Honduras: landmarks, animals & facts for kids

Honduras is a country in Central America, bordered by Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. It has a long coast on the Caribbean Sea and a short one on the Pacific at the Gulf of Fonseca. Its capital is Tegucigalpa. Honduras is known for the Maya ruins of Copán, the coral reefs around its Bay Islands, and wild rainforests in the region called La Mosquitia.

On My Earth Toy you can explore Copán, a Maya city famous for its art, including the Hieroglyphic Stairway carved with about 2,200 glyphs and finely sculpted stone monuments called stelae. In the forest nearby, look for Baird's tapir, the largest land mammal of Central America.

Geography and nature

Honduras is a mountainous country, with peaks rising to about 2,870 metres at Cerro Las Minas. Off the Caribbean coast, the Bay Islands of Roatán, Utila and Guanaja sit on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second-longest barrier reef in the world, where whale sharks are often seen. In the northeast, the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve protects a huge area of rainforest and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The bright scarlet macaw is the national bird.

People, languages and culture

Spanish is the official language. Most Hondurans are of mixed Indigenous and European descent, and Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples such as the Lenca, Miskito and Garifuna keep their own languages and traditions. Garifuna music and dance, with drums and call-and-response songs, are recognised by UNESCO. A favourite snack is the baleada, a thick flour tortilla folded around beans, cheese and cream. Football is the most popular sport, and most people are Catholic or evangelical Christians.

History in a nutshell

The Maya city of Copán was at its height between about the 5th and 9th centuries AD. Christopher Columbus reached the coast on his fourth voyage in 1502, and Spain later made the region part of its empire. Honduras became independent from Spain on 15 September 1821 along with the rest of Central America, and became a separate republic in 1838. In the 20th century, banana exports shaped its economy. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch caused terrible damage across the country.