Honduras
From ancient Maya temples to Caribbean coral reefs, a mountain nation whose spirit runs as deep as its history.
Francisco Morazán, born in Tegucigalpa in 1792, spent his life pursuing a single conviction, that Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica stood stronger bound together than divided. As president of the Federal Republic of Central America, he pushed for education, justice, and a union built on shared purpose rather than shared borders. When his vision fell to civil war and he faced execution in Costa Rica in 1842, he wrote his final testament with the region still on his mind.
"Declaro que mi amor a Centroamérica muere conmigo," he wrote in that testament ("My love for Central America dies with me"), a devotion the coat of arms motto still honors today: Honduras, Libre, Soberana e Independiente. Morazán's conviction, that neighbors stand stronger through common ground than through lines on a map, is the same one that carries the Declaration forward, one hemisphere and one future at a time.
Get to Know Honduras
Capital: Tegucigalpa. Official language: Spanish (Garífuna and English are also spoken along the Caribbean coast). Currency: Honduran lempira. Honduras declared independence from Spain on September 15, 1821, a date still inscribed on its coat of arms.
Fun Facts
- Copán's Hieroglyphic Stairway holds the longest inscription ever found in the Maya world, more than 1,250 glyph blocks carved in stone.
- The Bay Islands sit along the second largest coral reef system on Earth, drawing divers to Roatán's clear Caribbean waters.
- Honduras is one of the world's leading cigar producers, exporting more than one hundred million cigars a year.
Why Visit
From the jungle wrapped temples of Copán to the white sand and turquoise water of Roatán, Honduras pairs deep Maya history with some of the best diving in the hemisphere. Inland, the Lenca Trail winds through pine covered mountains and colonial coffee towns like Marcala, where shade grown Arabica has earned some of the highest premiums in Central America.
Made in Honduras
Honduran coffee, cigars, and Lenca crafts travel the world, from Marcala's shade grown Arabica beans to hand rolled cigars and the Lenca community's black and white pottery and embroidered textiles. This space is reserved for a future Local Marketplace Spotlight, featuring Trust Standard certified Honduran businesses once that pillar of the Americas Ecosystem exists. Soon.