, an emblematic symbol of the Honduran Mayan civilization at Copan
Pre-colonial period In the pre-Columbian era, modern Honduras was split between two pan-cultural regions:
Mesoamerica in the west and the
Isthmo-Colombian area in the east. Each complex had a "core area" within Honduras (the
Sula Valley for Mesoamerica, and
La Mosquitia for the Isthmo-Colombian area), and the intervening area was one of gradual transition. However, these concepts had no meaning in the Pre-Columbian era itself and represent extremely diverse areas. The
Lenca people of the interior highlands are also generally considered to be culturally Mesoamerican, though the extent of linkage with other areas varied over time (for example, expanding during the zenith of the
Toltec Empire). In the extreme west,
Maya civilization flourished for hundreds of years. The dominant, best known, and best studied state within Honduras's borders was in
Copán, which was located in a mainly non-Maya area, or on the frontier between Maya and non-Maya areas. Copán declined with other Lowland centres during the conflagrations of the
Terminal Classic in the 9th century. The Maya of this civilization survive in western Honduras as the
Ch'orti', isolated from their Choltian linguistic peers to the west. However, Copán represents only a fraction of Honduran pre-Columbian history. Remnants of other civilizations are found throughout the country. Archaeologists have studied sites such as and La Sierra in the Naco Valley,
Los Naranjos on
Lake Yojoa,
Yarumela in the Comayagua Valley,
La Ceiba and Salitron Viejo (both now under the
Cajón Dam reservoir), Selin Farm and Cuyamel in the Aguan valley,
Cerro Palenque, Travesia, Curruste, Ticamaya, Despoloncal, and
Playa de los Muertos in the lower
Ulúa River valley, and many others. In 2012, LiDAR scanning revealed that several previously unknown high density settlements existed in La Mosquitia, corresponding to the legend of "
La Ciudad Blanca". Excavation and study has since improved knowledge of the region's history. It is estimated that these settlements reached their zenith from 500 to 1000 AD.
Spanish conquest (1524–1539) , one of the conquerors of Honduras On his fourth and the final voyage to the
New World in 1502,
Christopher Columbus landed near the modern town of
Trujillo, near Guaimoreto Lagoon, becoming the first European to visit the
Bay Islands on the coast of Honduras. On 30 July 1502, Columbus sent his brother
Bartholomew to explore the islands and Bartholomew encountered a Mayan trading vessel from Yucatán, carrying well-dressed Maya and a rich cargo. followed by
Hernán Cortés, who had brought forces down from Mexico. Much of the conquest took place in the following two decades, first by groups loyal to
Cristóbal de Olid, and then by those loyal to
Francisco de Montejo but most particularly by those following Alvarado. In addition to Spanish resources, the conquerors relied heavily on armed forces from Mexico
Tlaxcalans and
Mexica armies of thousands who remained garrisoned in the region. Resistance to conquest was led in particular by
Lempira. Many regions in the north of Honduras never fell to the Spanish, notably the
Miskito Kingdom. After the Spanish conquest, Honduras became part of Spain's vast empire in the New World within the
Kingdom of Guatemala. Trujillo and
Gracias were the first city-capitals. The Spanish ruled the region for approximately three centuries.
Spanish Honduras (1524–1821) Honduras was organized as a province of the
Kingdom of Guatemala and the capital was fixed, first at Trujillo on the Atlantic coast, and later at
Comayagua, and finally at
Tegucigalpa in the central part of the country.
Silver mining was a key factor in the Spanish conquest and settlement of Honduras. Initially the mines were worked by local people through the
encomienda system, but as disease and resistance made this option less available, slaves from other parts of Central America were brought in. When local slave trading stopped at the end of the sixteenth century, African slaves, mostly from
Angola, were imported. After about 1650, very few slaves or other outside workers arrived in Honduras. Although the Spanish conquered the southern or Pacific portion of Honduras fairly quickly, they were less successful on the northern, or Atlantic side. They managed to found a few towns along the coast, at
Puerto Caballos and Trujillo in particular, but failed to conquer the eastern portion of the region and many pockets of independent indigenous people as well. The
Miskito Kingdom in the northeast was particularly effective at resisting conquest. The Miskito Kingdom found support from northern European privateers, pirates and especially the British formerly English colony of
Jamaica, which placed much of the area under its protection after 1740. was built by the Spanish to protect the coast of Honduras from English pirates.
Independence (1821) Honduras gained independence from Spain in 1821 and
was a part of the
First Mexican Empire until 1823, when it became part of the
United Provinces of Central America. It has been an independent
republic and has held regular elections since 1838. In the 1840s and 1850s Honduras participated in several failed attempts at Central American unity, such as the Confederation of Central America (1842–1845), the covenant of Guatemala (1842), the Diet of Sonsonate (1846), the Diet of Nacaome (1847) and National Representation in Central America (1849–1852). Although Honduras eventually adopted the name Republic of Honduras, the unionist ideal never waned, and Honduras was one of the Central American countries that pushed the hardest for a policy of regional unity. Policies favoring
international trade and investment began in the 1870s. Soon, foreign interests became involved, first in shipping from the north coast, especially tropical fruit and most notably bananas, and then in building railroads.
Comayagua was the capital of Honduras until 1880, when the capital moved to
Tegucigalpa. In 1888, a projected railroad line from the Caribbean coast to Tegucigalpa ran out of money when it reached
San Pedro Sula. As a result, San Pedro grew into the nation's primary industrial center and second-largest city. Since independence, nearly 300 small internal rebellions and civil wars have occurred in the country, including some changes of régime.
20th century and the role of American companies In the late nineteenth century, Honduras granted land and substantial exemptions to several US-based fruit and infrastructure companies in return for developing the country's northern regions. Thousands of workers came to the north coast as a result to work in
banana plantations and other businesses that grew up around the export industry. Banana-exporting companies, dominated until 1930 by the
Cuyamel Fruit Company, as well as the
United Fruit Company, and
Standard Fruit Company, built an
enclave economy in northern Honduras, controlling
infrastructure and creating self-sufficient, tax-exempt sectors that contributed relatively little to economic growth. American troops landed in Honduras in 1903, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1924 and 1925. The writer
O. Henry coined the term "
banana republic" in his 1904 novel
Cabbages and Kings to describe a fictional country,
Anchuria, that was inspired by his experiences in Honduras, where he had lived for six months. In
The Admiral, one of the interlinking stories from which he composed the novel, O. Henry refers to Anchuria as a "small maritime banana republic"; naturally, the fruit was the entire basis of its economy. According to a literary analyst writing for
The Economist, "his phrase neatly conjures up the image of a tropical, agrarian country. But its real meaning is sharper: it refers to the fruit companies from the United States that came to exert extraordinary influence over the politics of Honduras and its neighbors." Honduras joined the
Allied Nations after
Pearl Harbor, on 8 December 1941, and signed the
Declaration by United Nations on 1 January 1942, along with twenty-five other governments. Constitutional crises in the 1940s led to reforms in the 1950s. One reform gave workers permission to organize, and a 1954
general strike paralyzed the northern part of the country for more than two months, but led to reforms. In 1963 a
military coup unseated democratically elected President
Ramón Villeda Morales. In 1960, the northern part of what was the
Mosquito Coast was transferred from Nicaragua to Honduras by the
International Court of Justice. Border tensions led to acrimony between the two countries after
Oswaldo López Arellano, the president of Honduras, blamed the deteriorating Honduran economy on immigrants from El Salvador. The relationship reached a low when El Salvador met Honduras for a three-round football elimination match preliminary to the
World Cup. Tensions escalated and on 14 July 1969, the Salvadoran army invaded Honduras.
Hurricane Fifi caused severe damage when it skimmed the northern coast of Honduras on 18 and 19 September 1974.
Melgar Castro (1975–78) and Paz Garcia (1978–82) largely built the current physical infrastructure and telecommunications system of Honduras. in Tegucigalpa, 1998 In 1979, the country returned to civilian rule. A
constituent assembly was popularly elected in April 1980 to write a new constitution, and general elections were held in November 1981. The constitution was approved in 1982 and the
PLH government of
Roberto Suazo won the election with a promise to carry out an ambitious program of economic and social development to tackle the recession in which Honduras found itself. He launched ambitious social and economic development projects sponsored by American development aid. Honduras became host to the largest
Peace Corps mission in the world, and nongovernmental and international voluntary agencies proliferated. The Peace Corps withdrew its volunteers in 2012, citing safety concerns. During the early 1980s, the United States established a continuing military presence in Honduras to support El Salvador, the
Contra guerrillas fighting the
Nicaraguan government, and also develop an airstrip and modern port in Honduras. Though spared the bloody civil wars wracking its neighbors, the
Honduran Army quietly waged campaigns against
Marxist–Leninist militias such as the
Cinchoneros Popular Liberation Movement, notorious for kidnappings and bombings, and against many non-militants as well. The operation included a campaign of extrajudicial killings by government units, most notably the CIA-trained
Battalion 316. Honduras was found internationally liable for a series of
enforced disappearances during this time period, culminating in
Velásquez-Rodríguez v. Honduras. In 1998,
Hurricane Mitch caused massive and widespread destruction. Honduran President
Carlos Roberto Flores said that fifty years of progress in the country had been reversed. Mitch destroyed about 70% of the country's crops and an estimated 70–80% of the transportation infrastructure, including nearly all bridges and secondary roads. Across Honduras 33,000 houses were destroyed, and an additional 50,000 damaged. Some 5,000 people killed, and 12,000 more injured. Total losses were estimated at US$3 billion.
21st century with U.S. Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld in August 2003 In 2007, President of Honduras
Manuel Zelaya and President of the United States
George W. Bush began talks on US assistance to Honduras to tackle the latter's growing drug cartels in Mosquito, Eastern Honduras using US special forces. This marked the beginning of a new foothold for the US military's continued presence in Central America. Under Zelaya, Honduras joined
ALBA in 2008, but withdrew in 2010 after the
2009 Honduran coup d'état. In 2009, a
constitutional crisis resulted when power was transferred in a coup from the president to the head of Congress. The
OAS suspended Honduras because it did not regard its government as legitimate. Countries around the world, the OAS, and the
United Nations formally and unanimously condemned the action as a
coup d'état, refusing to recognize the
de facto government, even though the lawyers consulted by the
Library of Congress submitted to the
United States Congress an opinion that declared the coup legal. The
Honduran Supreme Court also ruled that the proceedings had been legal. The government that followed the
de facto government established a truth and reconciliation commission,
Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación, which after more than a year of research and debate concluded that the ousting had been a
coup d'état, and illegal in the commission's opinion. On 28 November 2021, the former first lady
Xiomara Castro, leftist presidential candidate of opposition
Liberty and Refoundation Party, won 53% of the votes in the
presidential election to become the first female president of Honduras, bringing an end to the 12-year reign of the right-wing National Party. She was sworn in on 27 January 2022. Her husband, Manuel Zelaya, held the same office from 2006 until 2009. Castro's government re-nationalized the nation's telecommunications and energy industries, subsidized electricity, education and school meals for more than a million impoverished families, and extended financial aid to students and the elderly. The government made major investments in the construction of eight new hospitals and in the electricity grid. The government also focused on shutting down
special economic zones instituted by the dictatorship and its successors. The Castro government sought to diversify Honduras's agricultural production by incentivizing farmers to grow food in addition to
cash crops through low-interest loans, domestic production quotas and investments in the agricultural sector. Castro's
Libre party was not able to gain control of congress, and was consequently unable to nationalize private land, leading to protests and dissatisfaction among the rural poor. In 2025, Hernández was pardoned by the Trump administration. Nasry Asfura was declared the winner of the
2025 Honduran election, with Castro and both of Asfura's opponents,
Salvador Nasralla and
Rixi Moncada, alleging fraud. Roughly 14.5% of the electoral tally sheets contained inconsistencies and required a review. ==Geography==