Hond. Demographics and Race

Honduras, like the rest of Central America, is largely populated by mestizos of mixed Spanish and indigenous heritage, amounting to perhaps 90% of the population.

Some important subgroups

Garífuna: The North Coast, especially from the Guatemalan border to the Mosquito Coast, is home to the Garífuna (or Garínagu, their own preferred plural form of Garífuna). The story of their arrival in Honduras is well known: In 1635 two slave ships bound for the New World foundered off the coast of the island of St. Vincent. The Africans who swam ashore intermarried with the native Arawaks. Their descendants repeatedly clashed with the island’s European masters, first the French and later the English; eventually, in 1797, much of the Garífuna population was forced onto ships and transported to the island of Roatán. From there, many quickly made their way to the Honduran and Belizean coast. The Garífuna language retains hardly any African vocabulary, instead consisting largely of Arawakan and Cariban, with a small admixture of Spanish, French, and English.

Miskito: The Miskito inhabit the Mosquito Coast, or La Mosquitia. (Mosquito was the initial British spelling for Miskito.) They are officially classified as an indigenous population by the Honduran state, unlike the Garífuna, who have not yet achieved official indigenous status. [Origins?]   The  Miskito language, unlike Garifuna, has no relation to those of the Caribbean islands and has incorporated few words from Spanish and English.

Lenca: The Lenca Indians                 Their language went extinct more than 50 years ago. Once widespread throughout most of southern Honduras, they are today most numerous in the departments of Intibucá, La Paz, and Lempira. With no surviving language and few distinctive traditions, the Lenca identity is vague by comparison with some of the other ethnic groups.

Tolupán: The Tolupán, or Xicaque (Jicaque), inhabit the high country of the Montaña de la Flor reserve and portions of the department of Yoro.

Tawahka: The small population of Tawahka lives in a small area along the Río Patuca in La Mosquitia centered in Krausirpi.

Chortí Maya: One of the country’s purest indigenous populations, the Chortí inhabit the area of Copán near the Guatemalan border. Their language, unlike the languages of numerous subgroups of Guatemalan Mayas, has been lost. Far-western Honduras represents the southernmost extent of the broader Mayan culture, which extended over southern Mexico and all of Belize and Guatemala.

Nahua: The Nahua live principally around Catacamas in Olancho. Large populations of Nahua live in central Mexico; the Aztecs encountered by Cortés were a Nahua subgroup. The native language, Nahuatl, is widespread in Mexico and is also used in El Salvador but has disappeared among the Honduran Nahuas along with most traces of Nahua culture.

Pech: Some 4,000 Hondurans regard themselves as Pech, or Paya, though the Pech language is spoken by fewer than 1,000 people. Once widespread in northeastern Honduras, the Pech today mostly live in a small area centered on El Carbón, Olancho.

Since Honduras ceased to release official figures for minority populations in ____, estimates of Honduras’s ethnic populations vary immensely. Ranges representing the estimates of various organizations can be shown as follows:

Garífuna: 100,000-300,000 (ca. 150,000 speakers)

Miskito: 60,000-80,000 (ca. ____ speakers)

Lenca: 100,000-700,000 (no speakers)

Tolupán/Xicaque: 8,000-10,000 (ca. 500 speakers)

Tawahka/Sumo: 3,000-5,000 (ca. 500 speakers)

Nahua: 6,000-20,000 (no speakers)

Chortí Maya: 3,500-20,000 (no speakers)

Pech/Paya: 2,000-6,000 (ca. 1,000 speakers)

Virtually all speakers of native languages, apart from a remote population of Miskito speakers, speak Spanish as well.

Racial prejudice persists in Honduras. The Garífuna, with the darkest skin and the most recognizably African features, may be the most stigmatized minority. The Miskitos, also dark-skinned, may suffer almost as much from prejudice. Among the lighter-skinned indigenous groups, prejudice, while persistent, is less obvious.

Violence against minorities by those who desire their resources has increased greatly since the 2009 coup. Particularly targeted have been the Garífuna, Tolupán, and           Particular targets have been the coastal lands of the Garífuna, which are seen as attractive for tourism by developers. [Also the Tolupan?]

All Honduras’s minorities are relatively impoverished, with one prominent exception. The Arab-Palestinian subgroup, living especially around San Pedro Sula and representing a mere 3% of the population, have enjoyed extraordinary economic and political success. Extensive intermarrying within the Arab community has kept it tight-knit and exclusive.