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Deep Waters
Honduras and Nicaragua have much in common, especially a long Caribbean coast where outside influences, especially those of Great Britain and the United States, have been strong. The name Honduras refers to deep Caribbean waters. Yet, as with Nicaragua, the historical center of Honduras has been on the Pacific side, the region in which the Spanish found some gold in the colonial period, yet not enough to make Honduras really wealthy. In the late 1800s, U.S. banana companies set up shop on the Caribbean coast, and that part of the country remained the most dynamic in economic terms through the twentieth century. Another important aspect of that coast, distinctive to Honduras, is the presence of the Garifuna (pronounced gaREEfuna) people. The Garifunas appear to be predominantly of African descent, yet they speak the language of the Carib Indians who once inhabited much of the Caribbean. For that reason, they are sometimes called Black Caribs. The Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, and the Caribbean coastal metropolis of San Pedro Sula are rapidly growing cities, yet Honduras is today the rare Latin American country whose population remains predominantly rural.
Topics:
Questions for Analysis and Further Reflection:
- Why has the Caribbean coast of Central America been so vulnerable to encroachment by outside influences?
- Borders between countries are often hostile places, where many efforts—effective or not—are made to keep out those from the other side. The U.S.-Mexico border is one that all of us in the U.S. are familiar with. Similar border relationships exist in Latin America, like the one between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. What was the border relationship of Honduras like with its neighbors, especially El Salvador, during the twentieth century?
Country Bibliography: (Titles with ** are good starting places. As is the case with the historiography of other Central American countries, there is a lack of recent, general histories of Honduras in English.)
Bethell, Leslie, ed. Central America since Independence. New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1991.
The first three chapters deal with Central America as a whole. Chapter 6 deals specifically with El Salvador since 1930. A few maps are included, and an index and a bibliographical essay for each chapter follow the text.
** Foster, Lynn V. A Brief History of Central America. New York: Facts On File, 2000.
An accessible historical overview of Central America as a whole from the pre-Columbian era to the dawn of the present century. The book includes illustrations, tables, and maps, a bibliography and index, a list of suggested readings, and appendices with basic facts for each country (including Panama and Belize) and a chronology.
Norsworthy, Kent, with Tom Barry. Inside Honduras. Albuquerque: Resource Center Press,
1994.
Like other books published by the Resource Center (known also as the Inter-Hemispheric Education Resource Center), this one is a guidebook of sorts to current events, not a history. The Resource Center is a research institute that focuses most heavily on Central America and U.S. foreign policy. Its publications, including this one on Honduras, follow a standard organization, with chapters on politics, the military, economics, social movements, and foreign relations. Inside Honduras (an updated version of Honduras: A Country Guide, published by the same authors) deals above all with politics in Honduras during the 1980s and 90s.
Morris, James A. Honduras: Caudillo Politics and Military Rulers. Westview Profiles,
Nations of Contemporary Latin America. Boulder: Westview Press, 1984.
A political history centering on the years spanning from the 1950s to the early 1980s. Charts, illustrations, notes, a brief bibliography, and an index accompany the narrative.
Newson, Linda. The Cost of Conquest: Indian Decline in Honduras Under Spanish Rule.
Dellplain Latin American Studies, no. 20. Boulder: Westview Press, 1986.
A rare book on colonial Honduras, most students will not want to read it cover to cover. They will benefit most from the introduction on patterns of conquest in Central America and the two chapters that make up part three, dealing respectively with "Conquest, Slaves, and Gold" and the cultural and demographic cost of colonization from 1502-1550. Maps, notes, a glossary, a bibliography, and an index are included.
**Pérez-Brignoli, Héctor. A Brief History of Central America. Translated by Ricardo B.
Sawrey A. and Susana Stettri de Sawrey. Berkeley: University of California Press,
1989.
This slightly older book presents an overview of the region's history, beginning with the land and the people and ending with the political and social crises faced by many Central American nations at the end of the 1980s. Maps, a chronology, notes, a bibliography, and an index are included.
** Woodward, Ralph Lee, Jr. Central America: A Nation Divided, 3rd ed. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1999.
A solid and well-told overview with an extensive guide to further reading, a set of charts and tables with statistical information, and a political chronology.
Maps:
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