Honduras officially the
Republic of Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was at times referred to as
Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the
modern-day state of Belize. The country is
bordered to the west by Guatemala,
to the southwest by El
Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the
Gulf of Fonseca, and
to the north by the Gulf of Honduras, a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea.Honduras was home to several important indigenous cultures, most notably the Maya. Much of the country was conquered by Spain which introduced its now predominant language and many of its customs in the sixteenth century. It became independent in 1821 and has been a republic since the end of Spanish rule
Honduras is most notable for production of minerals, coffee, tropical fruit, sugar cane and recently for export of clothing in the international market
- Higueras – a reference to the gourds that come from the Jicaro tree, many of which were found floating in the waters off the northwest coast of Honduras.
- Honduras – literally "depths" in Spanish. Columbus is traditionally quoted as having written "Gracias a Dios que hemos salido de esas Honduras" (English: "Thank God we have come out of those depths") while along the northeastern coast. However, William Davidson notes that there is no form of this quotation in the primary documents of Columbus's voyage, and that it in fact comes from accounts over a century later.
- Honduras from fondura, a Leonese language word meaning anchorage which is one of the first words for the region to appear on a map in the second decade of the 16th century applied to the bay of Trujillo. It was not until the end of the 16th century that Honduras was used for the whole province. Prior to 1580, Honduras referred to the eastern part of the province, and Higueras referred to the western part.
