Central America · Independence and the federations
Honduras
1821/1838–present
Honduras declared independence with Central America on 15 September 1821 and became fully sovereign after the federation dissolved (1838–1840); its capital is Tegucigalpa. It was the homeland of Francisco Morazán.
- Existed
- 1821/1838–present
- Shown on the map
- 1840–2024
- Peak area
- 116k km²
- Region
- Central America
Overview
Honduras declared independence with Central America on 15 September 1821 and became fully sovereign after the federation dissolved (1838–1840); its capital is Tegucigalpa. It was the homeland of Francisco Morazán. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, US fruit companies (United Fruit, Standard Fruit) came to dominate the economy, land, and politics so thoroughly that Honduras became the archetypal "banana republic" — the very term coined (by the writer O. Henry) in reference to Honduras. Long stretches of military rule followed, though Honduras avoided the full-scale civil wars of its neighbors, instead serving in the 1980s as a US base for Contra operations against Sandinista Nicaragua.
Later history and present status
In June 2009 a constitutional crisis and coup d'état removed President Manuel Zelaya, a polarizing event that reshaped Honduran politics and ushered in years of instability and disputed elections. In 2022 Zelaya's wife, Xiomara Castro, became the country's first female president and the first left-wing leader to complete a term.
Common questions
- What was Honduras?
- Honduras declared independence with Central America on 15 September 1821 and became fully sovereign after the federation dissolved (1838–1840); its capital is Tegucigalpa. It was the homeland of Francisco Morazán.
- When did Honduras exist?
- Honduras existed 1821/1838–present. On this map it is drawn 1840–2024.
- How large was Honduras?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Honduras covered about 116,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
- What is the present status of Honduras?
- In June 2009 a constitutional crisis and coup d'état removed President Manuel Zelaya, a polarizing event that reshaped Honduran politics and ushered in years of instability and disputed elections. In 2022 Zelaya's wife, Xiomara Castro, became the country's first female president and the first left-wing leader to complete a term.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each polity and for the key figures and events as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, EBSCO Research Starters and academic sources. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Honduras en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honduras
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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