Island Hopping Honduras History

ISLAND HPPING

A Brief History of Honduras

The history of Honduras begins long, long ago with the first settlers, hunter gatherers who came to Honduras either by the Bering Strait land bridge or across the Pacific Ocean on rafts. Either way, Anthropologists theorize that these early Hondurans arrived about 10,000 B.C. and stayed only a short while before moving on to South America. Honduras became a crossroads of sorts for South American and Mesoamerican peoples and between 3,000-1,000 B.C., three distinct groups migrated into the area. From South America came the ancestors of today’s Pech and Tawahka-Sumu Indians who settled in northeastern Honduras and Nicaragua, while north central Honduras saw an influx of Jicaque from North America who may be related to the early Sioux. By the time of Christ, other groups from Mexico and Guatemala migrated to Honduras to be followed shortly by a group that moved into western Honduras around Copán that would build one of the greatest civilizations ever known in the Americas, these people were to become known as the Maya (for more detailed information on the Maya see the section The Maya in the chapter Local Cultures).

By the fifth century the magnificent Mayan city of Copán was constructed as evidenced by the first glyph that was positively dated to A.D. 426. The glyph relates the accession to the throne of Yax J’uk’Mo’ to the throne of Copán and the beginning of the dynasty that was to reign for four centuries ending sometime around A.D. 822. Around A.D. 900 the independent city-states of the Maya abruptly collapsed for reasons that are still not understood though researchers theorize that the population grew too big for the surrounding land to sustain. After the disintegration of the Mayan civilization Honduras was populated by numerous tribes and subtribes such as the Lenca in western and south-central Honduras, and the Chortí Maya who dominated far western Honduras and who number over 4,000 in that region today. Most of central and north central Honduras was occupied by the Tolupan, while farther east, in what is today known as Olancho and Mosquitia, were the Pech (numbering about 2,500 today) and the Sumu, and scattered throughout western, southern, and northern Honduras the Aztecs maintained several trading posts. These tribes shared commercial ventures, and a few even went to war with each other, but there was no dominant tribe, no central group, which made conquest far easier for the Spanish invaders that were soon to come.

As was so often the case in the Caribbean, the first European to visit Honduras was Christopher Columbus whose first stop was at Guanaja in the Bay Islands. Columbus’ fist stop on the mainland of Honduras was at Punta Caxinas, near present day Trujillo, where a Spanish priest said the first Mass in the mainland Americas (the spot is now marked by a concrete cross). Columbus, who named the land Honduras meaning depths for the deep water he found off the coast, then headed east and his fleet was battered by severe weather until they rounded a cape and entered the calmer waters off Nicaragua. The Admiral was so pleased with the improved weather that he named that cape Cabo Gracias a Dios.

For almost two decades after Columbus’ visit only a couple of Spanish explorers visited Honduras until 1522 when an expedition led by Gil González Dávila entered the Golfo de Fonseca (on the Pacific coast of Honduras) overland from Panama. Over the next two years, six more Spanish expeditions converged on Honduras, their only true goals being the acquisition of wealth and power for the explorers involved. In 1524, Dávila again returned to Central America, landing near the mouth of the Río Dulce in present day Guatemala and establishing a small community there before marching through the center of Honduras and on into Nicaragua. The Spaniards settled on the northern coast at Trujillo in 1525 and soon began exploring the much cooler central highlands where Comayagua was established as a mining center and the capital in 1537 and it remained the political center of the nation until 1880 when Tegucigalpa came into the fore as the capital of Honduras.

The local Indian tribes continued to fight the Spanish into the latter 1530s and almost managed to drive the Spaniards from their lands (one has to wonder had all the indigenous people in Central America banded together under one great leader what the outcome would have been). One leader in particular, Lempira, whose name means “gentleman of the mountain,” was unusually successful against the European invaders. Believed to have been born in 1499, Lempira, is now one of the Honduras’ national heroes. Chief of the Lenca tribe, Lempira organized some 30,000 fighters into a resistance force to be reckoned with, a force the Spanish could not defeat in battle. Lempira successfully resisted the Spanish forces aligned against him by captain Alonso de Cáceres, the governor of Coyocutena, an area that today is known as the Department of Lempira. When de Cáceres could not defeat Lempira on the battlefield he resorted to treachery and deception. Under the white flag of truce, de Cáceres sent two representatives to Lempira to negotiate a peace treaty in 1839. During the meeting with Lempira, de Cáceres’ men shot and killed the great warrior chief in effect killing the resistance movement entirely,; within a year the indigenous peoples were defeated by the Spaniards. Today Lempira’s name is synonymous with the indigenous people’s heritage and so honored is this great leader that Honduras’ currency is named after him. By 1841, the numbers of indigenous Indians were hovering around 8,000, approximately 1% of what their numbers were when the Spanish arrived in Honduras.

In 1570, gold and silver were discovered near Tegucigalpa and the Spanish began shipping their new-found treasures back to the mother country. These Spanish treasure ships drew a great number of pirates to this part of the Caribbean feeding off captured Spanish vessels. Primarily British, Dutch, and French, these pirates led countless raids on towns and ships along what is known as the Spanish Main as Spain’s treasure fleets sailed from Venezuela to Honduras and onward, out into the Atlantic and back to Spain often using Roatán in the Bay Islands as a base for their forays.

Although Spain was holding fast in the interior of Honduras, the British came to the Bay Islands and the Caribbean Coast of Honduras attracted by great stands of mahogany. After an appeal by chiefs of the Miskito region, a British protectorate was declared over Honduras’ coastal waters which lasted until 1859 when they were was relinquished to Honduran control.

On September 15, 1821, representatives of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua, declared their Independence from Spain in a formal Act of Independence signed by Brigadier Don Gabino Gainza, the last of Spain’s Captain Generals in the New World. Two groups in Honduras vacillated between independence and joining the Republic of Mexico and by early 1822, Honduras declared her loyalty to the Emperor of Mexico, Augustín de Iturbide,just as her four neighbors had done, some by force. Within a year Iturbide was deposed and the five Central American nations formed the United Provinces of Central America. In 1838, after long a period of social and economic differences with her neighbors, and strife amongst Central American leaders (conservatives versus liberals) brought about the collapse of the Federation in 1838 even though Honduran General Francisco Morazàn tried unsuccessfully to maintain the Federation, and as a result, on November 15, 1838, Honduras became a separate republic.

Born in 1792, Francisco Morazàn, often described as the George Washington of Central America, was the last Honduran President of the United Provinces of Central America and ruled from 1830-1842. Born to an upper-class family, Morazàn was self-educated in Tegucigalpa and spoke fluent French. Morazàn was a champion of Central American federalism and fought valiantly but lost in his bid to prevent Mexico from annexing Honduras after 1821. In 1829, Morazàn led the liberal army in a civil war to defeat the conservative government and a year later became President of the United Provinces of Central America. During his tenure Morazàn suggested numerous reforms, some of which specifically targeted restricting the power of the Catholic Church in Honduras. After the Federation fell apart in 1838, Morazàn was exiled in 1840 by a Guatemalan leader named Rafael Carrera. But two years later, in 1842, Morazàn returned to Honduras and attempted to restore the Federation by staging a coup in Costa Rica. Defeated by a conservative army, Morazàn was executed on September 15, 1842, the anniversary of Central American independence. It is said that Morazàn was given command of his own execution and that he ordered his firing squad to fire upon him, and when he said “I’m still alive” (“Estoy vivo”), they fired once more, ending this visionary’s life.

Since she gained her Independence, Honduras has endured countless coups, rebellions, rigged elections, and underhanded dealings in her government, but one of the most famous incursions into the country came about in 1860, at the hands of an American mercenary named William Walker who had seized control of Nicaragua and sought to do the same in Honduras, was caught and executed in Trujillo and today his tomb is a tourist attraction.

William Walker was an American filibuster famed for his military exploits in Central America in the mid-1800s. At this time in history, adventurers known as filibusters participated in military action designed to take control of parts of Central America with the intent of annexing the captured territory to the United States, an exaggerated expression of the concept of Manifest Destiny.

Walker was born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1824, and graduated from the University of Nashville at 14. By the age of 19, Walker had a medical degree and at 25 was a physician in Pennsylvania. Walker later studied law in New Orleans, and a few years later became a journalist in California where he co-owned a newspaper, The Crescent, where a young writer named Walt Whitman worked on staff. And even with all these early successes, before his life was over Walker was to become better known as the President of Lower California and the Emperor of Nicaragua.

Between 1853-1860, William Walker hired soldiers of fortune and made several attempts to wrest control of territories in Mexico and Central America, and even invaded lower California, conquered the city of La Paz, and declared it an independent republic. Walker then annexed the nearby Mexican state of Sonora and renamed it the Republic of Sonora and established himself as “President”. A result of Walker’s actions in Sonora was the Gadsden Purchase whereby Mexico sold part of Sonora to the United States.

Walker was driven out of Sonora by the Mexican military in 1854 and then surrendered to U.S. Forces and was charged with violating neutrality laws but was later acquitted. Walker then turned his attention to Central America where chaos reigned as Democrats and Legitimists fought each other for control. The Democrats invited Walker to join the fight and in 1855, with an army of 58 men called The Immortals, Walker arrived in Nicaragua. Within a year his Immortals, and a local Democrat force, the Leonese, a liberal milita from the town of Leon, captured Grenada and Walker installed himself as President of Nicaragua. Walker immediately confiscated all foreign investments and re-instituted slavery as the United States became one of the fist countries to recognize his authority. With the slogan “Five or None”, Walker gave other Central American countries much to consider, mainly where would he invade next? Costa Rica bravely took steps to stop Walker by invading Nicaragua with some 9,000 men, however Walker’s forces repelled the invaders. But when Walker tried to follow the Costa Ricans into their country his invasion failed just as miserably as disease wiped out soldiers on both sides. During the fighting a young Costa Rican drummer boy, Juan Santamaria, became a national hero when he torched a fort where Walker’s army was encamped. Walker was driven out of Costa Rica in mid-1857 by a Central American alliance that defeated him at Santa Rosa (now a Costa Rican national monument) and Walker surrendered to a United States Naval officer and was returned to the United States where he once again faced neutrality violations. Walker landed in New Orleans where he was greeted as a hero, visiting President Buchanan before heading to New York to begin trying to once again rebuild an army.

By the end of 1857, Walker had succeeded in forming another army and attempted to invade Nicaragua again but was thwarted by the British Navy who barred his forces from landing in Nicaragua. Walker returned to the States and, seeking to form yet one more army to try to invade Central America, wrote a book entitled The War In Nicaragua to propagate his cause and raise funds. In 1960, Walker had again sailed south with a new army but was unable to land in Nicaragua, held off by the British Navy, so he and his army landed in Honduras planning to move overland into Nicaragua. In short order the British turned Walker over to Honduran authorities, who, within six days, stood the 36 year-old William Walker in front of a firing squad in Trujillo and executed him. Today his tomb can be found in the municipal cemetery in Trujillo, this man who might have changed the history of our hemisphere if not checked. His epitaph reads: William Walker, Fusilado, September 12, 1860.”

Just before the turn of the century a lack of funds resulted in a small town becoming an industrial giant in Honduras. In 1888, a projected railroad line from the Caribbean coast to the capital ran out of money when it reached the town of San Pedro Sula and as a result San Pedro Sula grew into Honduras’ main industrial center and second largest city.

As Honduras entered the 20th century, three United State’s fruit companies, United Fruit, the Vaccaro brothers (who would later be known as Standard Fruit), and Cuyamel Fruit, owned 70%-75% of all Honduran banana plantations, all the products of which were intended for U.S. markets. During these years man of the smaller banana farms were either bought out or forced out of business. In 1913, banana exports accounted for well over 60% of Honduras’ total exports as the nation earned the moniker “banana republic”. So embedded was the banana industry that for over a century the movers and shakers of the banana trade shaped the politics of Honduras. Where William Walker failed in his bid to control Honduras, the U.S. fruit companies succeeded.

The early 1900s were marked by political unrest which resulted in an occupation by United States Marines in 1932. This led to General Tiburcio Carias Andino establishing his strong military dictatorship that same year, which led to several decades of military rule. In October of 1955, young military reformists staged a coup and installed a provincial junta which paved the way for assembly elections in 1957. The new assembly installed Dr. Ramon Villeda Morales as President and then transformed itself into a national legislature with a six-year term. During this liberal assembly’s term, 1957-1963, the military began a transformation, separating itself from politics and any one political party as their new military academy graduated their first class in 1960. Villeda was removed from office in a bloody coup in October of 1963 as a group of military officers exiled certain Liberal Party members and took control of the national police. Once again the military came into control, led by General Lopez Arellano, who ruled Honduras until 1970.

In 1969, El Salvador invaded Honduras in what was to become known as the Football War. The two nations had been disagreeing about their borders for almost two centuries and it finally came to a head during a World Cup qualifying match between the two countries. The conflict was sparked by the deportation and alleged mistreatment of some 20,000 El Salvadoran immigrants in Honduras, victims of Honduran vigilantes. On July 14, a month after two heated soccer matches, and a cancelled third game (many Honduran fans were beaten in El Salvador at the second game and a rag was hoisted on a flagpole when the band played the Honduran National Anthem), El Salvador bombed several sites inside Honduras and even invaded the country by land making their way deep into Honduran territory. The Honduran air force bombed the Salvadoran fuel depot the invaders found they could advance no further. The Organization of American States, the OAS, succeeded in convincing El Salvador to withdraw after threatening the country with economic sanctions and military intervention, and although the war only lasted 100 hours, over 5,000 people were killed. The International Court in the Hague eventually settled the dispute awarding each country some of the disputed lands.

A civilian president, Ramon Cruz, came into power briefly in 1970, but the discontent of the people after the 1969 Football War with came to a head and in 1972, General Arellano staged another coup and took office again, only to be deposed in the mid-1970s by internal scandals. But General Arellano’s successors, Gen. Melgar Castro who ruled from 1975-1978, and Gen. Paz Garcia who ruled from 1978-1983, continued to build and modernize the military, the physical infrastructure, and the telecommunication systems of Honduras. The economy began to grow during this period as a greater international demand for Honduran products merged with the availability of foreign investments.

When Somoza was overthrown in Nicaragua in 1979, the Honduran military began to rethink plans of turning over the reins of government to civilians. A new assembly was elected in 1980 and general elections were held in November of 1981. A new constitution was approved in 1982 as the Liberal Party government of President Roberto Suazo Cordoba came into power.

In the years between 1979 and 1985, U.S. military and economic aid to Honduras increased from $32 million to over $282 million. A grateful Honduras responded by agreeing to base an estimated 15,000 Nicaraguan Contras who were to join the U.S. military in joint maneuvers. Conversely, U.S. aid for development assistance dropped during those years from 8-% to 6% as some 70% of Honduras’ children were malnourished. During these years the U.S. used Nicaraguan refugee camps inside Honduras as bases for operations designed to destabilize the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. The U.S. was also training Salvadoran military at Salvadoran refugee camps that were also located inside Honduras. Public knowledge of some 12,000 Cubans operating in Honduras and the exposing of the Iran/Contra scandal resulted in huge anti-American demonstrations in Tegucigalpa. The Honduran government changed its stance towards assisting the U.S. military, refusing to sign a new agreement with the U.S. and taking steps to remove the Contras from the country.

But President Suazo Cordoba still needed U.S. aid to battle a recession and an growing threat posed by the Sandinista government in Nicaragua and a civil war in El Salvador. Following a very strange election in November of 1985, Jose Azcona Hoyo assumed the Presidency. The Liberal Party actually had several candidates on the ballot and claimed victory as their candidates received more votes than the National Party Candidate, Rafael Leonardo Callejas, who received a total of 42% of the popular vote. Of the Liberal Party Candidates, Hoyo received only 27% of the total popular vote, yet became President due to the fact he received more votes than any other Liberal Party candidate. Hoyo’s election marked the fist peaceful transfer of power between civilian presidents in over 30 years of Honduran military rule. However, four years later Callejas returned and won the presidential election, taking office in January of 1990. Callejas immediately began to place the military under civilian control and created an Attorney General’s office.

When the Contra War ended in 1990 and the Contras finally left Honduras, the nation’s primary woes have been economic. An ebbing of exports along with a shrinking GNP, coupled with very little aid from the U.S., forced Honduras to increase its European market. In 1996, the civilian government of President Reina made a huge step forward in removing the military from all levels of government by naming his own defense minister instead of accepting the nominee of the military. Reina brought about a certain amount of fiscal health by reducing inflation, increasing economic growth, and reducing public debt.

In October of 1998, Hurricane Mitch devastated parts of the Bay Islands and hit hardest the mainland of Honduras. Mitch spawned three days of torrential rains causing landslides and floods that buried entire towns and destroyed over 100 bridges throughout the country. The Río Choluteca flooded and left the capital city of Tegucigalpa in an ocean of mud and across the nation some 13,000 people died and another two million were left homeless. It took over two years to clean up the country but Honduras will feel the effects of Mitch for a long time to come.

In 1999, a maritime border conflict arose with Nicaragua. Honduras claimed her maritime border at 15° north latitude, while Nicaragua claimed the border at 17° north latitude, which would cover all of Honduras’ Caribbean coastline as well as Guatemala’s, and even parts of the shoreline of Belize. Verbal assaults flew on all fronts and Nicaragua imposed a 35% tariff on all imported Honduran goods until the matter finally went to the International Court in the Hague.

In 2002, newly elected President Ricard Maduro made great progress in the areas of tourism and the war against crime. Although some say his reforms are too heavy handed, expanding police powers to enter private homes, Maduro established a tourist police and even learned of crime reduction from former New York Mayor Rudy Guliani. Although the public was behind his anti-crime efforts, the criminals were not, a prison riot in April of 2003 left 86 prisoners dead. Maduro also advocated new border procedures and was part of a Central American delegation that met with U.S. President Bush to push for reduced tariffs and the adoption of a Central American Free Trade Agreement.