History of Honduras

Brief history of Honduras summarized

A quick and brief review of the history of Honduras, a Central American country, in a summarized way.

Honduran beginnings

For thousands of years indigenous peoples lived in Honduras. The greatest of them were the Mayans. However, the first European to reach Honduras was Christopher Columbus on July 30, 1502. Columbus later sailed to Panama.

The area became known as Honduras from the Spanish word honduras (depths). The Spanish conquest of Honduras began in 1523. The indigenous people resisted bitterly, but by 1539 the Spanish took control.

The natives were forced to work for the Spanish, but their numbers drastically decreased due in part to European diseases to which they had no resistance, such as smallpox. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Spanish colonies in Central and South America gained their independence.

Honduras became independent from Spain in 1821, but in 1822 it was united with Mexico and four other nations, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. However, the five Central American nations seceded from Mexico in 1823. Honduras finally became fully independent in 1839.

Contemporary Honduras

In the early 20th century, banana exports came to dominate the Honduran economy. In 1932 General Tiburcio Carias Andino was elected president of Honduras. He became a virtual dictator and remained in power until 1949. General Oswaldo López seized power in Honduras in 1963.

Then, in 1969, Honduras went to war with El Salvador. Oswaldo López resigned in 1974, but civilian rule was not restored until 1981. Unfortunately, Honduras suffered greatly when Hurricane Mitch hit the country in 1998. However, the country slowly recovered. However, Honduras remains a very poor country. Today the population of Honduras is 9.1 million inhabitants.

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