About Honduras
Geography
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. |
Economy
Main article:
Economy of Honduras
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) are
run by government monopolies, with the former receiving heavy subsidies from the
government because of its chronic financial problems. 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.
Demographics
Main article:
Demographics of Honduras
The population of Honduras is predominantly of
Mestizo descent and
Roman
Catholic faith, but there are also several
Evangelical denominations. Along the northern coast are communities of English
speakers who have 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
live along the north coast, where there are also many
Afro-Latin Americans. In the 20th century, Garífunas became part of Honduras'
projected identity through theatrical presentations such as
Louvavagu, in order to help boost
tourism.
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 so-called "turcos", along with the Jewish minority population, exert
considerable influence on Honduran economics and politics through large industrial and
financial interests . Many other Hondurans have connections to
Spain, the
United
States (especially
New Orleans,
Florida and
California)
and the
Cayman Islands.
In spite of the tide of immigrants, the
indigenous peoples of Honduras cling to survival throughout the country. Tribes
like the 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 a sad
exception. For the most part, these tribes live in extreme poverty due to their remote
locations and governmental negligence.
Interestingly, there is a distinct shibboleth through Honduras that separates major
ethnic groups from others. Honduras is not only located in the heart of Central
America, it also straddles two major cultural areas. Thus, we have the Mesoamerican
area to the west, where the Lenca and Maya Chorti tribes reside. Both groups belong to
the same linguistical family as the Olmec, Aztecs and the extinct Maya. The other zone
is the "Area Intermedia", an dissimilar assemblage of tribes like Pech, Tawahka,
Miskito, and Tolupan in Honduras, as well as the Yanomami indigenous people of South
America, to name one.
The Garífuna
are the newest ethnic addition to the country. Unlike other people from African descent
who came to the Americas, these were never slaves.
Contact Hands to Honduras by E-Mail Here
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