When was honduras established

The British also stepped in, backing the Miskito tribe against the Spanish. The Spanish had never conquered the Miskitos.

Once they had allied with the British, that opened the door for the British to take over the entire Caribbean Coast of Central America. This was the area called the Mosquito Coast. In , Mexico gained independence from Spain, and with it, the Captaincy-General of Guatemala, of which Honduras was a part. Two years after that, the Captaincy-General broke free from Mexico, and Central America went at it alone.

After a few years of turmoil, it dissolved in , with each of its provinces becoming independent. Honduras was now a sovereign nation. An irony of Honduras becoming independent was the fact that out of all the countries in Central America, it was Honduras that most pushed for Central America staying together. Even after independence, Honduras tried many times to get the other countries to unite, but to no avail. The five stars on the Honduran flag, one for each country, are a testament to the fact that Honduras saw itself as part of a larger Central America rather than as a country on its own.

It is unique in the region for that. One of the first things that Honduras did during its first couple of decades of existence, was to invite foreign investment in to help build up its economy. Foreign companies from Europe and the United States came into Honduras and started building railroads and shipping fruit.

By the early 20th century, Honduras had given vast swathes of its land away to major companies such as United Fruit, in return for the labor that they provided and the infrastructure that they built. The companies controlled presidents and politicians in Honduras. The country was, in effect, an oligarchy. Reforms got passed and then taken away and passed again. Once workers got the right to organize in the s, a massive general strike led to the ousting of democratically-elected president Villeda Morales, who was sympathetic to the workers, by the United Fruit-backed military who imposed a dictatorship on the country that lasted until the early s.

During the dictatorship, Honduras cracked down on workers rights and leftist groups. The reforms made to the United Fruit workers by Morales became void. Trade unions suffered harassment. The military government of Honduras became a staunch ally of the United States in the fight against Communism in Latin America. In Honduras had a brief, but bloody war with El Salvador, called The Football War, as it coincided with some World Cup qualifying games between the two countries.

The real reason was the fact that many Salvadoran immigrants were living in Honduras, attracted by fruit company work. With an economy in trouble, the military government wanted a scapegoat, and so blamed the immigrants.

El Salvador responded and war commenced over four days in July Although the war ended in a tie, it marked the turning point in the fortunes of the military government. Many people who once supported it now turned. Real opposition parties formed and the s became a decade of gradual reform followed by setback followed by gradual reform. Baby steps. In civilian rule came back to Honduras. A new constitution was written and the fruit companies, their heyday already long over, found themselves with no power at all.

With the help of aid from all over the world, Honduras started reforming itself. During this time, Honduras became the largest destination country for the Peace Corp. Things were not all rosy in the 80s, though. The new government feared Honduras falling under communist control like its neighbor Nicaragua. Its other neighbors Guatemala and El Salvador were also both meshed in civil wars themselves, and Honduras did not want to go down that path.

The Honduran military, despite not being in power, nonetheless started small-scale campaigns of intimidation against left-wing groups in the country, including the use of death squads.

The Peace Accords which ended the civil wars in Central America also, for the most part, ended repression in Honduras. Since then, Honduras has rebuilt.

Things got rocky in when then-president Manuel Zelaya was ousted for trying to change the constitution to allow him to run for office again. The military took over for a brief period before handing power back to the people. But armed forces chief General Gustavo Alvarez retains considerable power and Honduras becomes embroiled in various regional conflicts. US-run camps for training Salvadorans in counterinsurgency are set up on Honduran territory.

Death squads are allegedly used to eliminate subversive elements. US-run training camps for Salvadoran counter-revolutionaries are shut down, but the government continues to cooperate with the US administration's anti-Sandinista activities in return for substantial economic aid.

Human rights abuses. Demilitarising society. Reina pledges to reform judicial system and limit power of armed forces. This upsets Nicaragua, which claims some of the area as its own. Death squads. He says armed forces will play greater role in fighting crime. Declaration is greeted with dismay at home and abroad. Hundreds of juvenile gangs - or maras - operate in Honduras.

Zelaya becomes president. Honduras and neighbouring El Salvador inaugurate their newly-defined border. The countries fought over the disputed frontier in President Manuel Zelaya visits Cuba, the first official trip by a Honduran president to the island in 46 years. The two countries recently agreed their maritime boundaries after a long-running dispute.

President Manuel Zelaya says a lack of international support to tackle chronic poverty forced him to seek aid from Venezuela. Zelaya deposed.