HONDURAS, Central American republic, bounded on the north and northeast by the Gulf of Honduras and the Caribbean Sea; on the southeast and south Nicaragua; and on the southwest and west by the Gulf of Salvador and Guatemala. Estimated area, 46,250 square miles. The republic, divided into 17 departments and one territory, has as its present capital the city of Tegucigalpa, the only national capital in the new world without a railway. The number of Tegucigalpa's in habitants was given in 1916 as 40,000. It is situated on an interior plateau about 3,200 feet above sea-level, 12 hours' journey by automo bile from the nearest port, Amapala.
Mountain ranges, which rise to heights of 5,000 to 10,000 feet, are massed in the western half of the republic; the Camasca and Tom pocente ranges, however, are near the frontier of Nicaragua in the east, and parallel with these some 200 miles from the frontier is the uticalpa Range, which stretches from the coast Into the interior. Rivers emptying Into the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Honduras are the Patuca and Negro, in the east, and the Ulna in the west. The Choluteca flows southward the Misoco Mountains near Tegucigalpa, and empties into Fonseca Bay, on the Pacific Large lakes are the Caratasca on the Mosquito coast, and Yojoa, among the western mountains. The chief port' on the Pacific is Amapala; other ports of entry are Omoa, Puerto Cortes (on the Gulf of Honduras), La Ceiba, Trujillo and Roatan (on Bay Islands).
History and Clovernment.—The first place of debarkation of Christopher Columbus on the American mainland was near the present Cape Honduras, where he landed on Sunday, 14 Aug. 1502. On the following Wednesday Barthol omew Columbus landed at the mouth of the Rio Tinto. They sailed thence •along the coast to Cape Gracias a Di6s. The conquest of the country was effected by Hernan Cortes, who set out from Mexico City to bring to terms one of his officers, Cristobal de Olid, who had founded Triunfo de la in Honduras; and established an independent government. The march to Honduras occupied six months and Cortes found the natives manageable, but their land covered with awfully miry swamps,' as he wrote to the Spanish monarch 3 Sept.
1526. can. assure your majesty,' he adds, (that even on the tops of the hills our horses, led as they were by hand,. and without their riders, sank to their girths in the mire.* (Fifth letter of Cortes to the Emperor Charles V). The natives were tractable. Without their as sistance it would have been impossible to move about among the dense forests, swamps and mountains, therefore the Spaniards realized that more was to be accomplished by diplomacy than by force. Honduras became, in time, a nation of Spanish-s but like all the other Span American colonies, it suffered from the Spanish policy which regarded the American possesslona as the private estates of the Crown and as such to be exploited for the benefit of the sovereign. In 1539 Hon duras became a captaincy-general of Guatemala. On• its successful revolt from Spanish rule in 1521 it became part of the Mexican Empire; from which it separated in 1823 to join the Cen tral American Confederation. In 1849 Hon duras, Salvador and Nicaragua formed a politi cal union which ended in 1863. Three years be fore the termination of the last effort to form a political union, Honduras was called upon to resist (1860) the landing at Trujillo of a fili bustering expedition from the United States led by William Walker. Between 1871 and 1877 the country endured'both war and revolution. Comayagua ceased to be the national capital, and the government was established at Teguci galpa in 1880. General Sierra was elected to the Presidemi, 1899-1903; Gen. Manuel Bonilla, 1903-07. Honduras and Salvador were at war with Guatemala for a short time in 1906. In 1910-11 two revolutionary occurred, and intervention by the United States became necessary. Seiko' Nvila resigned the Presidency; General Bonilla, who led an armed revolt against the government, was re-elected for the term 1912-16, but died 31 March 1913. The unexpired term was filled by Francisco Bertrand, who retired from office 28 July 1915 in order to comply with the constitutional pro vision that no one shall assume the Presidency who has held that office at any time during the six months immediately preceding the inaugura. don. He was re-elected for the term 1916-23.