Where is Honduras and what kind of country is it? Do you know this "new friend"? #What kind of country is Honduras#
The Republic of Honduras, abbreviated as Honduras, is a mountainous country in Central America. Bordered by Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, it is located between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea and has a coastline.
It was originally inhabited by Indians. Columbus landed here in 1502 and took the name Honduras (meaning "abyss"). It became a Spanish colony in the early 16th century. Independence was declared on September 15, 1821. It joined the Central American Federation in 1823 and became a republic after the dissolution of the Federation in 1838.
Since its independence in 1821 and 1978, Honduras has had 139 coups and 112 presidents, making it one of the most frequent coups in Latin America.
Honduras is located in northern Central America. It is bordered to the north by the Caribbean Sea, to the south by the Gulf of Fonseca in the Pacific Ocean, to the east by Nicaragua, to the southwest by El Salvador, and to the west by Guatemala. The coastline is 1033 km long. The whole territory, except for the coastal plains, are mountainous plateaus, accounting for about 75% of the country's land area. The Sierra Madre enters from Guatemala and winds from west to east, with multiple branches extending to the north and south, forming the central plateau area, with an average altitude of 900~1 500 meters. Many basin valleys are formed between the branches. Las Minas is the highest peak in the country at 2,849 meters above sea level.
The inland plateau of Honduras has a mild climate and a subtropical forest climate, and the temperature decreases with the increase of altitude, with an average annual temperature of 17 °C ~ 23 °C; The average annual precipitation is more than 1,500 mm. The coastal rainforest climate is hot and rainy, with an average annual temperature of 25 °C ~ 31C. The annual precipitation is 2000 ~ 3000 mm in the northern coast and 1500~2000 mm in the southern coast. Rich in forest resources, accounting for 70% of the country's area, the main rivers are the Patuka River and the Ulua River.
History of Honduras
In the 4th~7th century, western Honduras was one of the centers of Mayan civilization.
Columbus arrived in the Gulf Islands of Honduras in 1502, the beginning of Honduras' contact with Europe, and in 1524 the Spanish army began to conquer Honduras, which became a Spanish colony in the same year.
In 1537~1539, Lempyra led an uprising of 30,000 Indians against Spanish colonial rule.
In 1539, Honduras came under the jurisdiction of the Governorate of Guatemala.
Honduras declared its independence on September 15, 1821, but was incorporated into the First Mexican Empire in 1822.
In 1823, it joined the Central American Federation, and in October 1838 it withdrew from the Central American Federation and became a republic.
In 1840, Honduras established a dictatorship with the support of Guatemalan dictator Rafael Carrera, and conservative Francisco Ferreira.
After 1853, there were frequent coups and civil wars between liberals and conservatives in Honduras, and regime changes were frequent. Gold and silver mining have been destroyed, affecting economic development tremendously. Beginning in the 1840s, the British invaded eastern Honduras and the Baya Islands, built railroads, and granted concessions to large tracts of land.
Since its independence in 1821 and 1978, Honduras has had 139 coups, one of the most frequent coups in Latin America.
In the 1957 general election, Ramón Villeda Morales of the Liberal Party won the presidency.
In 1963, the commander of the armed forces, Osvaldo López Arellano, overthrew the Morales regime in a coup d'état instigated by the United States, and was elected president in 1965.
In 1971 the National Party (SNP) Lamont Ernesto Cruz won the election, but soon after coming to power, Arellano staged another coup d'état.
In 1975, the commander of the armed forces, Juan Alberto Melgar Castro, staged a coup d'état to replace Arellano. In 1978, the commander of the armed forces, Polikapo Paz Garcia, staged a coup d'état and formed a military council headed by him.
At this point, the struggle at the top of the domestic government was controlled, and the economic development of the residents was then able to develop steadily, especially in the past two or three years, the rapid development of domestic foreign trade activities, which made an important preparation for improving the daily income of the people.
Honduras today
Honduras is one of the least developed and impoverished countries in Central America. The industry is mainly traditional wood processing and sugar industry, but also chemical, cement, etc., and in recent years, "customer industries" such as textiles have developed rapidly. The economy is dominated by agriculture, with 60% of the country's employed population engaged in agriculture. The main agricultural products are bananas, coffee, sugar cane, corn, cotton, etc., banana production and export volume ranks first in the world, known as "banana country". Food is imported.
GDP in 2018 was about US$23.8 billion, and GDP per capita was approximately US$2,438. Tourism is developing rapidly, and income is increasing year after year.
Tegucigalpa is the capital of Honduras. It is located in the valley of the Choluteca River at the foothills of the Pikacho Mountains in the south-central part of the country. The Choluteca River flows through the urban area, dividing the urban area into two parts: the new city and the old town: the old town on the right bank has many tourist attractions such as "Women's Street", "Little Tree Street", "Spring Water Street" and "Harmony Park"; The new town on the left bank has many modern buildings, including the central square of the city, Morazán Park, the presidential palace, the parliament building, the central bank, the national museum and the national theater.
The city also has an 18th-century cathedral with a cedar-clad gilded screen and an altar, cross and the legendary "baby tree" at the southern end of the compound.
Honduras' land and sea are home to a large number of rare plants, bats, whales, sharks, dolphins, reptiles such as fish and rays, amphibians, fish, birds and mammals. Honduras is a great place to dive relatively low, and these features have long attracted many overseas tourists.
There are huge differences in piped water sanitation standards between urban and rural areas of Honduras. Don't drink local tap water directly even in the city, and try to choose bottled water for safety. Hondurans are at high risk of waterborne and virus-borne diseases such as dengue, malaria, hepatitis, typhoid, and bacterial diarrhoea, so compatriots visiting Honduras are advised to be vaccinated and have insect repellents and nets on hand to avoid mosquito bites.
Some public hospitals in Honduras often face problems such as underfunding and shortages of medicines. Compatriots living in Honduras are advised to purchase health insurance and go to private clinics if they can afford it. Honduras appears to have a low illiteracy rate, with about 95 per cent of Hondurans educated. Enrolment is high, almost at full capacity, but the completion rate is about half of enrolment.
The poor quality of education in Honduras, with few responsible teachers and schools, and a considerable number of children assigned to work during their school days, contributed to the high rate of child labour in Honduras.
More than half of the population of Honduras lives in poverty, and my experience is that the people of Honduras are very fond of promoting religious superstition and numerology. Honduras is close to the United States and has good relations, but the United States has not helped Honduras prosper and lift itself out of poverty. Over the past 40 years, highly educated and skilled Hondurans have chosen to emigrate abroad, which has resulted in a significant exodus of the Honduran population. Not far from the U.S. border, more and more Hondurans are migrating to New Orleans and New York. Migration has continued, with the majority of those remaining in Honduras being women, children and the elderly.
Inefficient and corrupt local authorities eventually became a haven for gangs and criminals, resulting in common theft and robbery, high levels of crime, and the highest rate of intentional homicide in the world. Honduras is one of the least developed countries in Latin America. Agriculture is the leading industry of the national economy, and the industrial base is relatively weak. And there are frequent hurricanes, which seriously affect agricultural production there. In 1998, for example, Hurricane Mitch struck the area, killing nearly 6,000 people and destroying much of the infrastructure and farmland. Honduras has a homicide rate of 90.4 per 100,000 (the highest in the world) and has the highest number of people living with tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS in Central America. (Feel like selling coffins is a good business)
Compatriots living in Honduras should usually take less cash out of the house and avoid traveling alone, on small roads or in strangers' cars to avoid accidents and conflicts. In case of danger, you can choose to call the police on 199. As a rule of thumb, foreigners in Honduras still feel more secure than locals.