Geography

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Honduras is in the middle of the six republics and makes a rough triangle shape as its form. Honduras is bounded on the west by Guatemala, the southwest by El Salvador, and the east and southeast by Nicaragua. Honduras is the bend in Central America and has a large coastline in the Caribbean Sea that stretches 459 miles. The southern coastline is much smaller than the northern coastline because it only stretches eighty nine miles at the pacific ocean. Honduras also has insular possessions which includes the Bay islands which is formed by the summit of a mountain range in the Caribbean. Another possession is the Swan Islands which was previously owned by the U.S. but now is known as Honduran territory. Since much of the land in Honduras is steep and mountainous the population distribution is unequal. The Northern part of Honduras is barely inhabited and it takes up 45% of the land but only 9% of the country's population lives there. Honduras’s topography is exceptionally rugged and steep making it the most mountainous of the six republics. Three quarters of the country contains rugged hills and mountains. Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras is elevated 3,200 feet above sea level. The highest peaks are in the south west and the northern part of the country contains lowlands and eastern coastal plains. The principal rivers are in the north and flow into the Caribbean. Honduras consists of two general regions: the highlands in the south and the tropical banana producing north coast. Overall Honduras is a generally mountainous country with mountains that cover 63% of its area.