When I was in
college, I used to meet a lot of people from a lot of different countries. It
helped that I was part of the Languages, Literatures and Linguistics department
at Indiana State University. I met a few people from Honduras there as well as
when I used to tutor in ESL in various places. And oh, what I wouldn’t give to
be there right now, where it’s warm and fresh fruit is always in season,
instead of here in Indiana, where we’re bracing for wind chills below zero and
fruit is expensive now because it’s out of season. Those things make me sad.
The name
Honduras means “depths,” which may be stemmed from many sources. Some
historians believe it may have been based on a statement from Christopher
Columbus, or it may have referred to the Bay of Trujillo. Before 1580, Honduras only referred to the eastern
part of this area whereas Higueras
(“fig trees”) referred to the western portions.
The country
of Honduras is located in the middle of Central America, surrounded by
Guatemala to the west, El Salvador to the southwest, and Nicaragua to the east.
It has a very long coast on the Caribbean side (700 km/435 mi) and a very short
coast on the Gulf of Fonseca (153 km/95 mi), which opens to the Pacific Ocean. Because
of its tropical climate, Honduras has a wide variety of flora and fauna.
They’re quite known for the number of native plants, including 630 varieties of
orchid along with over 700 types of birds, and over 50 types of bats. Honduras’
rain forests and cloud forests keep ecotourists arriving year after year. The
Mosquito Coast, named after the Miskito Indians who first lived there, spreads along
the Caribbean coast and extends through most of the Nicaraguan coast. There are
still many areas of the Mosquito Coast that are scarcely populated and contain
untouched rainforests.
Before
Columbus arrived in this region of the world, the Mayan civilization extended
through what is now known as Honduras. On his fourth and final trip to this
area, Columbus landed in the Bay Islands and near where the city of Trujillo
currently lies. Hernán Cortés later came in from Mexico to conquer these lands
as well; however, much of the Miskito Kingdom did not fall to the Spaniards at
that time. The Spanish counted Honduras as a province of Guatemala, and
eventually moved the capital from Trujillo to Comayagua to its current-day
capital of Tegucigalpa. They set up silver mines, basically using the native
peoples to work the mines in exchange for protection from other warring tribes along
with other promises (this legal system was called encomienda). But as disease spread, the Spanish brought in slaves
from Africa to pick up the “slack” from the dying native population they were
more or less responsible for. Honduras did eventually gain its independence
from Spain in 1821, but it was difficult for them to find their place. It was
part of the First Mexican Empire, then it was part of the United Provinces of
Central America before settling on becoming the Republic of Honduras. There have been many skirmishes and
rebellions throughout the early years in Honduras’ history. The fruit
companies, and more specifically the sale of bananas, carved out a significant
corner of Honduras’ economy, thus leading to the term Banana Republic (given by
no less than the US author O. Henry). The downside was that although these were
very large companies and had a lot of influence on several governments, they
were tax exempt, and therefore didn’t contribute very much to the economies at
all. In 1969, Honduras and El Salvador became engaged in border tensions that
escalated during elimination matches ahead of the World Cup. This became known as the Soccer War. The
US has had a military presence in Honduras many times in the early part of the
20th Century as well as on and off again during the 1970s and 1980s
in an effort to keep peace in Central America among other reasons. Honduras has
also been ravaged by hurricanes and flooding many times, causing millions of
dollars in damage and taking years to rebuild its infrastructure.
The capital
city is Tegucigalpa, or commonly referred to as Tegus by the locals. Lying in
the interior of the country, yet not far from the Pacific side, this capital
city has about 1.3 million people in its metro area. The origin of the name
Tegucigalpa is disputed, although many historians and anthropologists believe
it is derived from a Nahuatl word. The government of the newly founded country
decided to alternate the capital city between Tegucigalpa and nearby
Comayagüela, although eventually the capital included both cities, each city
holding different functions of the government.
Honduras is
one of the poorest countries in Central and South America with a high
unemployment and underemployment rate and a high poverty rate. Although they do
have a substantial mining industry, mostly in silver, gold, zinc, and lead, the
country is still highly indebted to foreign aid. There seems to be a lot of
debate over whether government-owned or private-owned utilities and subsidies
are better and how much actually goes back into the economy. Honduras’
infrastructure is one area that varies widely on where it is. Urban areas
generally seem to have better roads, cleaner water, and better functioning
sanitation systems. The rural areas can be far less sophisticated in what is
provided. In 2003 a new law was passed that essentially took the burden of handling
water and sanitation off of the federal government and placed it in the hands
of regional and local officials. Many towns banded together to improve their
own conditions. I would be interested to see if conditions increased for the
better.
While
officially Honduras often considers itself a majority Catholic nation, studies
have found that the number of Protestants of many denominations is gaining
popularity. Many people often attend more than one church, which may be skewing
the numbers. Honduras also has significant followings of Buddhism, Bahá’í,
Rastafari, Islam, and Judaism.
The official
language of Honduras is Spanish, although there are several other languages
that carry a recognized regional language status: Garifuna, Miskito, Bay
Islands Creole English (also referred to as Caracol), Samu, Pech, Jicaque, and
Ch’orti’ (a Mayan language).
For a country
that lies along the infamous Ring of Fire, and unlike other nearby countries,
Honduras does not contain any active volcanoes. But it does have the oldest
clock in the Americas, located in the city of Comayagua, which is still
actively keeping time. Thought to have been built during the latter part of the
1300s, this clock still apparently does keep time after all of these years
(even though parts of it have been replaced and refurbished over the years).
The clock was built in Spain and received as a gift, but it’s disputed as to
who exactly gave the clock as a gift. One of the craziest things I read was the
“raining fish” phenomenon (called lluvia
de peces) in the town of Yoro. There are a number of theories as to why or
how this happens, especially given the fact that this town is 140 miles from
the Atlantic coast. Whatever is causing this ichthyoidal gift wrapped in
superstition, it’s been going on every year for more than a century. I’m
excited to jump into researching Honduras. I’ve already downloaded an album by
the Honduran metal/rock band Diablos Negros, so this is bound to be good.
Up next: art
and literature
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