History

Pre-Colombian Times

In pre-Columbian times, modern Honduras was part of the Mesoamerican cultural area. In the west, the Maya civilisation flourished for hundreds of years until the early 9th century. Notable Mayan ruins include the city-state of Copán. Remains of other Pre-Columbian cultures are found throughout the country. Archaeologists have studied sites such as Naco and La Sierra in the Naco Valley, Los Naranjos on Lake Yojoa, Yarumela in the Comayagua Valley, La Ceiba and Salitron Viejo (both now under the Cajon Dam reservoir), Selin Farm and Cuyamel in the Aguan valley, Cerro Palenque, Travesia, Curruste, Ticamaya, Despoloncal in the lower Ulua river valley, and many others.

1502-1821: Spanish Colonialism

Christopher Columbus landed on the mainland near modern Trujillo in 1502 and named the country Honduras ('Depths') for the deep waters off its coast. Conquistador Hernán Cortés arrived in 1525, and left six months later to return to Spain. During the period leading up to the conquest of Honduras by Pedro de Alvarado, many indigenous people along the north coast of Honduras were captured and taken as slaves to work on Spain's Caribbean plantations.

It wasn't until Pedro de Alvarado defeated the indigenous resistance headed by Çiçumba near Ticamaya that the Spanish began to conquer the country in 1536. Alvarado divided the native towns and gave their labour to the Spanish conquistadors in repartimiento. Indigenous uprisings near Gracias a Dios, Comayagua, and Olancho occurred in 1537-38. The uprising near Gracias a Dios was lead by Lempira, who is honoured today by the name of the Honduran currency.

During the colonial period, Honduras came under the control of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, and the towns of Comayagua and Tegucigalpa (today's capital) arose as mining centres.

1821: Independence from Spain

Honduras, along with the other Central American provinces, gained independence from Spain in 1821; it then briefly was annexed to the Mexican Empire. In 1823, Honduras joined the newly formed United Provinces of Central America. Before long, social and economic differences between Honduras and its regional neighbours exacerbated harsh partisan strife among its leaders, bringing about the federation's collapse in 1838-39. General Francisco Morazán, a Honduran national hero, led unsuccessful efforts to maintain the federation. Restoring Central American unity remained the officially stated chief aim of Honduran foreign policy until after World War I.

In 1888, a projected railroad line from the Caribbean coast to the capital, Tegucigalpa, ran out of money when it reached San Pedro Sula, resulting in its growth into the nation's main industrial centre and second largest city.

Since independence, Honduras has had 300 internal rebellions, civil wars and changes of government - more than half occurring during the 20th century. Traditionally lacking both an economic infrastructure and social and political integration, Honduras's agriculturally based economy came to be dominated by United States companies, notably United Fruit Company and Standard Fruit Company, which established vast banana plantations along the north coast. The economic dominance and political influence of these companies was so great from the late 19th until the mid 20th century that it coined the term banana republic.

During the relatively stable years of the Great Depression, authoritarian General Tiburcio Carías Andino controlled Honduras. His ties to dictators in neighbouring countries and to US banana companies helped him maintain power until 1948. By then, provincial military leaders had begun to gain control of the two major parties, the National Party of Honduras (PNH) and the Liberal Party of Honduras (PLH).

1955-1979: From Military to Civilian Rule

In October 1955, after a general strike by banana workers on the north coast in 1954, young military reformists staged a coup that installed a provisional junta. There were constituent assembly elections in 1957 which appointed Ramon Villeda Morales as President, and itself becoming a national Congress with a 6-year term. The PLH ruled during 1957-63. The military began to become a professional institution independent of politics, with the newly created military academy graduating its first class in 1960. In October 1963, conservative military officers pre-empted constitutional elections and deposed Villeda in a bloody coup. These officers exiled PLH members and governed under General Oswaldo López Arellano until 1970.

In July 1969, Honduras was invaded by El Salvador in the short Football war. There had been border tension between the two countries after Oswaldo López Arellano, past president of Honduras, blamed the poor economy on the large number of immigrants from El Salvador. From that point on the relationship between El Salvador and Honduras was acrimonious. It reached a low when El Salvador met Honduras for a three-round football elimination match as a preliminary to the World Cup. Tensions escalated, and on July 14, 1969, the Salvadoran army launched an attack against Honduras. The Organisation of American States negotiated a cease-fire which took effect on July 20, with the Salvadoran troops withdrawn in early August. The war lasted approximately 100 hours and led to an arms race between the two countries. Tensions in the aftermath of the conflict remain.

A civilian president for the PNH, Ramón Ernesto Cruz Uclés, took power briefly in 1970 until, in December 1972, López staged another coup. This time round, he adopted more progressive policies, including land reform.

López's successors continued armed forces modernisation programs, building army and security forces, and concentrating on Honduran air force superiority over its neighbours.

Hurricane Fifi caused severe damage while skimming the northern coast of Honduras on September 18 and 19, 1974.

1980- Present: Modern Honduras

In 1979, the country returned to civilian rule. A constituent assembly was popularly elected in April 1980 and general elections were held in November 1981. A new constitution was approved in 1982 and the PLH government of Roberto Suazo Córdova assumed power.

During the 1980s, the United States established a very large military presence in Honduras with the purpose of supporting the anti-Sandinista Contras fighting the Nicaraguan government, and to support the El Salvador military fighting against the FMLN guerrillas. The US built the airbase known as Palmerola, near Comayagua, with a 10,000 foot runway so that C5a cargo planes could land there to unload, instead of the public airport in San Pedro Sula. The US also built a training base near Trujillo which primarily trained Contras and the Salvadoran military, and in conjunction with this, developed Puerto Castillo into a modern port. The United States built many airstrips near the Nicaraguan border to help move supplies to the Contra forces fighting the Sandanistas in Nicaragua. Though spared the bloody civil wars wracking its neighbours, the Honduran army quietly waged a campaign against leftists which included extra judicial killings and forced disappearances of political opponents by government-backed death squads.

1986-1990: José Azcona del Hoyo

As the November 1985 election approached, the PLH could not settle on a presidential candidate and interpreted election law as permitting multiple candidates from any one party. The PLH claimed victory when its presidential candidates collectively outpolled the PNH candidate, Rafael Leonardo Callejas, who received 42% of the total vote. José Azcona del Hoyo, the candidate receiving the most votes (27%) among the PLH, assumed the presidency in January 1986. With strong endorsement and support from the Honduran military, the Azcona Administration ushered in the first peaceful transfer of power between civilian presidents in more than 30 years.

Azcona, relying on US support, created ambitious social and economic development projects to help with a severe economic recession and with the perceived threats of regional instability. Honduras became host to the largest Peace Corps mission in the world and non-governmental organizations and international voluntary agencies proliferated.

1990-1993: Rafael Leonardo Callejas

In January 1990, Rafael Leonardo Callejas, having won the presidential election, took office, concentrating on economic reform, reducing the deficit. He began a movement to place the military under civilian control and laid the groundwork for the creation of the public prosecution service.

1993-1998: Carlos Roberto Reina

In 1993, PLH candidate Carlos Roberto Reina was elected with 56% of the vote against PNH contender Oswaldo Ramos Soto. He won on a platform calling for a 'Moral Revolution,' making active efforts to prosecute corruption and pursued those responsible for alleged human rights abuses in the 1980s.

The Reina administration successfully increased civilian control over the armed forces, transferring the national police from military to civilian authority. In 1996, Reina named his own defence minister, breaking the precedent of accepting the nominee of the armed forces leadership.

His administration substantially increased Central Bank net international reserves, reduced inflation to 12.8% a year, restored a better pace of economic growth (about 5% in 1997), and held down spending to achieve a 1.1% non-financial public sector deficit in 1997.

1998-2001: Carlos Roberto Flores

PLH's Carlos Roberto Flores took office on January 27, 1998, as Honduras' fifth democratically elected President since free elections were restored in 1981, with a 10% margin over his main opponent PNH nominee Nora Gúnera de Melgar (the widow of former leader Melgar Castro). Flores inaugurated International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs of reform and modernisation of the Honduran Government and economy, with emphasis on maintaining the country's fiscal health and improving international competitiveness.

In October 1998, Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras, leaving more than 5,000 people dead and 1.5 million displaced. President Flores claimed that the hurricane caused such massive and widespread damage that it destroyed fifty years of progress in the country. Mitch destroyed about 70% of the crops, an estimated 70-80% of the transportation infrastructure of the entire country was wiped out, including nearly all bridges and secondary roads; the damage was so great that existing maps were rendered obsolete. Across the country, the storm destroyed 33,000 houses and damaged 50,000 others. Damages totalled nearly $3 billion. International donors came forward to assist in rebuilding infrastructure, donating US$1400 million in 2000.

2001-2006: Ricardo Maduro

In November 2001, the national party won presidential and parliamentary elections. The PNH gained 61 seats in Congress and the PLH won 55. The PLH candidate Rafael Pineda Ponce was defeated by the PNH candidate Ricardo Maduro, who took office in January 2002. On November 27, 2005 the PLH candidate Manuel Zelaya beat the PNH candidate and current Head of Congress Porfirio Pepe Lobo, and became the new President on January 27, 2006.