Honduras History - Overview
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Columbus first set foot on the American mainland
in Trujillo in 1502 and named the region Honduras (meaning great depth)
for the deep water off the coast. The Spaniards soon moved into the
cooler highlands and were constantly battling with native tribes,
including Chief Lemira's army of 30,000, who almost drove the Spanish
out of the region until he was murdered while attending peace talks
in 1537.
Comayagua was declared the Spanish colonial capital a year later.
When gold and silver was discovered around Tegucigalpa in 1570, British
and Dutch ships began attacking treasure galleons headed out of Trujillo.
Pirates settled the Caribbean coast and looted and burned Trujillo
in 1643. The British established a protectorate along the Caribbean
coasts, ostensibly to keep the area free of pirates and protect the
native Miskito tribes; but British fortunes were made from the mahogany
forests of the region. Honduras broke free from Spain in 1821 and
first became part of an independent Mexico. The Honduran Republic
was established in 1838, and the British relinquished the Caribbean
coastal region in 1859.
Honduran history has been dotted with military coups, rebellions,
dictatorships, and chess-game politics ever since independence from
Spain. U.S. fruit companies essentially took control of the country
in the late 1800s, and banana power ruled until the 1960s. Troops
from El Salvador invaded in the 1969 "soccer war," which began during
a World Cup soccer match between the two countries. With guerrilla
warfare surrounding Honduras in the 1980s, this relatively neutral
country became a haven for the Nicaraguan Contras. Financing and technical
support through the U.S. government almost toppled U.S. president
Ronald Reagan.
When Rafael Callejas became president of Honduras in 1990, he refused
to continue a treaty with the United States allowing Honduras to be
used as a military base, and the Contras left the country. Without
U.S. monetary and political support, most of Honduras' international
trade shifted to countries in the European Union. Newspaperman and
politician Carlos Flores Facusse became president in 1997 and quickly
had to cope with the catastrophic destruction to Honduras brought
by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Thousands were killed and many more thousands
left homeless when the capital city, Tegucigalpa, was flooded and
landslides covered entire towns. The United States became the primary
source of economic and logistical aid to the stricken nation. Ricardo
(Joest) Maduro came to power in January 2001 with intentions of economic
and social reform. However, ongoing problems in the essential agricultural
sector preoccupy the government and limit funding for sweeping reforms
of any nature.
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Global Road Warrior, Copyright 2003 World Trade Press. All
Rights Reserved. No sample or information therein may be used
without express permission from World Trade Press.
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