Area: 112,090 km² (land: 111,890 km², water: 200 km²)
Population: 8.1 million people (July 2011, CIA). Metics 90%, Amerindian 7%, blacks 2%, whites 1%.
Population density: 73 people per km²
Population growth: 1.888% per year (2011, CIA)
Capital: Tegucigalpa (872,400 residents, 2006)
Highest point: Cerro Las Minas, 2,870 m
Lowest point: Caribbean and Pacific, 0 m
Form of government: Honduras has been a presidential republic since 1982. The constitution dates from the same year, the last change was made in 1999. The unicameral parliament (Asamblea Nacional) consists of 128 members. The President, who is elected for four years (not re-elected), exercises executive power. Honduras has been independent from Spain since 1821, and in 1838 it left the Central American Confederation.
Administrative division: 18 departamentos: Atlantida, Choluteca, Colon, Comayagua, Copan, Cortes, El Paraiso, Francisco Morazan, Gracias a Dios, Intibuca,Islas de la Bahia, La Paz, Lempira, Ocotepeque, Olancho, Santa Barbara, Valle and Yoro.
Head of State and Government: President Porfirio Lobo Sosa, since January 27, 2010
Language: The official language in Honduras is Spanish. Much English is spoken in the northern parts of the country and in the Bay Islands. Indian languages are widely spoken.
Religion: mostly Roman Catholic (97%), minority of Protestants (3%).
Local time: CET -7 h. In Honduras there is no change between summer and winter time.
The time difference to Central Europe is -7 h in winter and -8 h in summer.
International phone code: +504
Internet identifier:.hn
Mains voltage: 110 V, 60 Hz, adapters are recommended
Honduras – geography
Honduras, along with Nicaragua, is at the widest point of the Central American land bridge. In the northwest, Honduras shares the border with Guatemala, in the southeast with Nicaragua and in the southwest with El Salvador. In the north, Honduras has a 644 km long coastline with the Caribbean, in the south the coast to the Pacific Ocean (Golfo de Fonseca) is 124 km long.
According to 800zipcodes, Honduras got its name from Spanish seafarers who had to look for an anchorage in the deep coastal waters (in Spanish hondura means depth) for a long time. In north-south direction Honduras extends over 330 km, in west-east direction over 650 km. The country is about as big as Switzerland and Austria put together.
The Central American land bridge is still very young by geological standards. Although there were land connections between North and South America from time to time in earlier epochs, today’s land bridge was not formed until the earth’s crust rose in the course of the Tertiary.
In West Honduras, the underground of older crystalline and stratified rocks was cut up and buried under thick layers of lava. Typical for this part of the country are 1,000 to 1,800 m high mountains with numerous high valleys and depressions.
Eastern Honduras is criss- crossed by mountain ranges up to over 2,000 m high. The chains run parallel and form a large mountain arch, open to the north, which apparently ends abruptly on the Caribbean coast. The strands of folds of the Antilles arc continue below sea level to the islands of Jamaica and Hispanola.
The Caribbean lowlands were formed by the water-rich mountain rivers (including Rio Coco, Rio Ulua and Rio Patuca) and are up to 70 km wide. Behind the spits and chains of dunes of the Mosquito Coast, the rivers end in large lagoons and swamps. The valleys on the Caribbean coast are often used by banana plantations.
In front of the Golfo de Fonseca there are several islands of volcanic origin.
With the exception of the marshy coastal plains with marshy and mangrove soils, mainly red tropical soils occur in Honduras, which are only more nutrient-rich on dark volcanic rock, otherwise mostly depleted and often eroded.
The name “Mosquito Coast” says nothing good when it comes to the insects that affect humans: the lowlands of Honduras are malaria and yellow fever infested areas.
The birds and reptiles (snakes, lizards and iguanas) in the natural landscapes of Honduras are just as numerous and diverse as the insects. Larger mammals such as the puma, the various tapirs or the mountain cat, on the other hand, have already been exterminated in many regions of the country.
Much of the country is naturally covered in evergreen tropical rainforest, which is home to many ferns and orchids. However, depending on the climate and soil, the forests change very quickly from dry forests to pine forests (especially in the northeast) and cloud forests in a confined space. In the driest areas of the country, the savannah prevailed before human cultivation.
