Environment

Subject Essay geography Environment In 2018 the government reported that 865,000 foreign tourists arrived in the country. Less available are figures for the number of visitors to the country’s mainland. [How does 865,000 square with next two paragraphs? Which of these figures reflect *foreign* tourism?] Virtually all of Honduras’s foreign tourism today is confined to the Bay Islands, and especially the island of Roatán, the busiest tourist destination in all of Central America. Hundreds of cruise ships arrive there annually. The Bay Islands today welcome some 1.1 million cruise passengers a year, almost all of them to Roatán. Officially, Honduras saw about 2.4 million foreign tourists in 2018, almost half of them on cruise ships, which, with rare exceptions, dock exclusively on the islands. Most of the rest came to the islands by air, often for snorkeling and scuba diving on the reefs. Economically speaking, cruise-ship traffic is a very limited form of tourism. Because ships offer three daily meals on board, some passengers never enjoy a single meal on shore. And all passengers return to the ship at night rather than paying for overnight rooms on shore. Thus, economic activity on Roatán is largely left to the nature reserves and sanctuaries, water taxis, sailboating, dive shops, ziplining, bars and coffee shops, and shopping. The economy of the island of Utila, by contrast, with little cruise-ship traffic, relies principally on divers and beachgoers, most of whom do indeed sleep and eat at island establishments. Two mainland tourist destinations deserve mention. The great Mayan ruins at Copán attracted some 75,000 foreign tourists in 2018, according to official figures. Since the ruins lie virtually on the Guatemalan border, most foreign tourists arrive on shuttles or buses from Guatemala’s capital or the small touristic city of Antigua. Most spend one or two nights before returning to Guatemala, having visited perhaps a couple of local attractions apart from the ruins. Thus, Copán contributes only very modestly to the international tourist economy.

National parks

Subject Essay geography National parks In 2018 the government reported that 865,000 foreign tourists arrived in the country. Less available are figures for the number of visitors to the country’s mainland. [How does 865,000 square with next two paragraphs? Which of these figures reflect *foreign* tourism?] Virtually all of Honduras’s foreign tourism today is confined to the Bay Islands, and especially the island of Roatán, the busiest tourist destination in all of Central America. Hundreds of cruise ships arrive there annually. The Bay Islands today welcome some 1.1 million cruise passengers a year, almost all of them to Roatán. Officially, Honduras saw about 2.4 million foreign tourists in 2018, almost half of them on cruise ships, which, with rare exceptions, dock exclusively on the islands. Most of the rest came to the islands by air, often for snorkeling and scuba diving on the reefs. Economically speaking, cruise-ship traffic is a very limited form of tourism. Because ships offer three daily meals on board, some passengers never enjoy a single meal on shore. And all passengers return to the ship at night rather than paying for overnight rooms on shore. Thus, economic activity on Roatán is largely left to the nature reserves and sanctuaries, water taxis, sailboating, dive shops, ziplining, bars and coffee shops, and shopping. The economy of the island of Utila, by contrast, with little cruise-ship traffic, relies principally on divers and beachgoers, most of whom do indeed sleep and eat at island establishments. Two mainland tourist destinations deserve mention. The great Mayan ruins at Copán attracted some 75,000 foreign tourists in 2018, according to official figures. Since the ruins lie virtually on the Guatemalan border, most foreign tourists arrive on shuttles or buses from Guatemala’s capital or the small touristic city of Antigua. Most spend one or two nights before returning to Guatemala, having visited perhaps a couple of local attractions apart from the ruins. Thus, Copán contributes only very modestly to the international tourist economy.

Roads and transportation

Subject Essay geography Roads and transportation In 2018 the government reported that 865,000 foreign tourists arrived in the country. Less available are figures for the number of visitors to the country’s mainland. [How does 865,000 square with next two paragraphs? Which of these figures reflect *foreign* tourism?] Virtually all of Honduras’s foreign tourism today is confined to the Bay Islands, and especially the island of Roatán, the busiest tourist destination in all of Central America. Hundreds of cruise ships arrive there annually. The Bay Islands today welcome some 1.1 million cruise passengers a year, almost all of them to Roatán. Officially, Honduras saw about 2.4 million foreign tourists in 2018, almost half of them on cruise ships, which, with rare exceptions, dock exclusively on the islands. Most of the rest came to the islands by air, often for snorkeling and scuba diving on the reefs. Economically speaking, cruise-ship traffic is a very limited form of tourism. Because ships offer three daily meals on board, some passengers never enjoy a single meal on shore. And all passengers return to the ship at night rather than paying for overnight rooms on shore. Thus, economic activity on Roatán is largely left to the nature reserves and sanctuaries, water taxis, sailboating, dive shops, ziplining, bars and coffee shops, and shopping. The economy of the island of Utila, by contrast, with little cruise-ship traffic, relies principally on divers and beachgoers, most of whom do indeed sleep and eat at island establishments. Two mainland tourist destinations deserve mention. The great Mayan ruins at Copán attracted some 75,000 foreign tourists in 2018, according to official figures. Since the ruins lie virtually on the Guatemalan border, most foreign tourists arrive on shuttles or buses from Guatemala’s capital or the small touristic city of Antigua. Most spend one or two nights before returning to Guatemala, having visited perhaps a couple of local attractions apart from the ruins. Thus, Copán contributes only very modestly to the international tourist economy.

Demographics and ethnicities

Subject Essay geography Demographics and ethnicities 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.

Departments, municipalities, cities

Subject Essay geography Departments, municipalities, cities In 2018 the government reported that 865,000 foreign tourists arrived in the country. Less available are figures for the number of visitors to the country’s mainland. [How does 865,000 square with next two paragraphs? Which of these figures reflect *foreign* tourism?] Virtually all of Honduras’s foreign tourism today is confined to the Bay Islands, and especially the island of Roatán, the busiest tourist destination in all of Central America. Hundreds of cruise ships arrive there annually. The Bay Islands today welcome some 1.1 million cruise passengers a year, almost all of them to Roatán. Officially, Honduras saw about 2.4 million foreign tourists in 2018, almost half of them on cruise ships, which, with rare exceptions, dock exclusively on the islands. Most of the rest came to the islands by air, often for snorkeling and scuba diving on the reefs. Economically speaking, cruise-ship traffic is a very limited form of tourism. Because ships offer three daily meals on board, some passengers never enjoy a single meal on shore. And all passengers return to the ship at night rather than paying for overnight rooms on shore. Thus, economic activity on Roatán is largely left to the nature reserves and sanctuaries, water taxis, sailboating, dive shops, ziplining, bars and coffee shops, and shopping. The economy of the island of Utila, by contrast, with little cruise-ship traffic, relies principally on divers and beachgoers, most of whom do indeed sleep and eat at island establishments. Two mainland tourist destinations deserve mention. The great Mayan ruins at Copán attracted some 75,000 foreign tourists in 2018, according to official figures. Since the ruins lie virtually on the Guatemalan border, most foreign tourists arrive on shuttles or buses from Guatemala’s capital or the small touristic city of Antigua. Most spend one or two nights before returning to Guatemala, having visited perhaps a couple of local attractions apart from the ruins. Thus, Copán contributes only very modestly to the international tourist economy.

Weather and climate

Subject Essay geography Weather and climate Though Honduras is a small country, its weather varies dramatically by location, as a consequence of having coasts on two oceans and dramatic topographical variation with altitudes far surpassing any in the eastern US. As elsewhere in the tropics, temperatures in a given Honduran location are basically constant throughout the year. Thus, it can be hard to grasp the meaning of “seasons” in the U.S. or U.K. sense. Although the names of the seasons primavera (spring), verano (summer), otoño (fall), and invierno (winter) are relevant to such countries as Spain and Argentina, Central Americans speak of only two seasons: the wet season (época/estación/temporada lluviosa) and the dry season (epoca/estación/temporada seca). The wet season is actually often referred to as invierno and the dry season as verano; however, primavera and otoño are not Honduran concepts. In most of the country, the wet season begins in May or June and ends in November or December. But on the North Coast, only March and April could be termed dry; otherwise, the rains tend to be fairly abundant, peaking in October. Both the Atlantic and Pacific coastal lowlands are often very hot. On the Atlantic coast (North Coast) the so-called trade winds from the east often relieve the oppressive heat. However, the coast is also reliably humid, enhancing the discomfort associated with its temperatures. The Pacific lowlands have the country’s highest temperatures. The coastal plain, including the city of Choluteca, is significantly less humid than the North Coast, and today often genuinely parched; however, partly because it lacks the breezes of the Caribbean, its heat can feel even more overwhelming. In the country’s extensive highlands (some 80% of the country’s total land area), temperatures are far more moderate. At elevations above 4,500 feet, the nights may even drop below freezing. In Tegucigalpa, with an altitude around 3,200 feet, the average daily high temperature year-round is about 83 degrees. In lowland San Pedro Sula, by contrast, the average high is about 91 degrees, and typically comes accompanied by serious humidity. The Caribbean hurricane season (temporada de huracanes) officially extends six months from June 1 to November 30. The most dangerous months are August, September, and October. Though Honduras experiences relatively few hurricanes, there have been disastrous exceptions. (For individual hurricanes, see below.) Because of global climate change, the climate of Central America is altering in disturbing ways. Most dismaying is the emergence, since 2014, of the so-called Dry Corridor (Corredor seco) running from Costa Rica up to southern Mexico. Though “Corridor” suggests a hallway, the affected area, especially in Honduras, is extremely irregular in shape; it now comprises much of the country’s territory, leaving only the North Coast and the northeast unaffected. [Insert link.] The decline in rainfall—with lengthy droughts that may be broken by erosive downpours–has had devastating effects on corn and beans, the basic subsistence crops of rural Honduras. A rust infecting coffee shrubs, another evident consequence of climate change and El Niño, has left many rural families without their lone commercial crop as well.

Geographical analysis

Subject Essay geography Geographical analysis Honduras forms a rough triangle, bordering three countries—Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua–and extending from the Caribbean to the Pacific. Its Caribbean coast is its northern (rather than eastern) boundary and is known as the Costa Norte. Its small Pacific coast is its southernmost (rather than westernmost) boundary and is called the Costa Sur; it fronts on the Gulf of Fonseca, which it shares with El Salvador and Nicaragua. Honduras is the most mountainous country in Central America; some three-fourths of the country can be considered mountainous. Lowlands extend along the two coasts, though very narrowly in the south; they broaden deep into the interior only in La Mosquitia in the eastern corner. Otherwise, a confused jumble of mountain ranges renders much of the interior of limited agricultural use, though the interior also contains flat, arable plateaus, and its river valleys include fertile lowlands at altitudes of 1,000-3,000 feet. Its many short mountain ranges are bewilderingly chaotic, virtually none of them aligning with the broad “spine” of Latin America. The highest peaks are found near the Guatemala and Nicaragua borders; the highest of all, at 9,416 feet, is Cerro Las Minas, near Gracias. Unlike its northern and southern neighbors, Honduras lacks active volcanoes; of its few long-dormant volcanoes, the most visible is the conic profile on the island of Amapala (El Tigre) in the Gulf of Fonseca. A depression extends from north to south, passing through San Pedro Sula and Comayagua and on to the Gulf of Fonseca. This represented the most obvious route for the long-dreamed-of coast-to-coast railroad first proposed in the 1850s. With its mountainous terrain, Honduras is home to numerous rivers. Those originating in the north flow into the Caribbean; those originating in the south (apart from the Río Coco) empty into the Pacific. Several stand out for their length and volume. The Río Patuca is the longest river entirely within Honduras. The even longer Río Coco forms most of the country’s boundary with Nicaragua. The great Río Ulúa, with its tributaries, drains one-third of the country and is its most economically significant river. In the south, Tegucigalpa, Comayagüela, and Choluteca all lie on the Río Choluteca. The so-called Mosquito Coast, in easternmost Honduras, is unique in its combination of extensive savannah and wetlands. As a consequence, it has virtually no roads; instead, the waterways are traversed by small boats. The country has a single significant natural lake, Lago de Yojoa, with a surface of 30 square miles. Forests, largely of pine, cover about 55% of the country. The country’s topography has naturally had major effects on its history. The mountains have hampered agricultural development; by World Bank criteria, only 9% of the country’s land is arable, compared to a world average of 14%. The rugged terrain has hampered transportation; produce has historically been kept out of commerce because of transportation challenges, and even today many routes between cities are remarkably roundabout because of topographical barriers. The country’s political integration was retarded for many decades as whole regions remained all but untouched by the country’s laws and institutions, while political campaigns and voting were effectively limited to the most developed areas of the country.