Honduras

Find Honduras

Honduras

Capital of Honduras: Tegucigalpa

Capital of Honduras: Tegucigalpa

Honduran Rainforest and Macaw (national bird)

Honduras’ Diverse Environment

• Honduras is less than 1% of the world’s surface area, but it has over 10% of the world’s biodiversity

• Nearly 50,000 species of insects alone

• 70 different types of bats, 68 of which are insect-eaters and two that are blood-drinkers

Mesoamerican Reef: second largest barrier reef in the world is off the coast of Honduras

700 miles from the northern tip of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to the Bay Islands in northern Honduras

Mesoamerican Reef

• More than 65 species of stony coral

• More than 500 species of fish

Chocolate comes from which beans?

• Cacao beans

• They are native to Honduras

In 1821, Honduras gained its independence from which European country?

a) Spain

b) France

c) Norway

Banana Republic

A negative term for a country that is politically unstable, dependent on limited agriculture (e.g. bananas), and ruled by a small, self-elected, wealthy people

Banana Republic and Honduras

• U.S. traders saw Honduras as an excellent location to build up production and diversify supply away

from Costa Rica.

• U.S. fruit companies eventually owned 75% of Honduras’s banana plantations and possessed great influence on Honduras’ politicians.

• The U.S. owners built railroads and seaports, but little of the fruit companies’ wealth remained within Honduras.

La United Food Co. by Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda (July 12, 1904 – September 23, 1973) Chilean poet

Neruda wrote this poem in 1950 to bring attention to injustices brought upon the native populations of Central and South America that were a result of American companies (and the U.S. government with the help of the CIA) and dictators throughout the region who exploited their labor and forcefully suppressed democratic movements.

La United Fruit Co. by Pablo Neruda

Cuando sonó la trompeta, estuvotodo preparado en la tierra,y Jehova repartió el mundoa Coca-Cola Inc., Anaconda,Ford Motors, y otras entidades:la Compañía Frutera Inc.se reservó lo más jugoso,la costa central de mi tierra,la dulce cintura de América.

Bautizó de nuevo sus tierrascomo "Repúblicas Bananas,"y sobre los muertos dormidos,sobre los héroes inquietosque conquistaron la grandeza,la libertad y las banderas,estableció la ópera bufa: enajenó los albedríosregaló coronas de César,desenvainó la envidia, atrajo

la dictadora de las moscas,

moscas Trujillos, moscas Tachos,moscas Carías, moscas Martínez,moscas Ubico, moscas húmedasde sangre humilde y mermelada,moscas borrachas que zumbansobre las tumbas populares,moscas de circo, sabias moscasentendidas en tiranía.

Entre las moscas sanguinariasla Frutera desembarca,arrasando el café y las frutas,en sus barcos que deslizaron como bandejas el tesorode nuestras tierras sumergidas.

Mientras tanto, por los abismosazucarados de los puertos,caían indios sepultadosen el vapor de la mañana:un cuerpo rueda, una cosasin nombre, un número caído,un racimo de fruta muertaderramada en el pudridero.

United Fruit Co. by Pablo Neruda

When the trumpet sounded everything was prepared on earth, and Jehovah gave the world to Coca-Cola Inc., Anaconda, Ford Motors, and other corporations. The United Fruit Company reserved for itself the most juicy piece, the central coast of my world, the delicate waist of America.

It rebaptized these countries Banana Republics, and over the sleeping dead, over the unquiet heroes who won greatness, liberty, and banners, it established an opera buffa: it abolished free will, gave out imperial crowns, encouraged envy, attracted the dictatorship of flies:

Trujillo flies, Tachos flies Carias flies, Martinez flies, Ubico flies, flies sticky with submissive blood and marmalade,

drunken flies that buzz over the tombs of the people, circus flies, wise flies expert at tyranny.

With the bloodthirsty flies came the Fruit Company, amassed coffee and fruit in ships which put to sea like overloaded trays with the treasures from our sunken lands.

Meanwhile the Indians fall into the sugared depths of the harbors and are buried in the morning mists; a corpse rolls, a thing without name, a discarded number, a bunch of rotten fruit thrown on the garbage heap.

Plants of Honduras: “tank” or “cistern” bromeliads

--They hold up to two or three gallons of rainwater. --This creates a tiny ecosystem of insects, amphibians, and even small mammals.

Deforestation: logging and/or burning of trees in a forested area

How does environmental policy affect the outcome of a hurricane? Unchecked deforestation leads to erosion

1998 Hurricane Mitch

• 80% of Honduras’ agriculture was destroyed, as were factories, bridges, and homes.

• Entire hillsides collapsed; damage was most extensive in deforested areas.

REVIEW

What is the capital of Guatemala?

a) Mexico City

b) Vatican City

c) Guatemala City

What ancient civilization lived in Guatemala from A.D. 250 and A.D. 900?

a) The French civilization

b) The Mayan civilization

c) The Roman civilization

What is the second largest country in the world?

a) France

b) Russia

c) Canada

Tenochtitlan was built by which civilization in 1325?

a) Aztec

b) Spanish

c) French

Canada is in which continent?

a) Asia

b) Africa

c) North America