Honduras
|
| Basic Facts |
| Country name |
conventional long form: Republic of Honduras
conventional short form: Honduras local long form: Republica de Honduras local short form: Honduras |
| Gevernment type | democratic constitutional republic |
| Capital |
name: Tegucigalpa
geographic coordinates: 14 06 N, 87 13 W time difference: UTC-6 (1 hour behind Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins second Sunday in March; ends first Sunday in November; note - these new dates become effective in 2007 |
| Flag description | three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), white, and blue with five blue, five-pointed stars arranged in an X pattern centered in the white band; the stars represent the members of the former Federal Republic of Central America - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua; similar to the flag of El Salvador, which features a round emblem encircled by the words REPUBLICA DE EL SALVADOR EN LA AMERICA CENTRAL centered in the white band; also similar to the flag of Nicaragua, which features a triangle encircled by the word REPUBLICA DE NICARAGUA on top and AMERICA CENTRAL on the bottom, centered in the white band |
| Currency | lempira (HNL) |
| Internet country code | .hn |
| Ports and terminals | Puerto Castilla, Puerto Cortes, San Lorenzo, Tela |
| Agriculture products | bananas, coffee, citrus; beef; timber; shrimp |
| Industries | sugar, coffee, textiles, clothing, wood products |
| Geography |
| Location | Central America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Guatemala and Nicaragua and bordering the Gulf of Fonseca (North Pacific Ocean), between El Salvador and Nicaragua |
| Coordinates | 15 00 N, 86 30 W |
| Continent | Central America and the Caribbean |
| Area |
total: 112,090 sq km
land: 111,890 sq km water: 200 sq km |
| Boundaries |
total: 1,520 km
border countries: Guatemala 256 km, El Salvador 342 km, Nicaragua 922 km |
| Coastline | 820 km |
| Climate | subtropical in lowlands, temperate in mountains |
| Terrain | mostly mountains in interior, narrow coastal plains |
| Natural resources | timber, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron ore, antimony, coal, fish, hydropower |
| Natural hazards | frequent, but generally mild, earthquakes; extremely susceptible to damaging hurricanes and floods along the Caribbean coast |
| People |
| Population | 7,326,496
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.) |
| Ethnic groups | mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European) 90%, Amerindian 7%, black 2%, white 1% |
| Religions | Roman Catholic 97%, Protestant 3% |
| Languages | Spanish, Amerindian dialects |
