of the Liberal Party of Honduras (Partido Liberal de
   Honduras: PLH) won, with Porfirio Pepe Lobo of the National Party of
   Honduras (Partido Nacional de Honduras: PNH) coming in second. The PNH
   challenged the election results, and Lobo Sosa did not concede until
   December 7. Towards the end of December the government finally released
   the total ballot count, giving Zelaya the official victory. Zelaya was
   inaugurated as Honduras' new president on January 27, 2006.

   Honduras has five registered political parties: PNH, PLH, Social
   Democrats (Partido Innovación Nacional y Social Demócrata: PINU-SD),
   Social Christians (Partido Demócrata-Cristiano: DC), and Democrat
   Unification (Partido Unificación Democrática: UD). The PNH and PLH have
   ruled the country for decades. In the last years, Honduras has had five
   Liberal presidents: Roberto Suazo Córdova, José Azcona del Hoyo, Carlos
   Roberto Reina, Carlos Roberto Flores and Manuel Zelaya, and two
   Nationalists: Rafael Leonardo Callejas Romero and Ricardo Maduro. The
   elections have been full of controversies, including questions about
   whether Azcona was born in Honduras or Spain, and whether Maduro should
   have been able to stand given he was born in Panama.

   In 1963 a military coup was led against the democratically elected
   president Villegas Morales and a military junta was established to rule
   the country without holding elections until 1981with varying executive
   leaders. In this year Suazo Córdova (LPH) was elected president and
   Honduras transferred from a military authoritarian regime to an
   electoral democracy.

   In 1986, Azcona del Hoyo was elected via the "Formula B," when Azcona
   did not obtain the majority of votes. However, 5 Liberal candidates and
   4 Nationalist were running for president at that time, and the "Formula
   B" required all votes from all candidates from the same party to be
   added together. Azcona then became the president. In 1990, Callejas won
   the election under the slogan "Llegó el momento del Cambio," (The time
   for Change has arrived), which was heavily criticized for resembling El
   Salvador's "ARENAs" political campaign. Callejas Romero gained a
   reputation for illicit enrichment. Callejas has been the subject of
   several scandals and accusations in the last two decades. In 1998,
   during Flores Facusse's mandate, Hurricane Mitch hit the country and
   all indications of economic growth were washed out in a period of 5
   days.

   In 2004 separate ballots were used for mayors, congress, and president.
   Many more candidates were registered for the 2005 election.

   The Nationalist and Liberal parties are distinct political parties with
   their own dedicated band of supporters, but some have pointed out that
   their interests and policy measures throughout the 23 years of
   uninterrupted democracy have been very similar. They are often seen as
   primarily serving the interests of their own members, who receive jobs
   when their party gains power and lose them again when the other party
   does so. Both are seen as supportive of the elite who owns most of the
   wealth in the country, with neither of them promoting socialist ideals,
   even though in many ways Honduras is run like a democratic version of
   an old socialist state, with price controls and nationalized electric
   and land-line telephone services.

   However, President Maduro's administration "de-nationalized" the
   telecommunications sector in a move to promote the rapid diffusion of
   telecom services to the Honduran population. As of November 2005, there
   were around 10 private-sector telecom companies in the Honduran market,
   including two mobile phone companies.

Administrative divisions

   The largest department by surface area is Olancho department and by
   population is Francisco Morazán department, where the capital city of
   Tegucigalpa is located, and the smallest by both surface area and
   population is the Islas de la Bahía department.
    1. Atlántida
    2. Choluteca
    3. Colón
    4. Comayagua
    5. Copán
    6. Cortés
    7. El Paraíso
    8. Francisco Morazán
    9. Gracias a Dios

                         10. Intibucá
                         11. Islas de la Bahía
                         12. La Paz
                         13. Lempira
                         14. Ocotepeque
                         15. Olancho
                         16. Santa Bárbara
                         17. Valle
                         18. Yoro

Geography

   Map of Honduras
   Enlarge
   Map of Honduras

   Honduras borders the Caribbean Sea on the north coast and the Pacific
   Ocean on the south through the Gulf of Fonseca. The climate varies from
   tropical in the lowlands to temperate in the mountains. The central and
   southern regions are relatively hotter and less humid than the northern
   coast.

   The Honduran territory consists mainly of mountains (~81%), but there
   are narrow plains along the coasts, a large undeveloped lowland jungle
   La Mosquitia region in the northeast and the heavily populated lowland
   San Pedro Sula valley in the northwest. In La Mosquitia lies the
   UNESCO-world heritage site Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, with the Coco
   River dividing the country from Nicaragua. See Rivers of Honduras.

   Natural resources include timber, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc,
   iron ore, antimony, coal, fish, shrimp, and hydropower.
     * Cabo Gracias a Dios

Economy

   In Honduras the electricity comes in to households through overhead
   cables. Other cables carry telephone, cable television and broadband
   internet.
   Enlarge
   In Honduras the electricity comes in to households through overhead
   cables. Other cables carry telephone, cable television and broadband
   internet.

   Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the Americas, with GDP per
   capita at US$2050 per year (1999). The economy has continued to grow
   slowly but the distribution of wealth remains very polarized with
   average wages remaining very low. Economic growth is roughly 5% a year,
   but many people remain below the poverty line. It is estimated that
   there are more than 1.2 million people who are unemployed. The rate of
   unemployment is 28%

   The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund classified Honduras
   as one of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries eligible for debt relief,
   and this debt relief was given in 2005.

   Both the electricity services (ENEE) and land line telephone services
   (HONDUTEL) were run by government monopolies, with the ENEE receiving
   heavy subsidies from the government because of its chronic financial
   problems. HONDUTEL however is no longer a monopoly, the
   telecomunication sector having been opened after December 25, 2005;
   this was one of the requirements before approving the beginning of
   CAFTA. There are price controls around the price of petrol, and other
   temporary price controls of basic commodities are often passed for
   short periods by the Congress.

   After years of declining against the US dollar the Lempira has
   stabilized at around 19 Lempiras per dollar.

   In 2005 Honduras signed the CAFTA (Free Trade Agreement with USA). In
   December 2005, Honduras' main seaport Puerto Cortes was included in the
   U.S. Container Security Initiative.

Demographics

   The population of Honduras is predominantly of Mestizo descent and
   Roman Catholic faith. Along the northern coast were until recently
   communities of English speakers who maintained a separate culture, as
   some islands and sections along the Caribbean coast were occupied by
   pirates and by the British at one time or another. Groups of Garífuna
   (people of mixed of Amerindian and African ancestry) live along the
   north coast and islands, where there are also many Afro-Latin
   Americans. Garífunas are part of Honduras' identity through theatrical
   presentations such as Louvavagu. Asians in Honduras are mostly of
   Chinese and Japanese descent. Hundreds of families can find their roots
   in the Middle East, specifically Lebanon or Palestine. These
   Arab-Hondurans are sometimes called "turcos", because they arrived in
   Honduras using Turkish travel documents, as their homelands were then
   under the control of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. The "turcos", along
   with the Jewish minority population, exert considerable influence on
   Honduran economics and politics through their industrial and financial
   interests. Many other Hondurans have connections to Spain, the United
   States (especially New Orleans) and the Cayman Islands.

   Chortí (Mayan descent), Pech or Paya, Tolupan or Xicaque, Lenca, Sumo
   or Tawahka, and Miskito still exist, and most still keep their
   language, Lenca being an exception. For the most part, these tribes
   live in extreme poverty.

Culture

   The patron saint of Honduras is the Virgin of Suyapa.

   A Honduran can be called a Catracho or Catracha (fem) in Spanish. The
   word is derived from the last name of a french Honduran General
   Florencio Xatruch, who led Honduran armed forces in defense of Honduran
   territories in 1857 against an attempted invasion led by North American
   filibuster William Walker. The nickname is considered complimentary,
   not derogatory.

   One of Honduras' best known writers is Ramón Amaya Amador. Other
   writers include Roberto Sosa, Eduardo Bähr, Amanda Castro, Javier Abril
   Espinoza, and Roberto Quesada.

   Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga is a Cardinal who was a potential
   candidate for Pope in the Papal conclave, 2005.

   Not as famous as the cardinal, but also noteworthy, and in a different
   field, is Salvador Moncada, a world-renowned scientist with authorship
   of more than 12 highly cited papers, including his work on nitric
   oxide. His research on heart-related drugs includes the development of
   Viagra. Moncada works at the University College of London and funds an
   NGO in Tegucigalpa. He is married to Princess Maria-Esmeralda of
   Belgium.

   Honduras This Week is a weekly English language newspaper that has been
   published now for 17 years in Tegucigalpa. On the islands of Roatan,
   Utila and Guanaja the Bay Islands Voice is a source of monthly news
   since 2003.

   Three important Honduran journalists: Neida Sandoval and Satcha Pretto
   work for Univision in Miami, Florida and Dunia Elvir works for
   Telemundo in LA.

Environment

   Honduras is part of Mesoamerica, which is the landmass that extends
   from Mexico to Costa Rica. The region is considered as a biodiversity
   hotspot due to the numerous plant and animal species that can be found.
   Like the other countries in the region, Honduras contains vast
   biological resources. This 43,278 square mile (112,092 km²) country
   hosts more than 6,000 species of vascular plants, of which 630
   -described so far- are Orchids; around 250 reptiles and amphibians,
   more than 700 bird species, and 110 mammal species, half of them being
   bats.

   In the northeastern region of La Mosquitia lies the Río Plátano
   Biosphere Reserve, a lowland rainforest which provides home to a great
   diversity of life. Sometimes called "The Last Lungs of Central
   America", this Reserve was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites
   List in 1982.

   Besides lush rain forests, untouched cloud forests (which can rise up
   to nearly three thousand meters above sea level), mangroves, savannas
   and mountain ranges ladden with pine and oak trees, Honduras harbours
   yet another priceless ecosystem: The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System.
   In the Bay Islands it is no coincidence to swim with bottlenose
   dolphins, manta rays, parrot fish, schools of blue tang and even the
   colossal whale shark. The white sands, tall coconut palms and the easy
   going caribbean atmosphere provide refuge from the busy Central
   American cities, or across the Atlantic Ocean.

Folklore

   Honduras is a country full of Folklore, its famous Lluvia de Peces
   (Rain of fishes) is unique in the world. The legend of el cadejo is
   also popular.

Trivia

     * Honduras boasts the oldest functioning clock in the Americas; built
       by the Moors in the 12th Century and transferred to the cathedral
       of Comayagua in 1636.
     * Honduran Cuisine makes extensive of coconut, in both sweet and
       savory foods, even in soups.
     * The country once had a communist rebellion, which, like El
       Salvador, transformed itself into a political party. Today this
       communist party is gone.
     * Honduras is considered one of the most violent countries in Central
       America, which at one point reached 154 murders per every 100,000
       inhabitants, compared to the USA which has the still high rate of
       4.8 murders per 100,000. (
       http://www.usaid.gov/locations/latin_america_caribbean/democracy/ga
       ngs_assessment.pdf)
     * Honduras only has one lake in the entire country, Lago de Yojoa.

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