Among themselves Hondurans are known affectionately as catrachos. Generally they live concentrated in the central and western upland valleys and along La Costa Norte. Population decreases to the south and east. Almost half of the people live in rural settlements. The largest urban centers are the capital, Tegucigalpa; San Pedro Sula, the center of the industrial and commercial agriculture complex of the lower Ulúa Valley; La Ceiba, home of the former Standard Fruit Company; and Choluteca, the focus of activities in southern Honduras.

More than four fifths of Hondurans are mestizos—Spanish-speaking persons of Indian-Spanish heritage. Roughly 5 percent are Amerindians. While many remnants of indigenous cultures still exist, very few Honduran Indians retain their original languages.

Afro- and Anglo-Antilleans who migrated to Honduras more than 100 years ago from Caribbean islands occupy the north coast and the Bay Islands. The largest component of this community are the Garífuna, or Black Caribs, who live in coastal villages. Very small groups of German and Middle Eastern ancestry are also prominent in the business activities of the north coast.

In the 1970s and 1980s a new population—approximately 50,000 “legal” refugees—arrived in Honduras to escape the civil unrest in surrounding countries. Most were housed by the United Nations in camps relatively near the borders, but numerous uncounted “illegal” refugees scattered throughout the country. More than 20,000 Salvadoran mestizos lived in four camps in western Honduras; a similar number of Miskito and Sumu Indians from Nicaragua settled in eastern Honduras.

You can use your international cellular phone rental to get closer to the people of Honduras.

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