Hola, Honduras Trivia Quiz

Answer: Gulf of Honduras

The marine borders of Honduras are the Gulf of Fonseca which is a part of the Pacific Ocean, and the Gulf of Honduras, a part of the Caribbean Sea. It is also bordered by the countries of El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Of those countries, Honduras comes in second in size at approximately 43,200 square miles, with Guatemala closely following with 42,000 square miles. Nicaragua has almost 50,000 square miles and little El Salvador has only a bit over 8,000 square miles. Honduras is slightly larger than the state of Tennessee.

Answer: False

In the past, Honduras has been known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, now known as Belize, which lies to the northwest of Honduras although not one of its land borders. It wasn't until after 1580 that the whole country was known as Honduras. Before that the western portion of the country was known as "Higueras" while the eastern part was "Honduras".

Answer: Comayagua

The first capital named was Trujillo and was on the northern coast where Columbus stopped on his fourth voyage. He may have been the one to have named the country because he called the waters where he landed "Golfo de Honduras", meaning the Gulf of the Depths.

In 1540 the city of Comayagua, founded by the conquistador de Caceres in 1537, became the capital. Finally, in 1880, Tegucigalpa was chosen as the capital, after some years of alternating between the two cities. (It seems the Liberals preferred one and the Conservatives preferred another.

The Liberals won.) Tegucigalpa and Comayagua are about 50 miles apart, inland of Trujillo. As of 2010, Tegucigalpa had a population of about 1.25 million, the largest city in the country.

Answer: Miskito Coast

The Miskito (Mosquito) Coast runs along the eastern shore of Honduras with a much longer portion of it in Nicaragua. Spain kept trying to conquer it with its military and when that failed it sent in its religious emissaries, the priests, who didn't have much better luck. Thus, the area stayed relatively free and independent.

As such, they could be visited by other European ships, including privateers and pirates, who found it a good place to use as a base and to rest and refit. Over the years many countries felt the Miskito Coast to be a part of their realm, including Britain, Gran Colombia and Nicaragua.

The Miskito Coast was made a part of Nicaragua in 1894, but in 1860, the northern portion of the Coast was returned to Honduras by the International Court of Justice.

The area is now called La Mosquitia.

Answer: 1821

Honduras became independent from Spain in 1821 but then joined The First Mexican Empire followed by the United Provinces of Central America. It wasn't until 1838 that it became a united, independent, republic and began holding elections. However, the years since becoming a republic have been fraught with almost 300 civil wars and rebellions, including a war with El Salvador called The Football War.

Answer: Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve

The Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve began life as "The Ciudad Blanca Archaeological Reserve", named after the legendary White City that is alleged to be in the area, but took its present name in 1980. A plan to develop and manage the area was formulated in 1980 but wasn't implemented until 1987. In addition to many species of fauna, many of whom are on the endangered list, there are over 200 archaeological sites, including the spot where Columbus landed in 1502.

In 1996 is was listed as a World Heritage in Danger, but by 2007 it was removed from that list due to conservation improvements. Unfortunately, by 2011 those original efforts seemed not to have been followed up. UNESCO has found slash and burn clearing, logging of the mahogany trees and illegal hunting and fishing in the main area of the Biosphere. Since the Reserve has one of the few undisturbed tropical rain forests in all of Central America, as well as part of the largest in Honduras, it has rare and endangered animals, including the giant anteater and jaguar. So far they have documented 39 species of mammals, 377 species of birds, and 126 species of reptiles and amphibians. It also has over 2,000 plants, many of which are new to science and there may be more that are yet to be discovered.

Eco-tourism is gearing up in the region but the Honduran government has no plan for its development and so far it has caused damage to some archaeological sites. Refugees from both Honduras and other countries are moving in and compounding problems for the proper management of the reserve.

Answer: lempira

The lempira is divided into 100 centavos, just as a dollar is divided into 100 cents. It is named after Lempira, the war chief (cacique) of the Lenca tribe in the 1530s who unified the various tribes which were then strong enough to resist the conquistadors, at least until he was killed in 1537 and his troops ran away.

He is a national hero for his attempt to keep the western tribes independent of Spain. The lempira as currency replaced the peso in 1931 and the first notes were used in 1932.

Answer: 5 stars

The Honduran flag is made up of three bands, the top and bottom blue stripes represent the Pacific, the Caribbean, and blue sky, as well as brotherhood. The middle white band represents the land between the waters and peace, prosperity and purity of thought. Additionally, there are five stars, each with five points, placed in an "X" pattern on the white background.

These stars represent the nations of the former Federal Republic of Central America, with the hope that it will form again. The flag was adopted March, 1886.

Answer: Islas de la Bahia

The Islas de la Bahia (Bay Islands) is a group of eight islands and over fifty cays lying off the northern coast of the country and have been a part of Honduras since 1872. Most of the islands, large or small, are of rugged terrain. Roatan is the largest island of the group, where there is a commercial business where you can swim with the dolphins. Both tourism and fishing are the economic pillars of the Islands, although the fishing is limited now due to prior over-fishing. Scuba diving and snorkeling are popular, and one can view manta rays, whale sharks, crabs, lobster, and various other sea life.

There are plenty of dive shops available to help you.

Answer: Mayan

Copan is in the western corner of the country, near to Guatemala. It is believed that by 200 AD a community had formed in the Copan valley but the people were not as advanced as were the Mayans. In 426, a prince arrived from Mexico, took control of the city, and founded a Mayan dynasty. By the 800s a great town of 20,000 people with large, magnificent, ceremonial buildings, temples and works of art stood in the Copan valley. These people were successful in architecture, mathematics, astronomy and sculpture, but they didn't do as well in the use and conservation of their land, keeping the peace, or keeping their people healthy.

The problem of feeding their growing population became worse and they used more slash and burn methods to try to grow more food, depleting the nutrients in the land. In the meantime, the elite of the town were building their houses on the river banks, the logical place to plant harvestable crops. Scientists have shown that the people were malnourished and sickly, as well as dying younger than had earlier generations, probably from their lack of growing enough food. To add to their problems, unlike other societies such as the Incans, they did not form a union or confederacy but remained independent city-states. As such, they warred with other Mayan cities, trying to conquer and control one another. Finally, a neighboring city that had been under Copan's control for too long rose up and killed Copan's head man, causing Copan to slowly begin to decline. The city died out and was covered by the jungle.

Copan was found again in 1576 by a Spanish explorer and again in 1834 a general in the Honduran army, but neither of them could get any support from their people for further exploration of the site. However, an American diplomat's interest was piqued and in 1838 he spent a few weeks in Copan, eventually buying it from the farmer who owned the land for $50. After that, the explorations began in earnest and are still going on today.

In 1980 it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.