The human history of Honduras stretches back millennia. The earliest artifacts of Honduran culture have been dated to over 6,000 years ago.

By about 3,000 years ago, ancestors of the great Mayan culture of Honduras history had settled within the present-day country. At its peak, around 200 to 800 CE, the Mayan culture stretched from the Yucatan Peninsula in modern Mexico through what are now Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. The Mayan culture of Honduras history left its mark in the Copan ruins, archaeological remnants of a great city that exerted influence over large swaths of Central America. Today, Copan is one of the best-preserved Mayan cities and a popular destination for anyone on a vacation to Honduras.

For reasons lost to antiquity, the Mayan culture of Honduras history suffered sudden and tremendous decline at the end of the first millennium CE. Although descendents of the Mayans survive in Honduras to this day, the indigenous Honduras culture had completely collapsed by the time European explorers "discovered" Central America.   The north coast of present-day Honduras, near the modern city of Trujillo, was the site of the first mainland New World landfall by Christopher Columbus in August 1502. He named the land Honduras (Spanish for "depths"), after the deep waters off the coast.

The years of Spanish conquest devastated indigenous Honduran culture, as native Hondurans were indentured as slaves to work the rich gold and silver mines discovered in the 1530s. The indigenous peoples did not acquiesce willingly to their enslavement. In the late 1530s Lempira, a young chief from the Honduran Lenca tribe, led an army of thousands against the Spanish occupiers. Lempira's brave resistance ended when he was tricked and murdered at peace talks, but his memory left its mark on Honduras history. Today, the national currency is named Lempira, as are many Honduran towns.

Honduras remained a part of the vast Spanish New World empire until the early 19th century, and most modern Hondurans can trace their ancestry to a combination of Spanish colonists, indigenous Americans, and African slaves brought to work colonial mines. The British also left their mark on the history of Honduras and Honduran culture, colonizing parts of the Mosquito coast and the Bay Islands. English remains a widely spoken language on the Bay Islands.   The modern history of Honduras began on September 15, 1821, when the country declared independence from Spain. Honduras briefly joined the Mexican Empire before leaving to form the short-lived Federal Republic of Central America, finally getting full independence in 1838.

The history of Honduras since independence has been marked by bitter struggles between liberals and conservatives, numerous military coups, rebellions, fixed elections, foreign invasions, and meddling by U.S. governments and companies. The introduction of banana farming in the late 19th century had profound ramifications for Honduran culture. Banana companies, most prominently the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) and the Standard Fruit Company (now Dole), became extremely powerful within Honduras.

Throughout the 20th century political, environmental, and labor scandals associated with the banana companies marred the history of Honduras. American writer O. Henry coined the term banana republic to describe Honduras.  The Banana industry helped support strong military rulers who supported their interests, like General Carias in the 1930s and 1940s and Colonel Lopez Arellano in the 1960s and 1970s. The powerful Banana companies also spawned a powerful labor movement in Honduras who have worked to improve conditions for fruit workers.

U.S. influence in Honduran affairs marked the 20th century history of Honduras, most prominently in the 1980s, when the Reagan administration helped prop up the democratic government as neighboring Central American countries succumbed to communist insurrection. Honduras became a staging area for anti-Marxist counter-revolutionaries and became entangled in the biggest U.S. political scandal of the 1980s, as the Reagan administration trained and funded Nicaraguan and Salvadoran Contras in Honduras using money made from illegal arm sales to Iran.

Today, Honduras remains one of the poorest countries in Latin America. A tourism boom since the early 1990s, with visitors attracted by the natural beauty of rainforests and ocean diving spots, has helped revitalize the country. The devastation of Hurrican Mitch in 1998 set progress back, but Honduran culture remains proud and varied and the country's ecotourism continues to attract visitors.

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF WHAT ONCE MOVED HONDURAS

Honduras, just like most of the rest of the Central American countries bordering the Caribbean Sea, was producing bananas for local consumption since the XVI century.  In the mid 1860's, Honduras began making small shipments of bananas from the Bay Islands of Utila and Roatan, to the city of New Orleans.  These were carried as part of the cargo of small schooners making the trip between those ports.  By 1870, bananas had a ready market in the cities of New Orleans, Miami and New York. 

By the end of that decade, the North Coast of Honduras, between the natural harbors of Puerto Castilla, to the east of La Ceiba, and Puerto Cortes to the west, had several small banana farms run by more or less family plots, which were producing good salable stems. 

Around that same time, there were several buyers of the fruit who came on a fairly regular basis seeking to purchase bananas for resale in the United States of America.

One of these buyers was Minor C. Keith, who had his own plantations in Costa Rica, but who needed additional fruit to complete his shipping commitments.  Also purchasing on a regular basis from the Honduran producers in the late 1880's and the 1890’s were the Macheca’s Brothers; the Pizzattis’, and Santo Oteri and his Son.  They all came to buy bananas, and did so right on the beaches of Puerto Cortes, Tela and Ceiba. 

But by mid 1899, all of these buyers became part of the United Fruit Company, which had been founded in March of 1899.  The Vaccaro-D'Antoni partnership came on the scene in late 1899, and on its first trip to Honduras, seeking to purchase oranges and coconuts for sale in New Orleans, Miami and New York, they also purchased a few stems of bananas at Roatan Island. 

Their success in selling their purchases in New Orleans, Miami and New York where they had their own outlet induced them to move to the mainland of Honduras, and by 1901, they had established themselves at Salado Barra, west of La Ceiba, and also had an office in La Ceiba.

Here is a snapshoot of Honduran banana trade control by 1912:

1) Vaccaro Brothers and Company had a government concession to build a railroad from the city of La Ceiba on the north coast of Honduras to the city of Yoro, Yoro.  They had by this time some of their own plantations of bananas, but continued to buy fruit from local producers.  Their area of operations was between Boca Cerrada, west of La Ceiba, and Balfate, east of La Ceiba (an area of about 80 kilometers of coastline);

2) United Fruit Company had two concessions which it had purchased with government approval.  One was to build a railroad from Tela to Progreso which is in the Sula Valley, and the other was to build a railroad from Trujillo, to the city of Juticalpa in Olancho.  United Fruit set up the Tela Railroad Company and the Trujillo Railroad Company to manage these concessions.  By this time, United Fruit also had some of its own plantations, and continued to buy fruit from locals; and
 

3) Cuyamel Fruit Company was owned by Samuel Zemurray, who also had a government concession to build a railroad from Omoa into the Cuyamel Valley, in which he had banana plantations.  Zemurray had come to Honduras in 1905, arriving in Puerto Cortes, which wasn't much at that time.  He began purchasing fruit from local producers, just like the Vacccaros and United Fruit Company, but soon saw the need for having his own farms in order to have better quality control of production.
 

In summary, by 1912, bananas were being shipped from Honduras solely by: the Vaccaro’s Brothers; United Fruit Company, and Cuyamel Fruit Company.  There existed an apparent gentleman pact that set the Vaccaro Brother's zone of influence from the east Bank of the Lean River on the west of La Ceiba, to the San Esteban River near Balfate, to the east of La Ceiba.  

United Fruit Company had two zones of influence:  The one near Trujillo, in the Aguan River Valley and along the coast east of Trujillo into the Sico River Valley; and The area of Tela R.R. Co. sector whose zone of influence was from the West bank of the Lean River to the east, and to the east bank of the Ulua River to the west of Tela.

The Cuyamel zone of influence was west of the Ulua River to the Guatemalan border.

As of 1996, the banana production and export from Honduras is handled by:

1) Standard Fruit de Honduras, S.A. , which is part of Dole Fresh Fruit International and which originated with the Vaccaro Brothers; and

2) Tela R.R. Co., which is part of the Chiquita Brands International which originated with United Fruit Company.  Chiquita's banana operations in Honduras are all in the Sula Valley.

Standard Fruit de Honduras, S.A. has now constituted the Maya Division, under William Swinford, who is its designer, and which handles the banana production in Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico, shipped under the Dole Label.