什么是宏都拉斯

正式名称宏都拉斯共和国（Republic of Honduras）

面积112,088平方公里。人口约6,626,000（2001）。首都︰德古斯加巴。人民以梅斯蒂索人（欧洲人和印第安人的混血种）。语言：西班牙语（官方语）。宗教：天主教占多数。货币︰伦皮拉（L）。为中美洲第二大国家，北部滨加勒比海的海岸线长达645公里，南部滨太平洋的海岸线则只有72公里。3/4以上的国土为山区和森林。东部低地包括蚊子海岸的一部分。大部分人居住在内陆山区间的孤立地区，那里的气候炎热而潮湿。经济以农业为主，种植香蕉、咖啡、蔗糖以出口，玉米则是国内粮食作物。政府形式是多党制共和国，一院制。国家元首暨政府首脑是总统。

宏都拉斯属马雅人文明的一部分，此文明盛行於西元第一千纪期间，科潘古城遗存了一座西元465～800年左右使用的典礼中心的建筑和雕刻。1502年哥伦布抵此，接着设立了永久居留地。1537年西班牙人和印第安人之间爆发了一场大战，後来印第安人因疾病和沦为奴隶而人口锐减。1570年以後成为瓜地马拉总督辖区的一部分，直到1821年中美洲国家取得独立。之後加入中美洲联邦，1838年退出，宣布独立。20世纪时，该国在军事统治下不断发生内战，有时美国加以干预。1982年选出一个文人政府，但军方仍在幕後操控政局，而左翼游击队活动日益频繁。1998年飓风带来水灾，造成数千人死亡，成千上万人无家可归。2001年又遭遇严重的旱灾。

Honduras

Republic. Area: 43,277 sq mi (112,088 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 5,823,000. Capital: Tegucigalpa. The population is predominantly mestizo (mixed European and Indian). Language: Spanish (official). Religion: Roman Catholicism (majority). Currency: Honduran lempira. The second-largest country of Central America, Honduras has a 400-mi (645-km) coastline on the Caribbean to the north and a 45-mi (72-km) one on the Pacific to the south. More than three-fourths of Honduras is mountainous and wooded. The eastern lowlands include part of the Mosquito Coast. Most of the people live in isolated communities in the mountainous interior, where the climate is hot and rainy. The economy is primarily agricultural, with bananas, coffee, and sugar for export and corn as the chief domestic staple. Honduras is a multiparty republic with one legislative house, and the head of state and government is the president. It was part of the Maya civilization that flourished in the 1st millennium AD. There are architectural and sculptural remains of a ceremonial center at Copán, in use from c. 465 to 800. Christopher Columbus reached Honduras in 1502, and permanent settlement followed. A major war between the Spaniards and the Indians broke out in 1537, culminating in the decimation of the Indian population through disease and enslavement. After 1570 it was part of the captaincy general of Guatemala until Central American independence in 1821. Part of the United Provinces of Central America, it withdrew in 1838 and declared its independence. In the 20th century, under military rule, there was constant civil war and some intervention by the U.S. A civilian government was elected to office in 1982. The military remained in the background, however, as the activity of leftist guerrillas increased. Flooding caused by a hurricane in 1998 devastated the country, killing several thousand people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. In 2001 Honduras was hit by a severe drought.