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| Honduran flag |
Honduras Fast Facts:
- Slightly larger than Tennessee
- Population: 8 million
- Subtropical in lowlands, temperate in mountains
- 70% mountainous
- Elevation: 0 (Caribbean Sea); 9,416 (peak of Cerro Las Minas)
- 3% Protestant
- 97% Roman Catholic (occults are lumped in with Roman Catholics as they practice some of their rituals)
- 2nd poorest country in the western hemisphere
- 60% of population live in poverty
- 15% of population live under $1/day
- Economy relies on U.S. (tourism, exports of coffee, bananas, pineapple, corn, shrimp, lobster)
- Garifuna tribe among the poorest
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| Garifuna flag |
Who are the Garifuna?
In the 17th century, two ships carrying African slaves were shipwrecked
near St. Vincent Island in the Eastern Caribbean. Africans who escaped
to shore were integrated into the the Carib and Arawak inhabitants'
society. In order to avoid mutiny, slave traders had selected Africans
with no common language; as a result, those on the island learned
Garifuna, the Carib/Arawak language spoken by the islanders, and a new
culture was born.
After an unsuccessful attempt to enslave Garifuna inhabits, British
colonizers captured 5,000 of them to send to Honduras. Fewer than 2,500
survived, reaching Honduras on April 12, 1797, first to the island of Roatán, Honduras. Eventually arriving at the mainland, their descendants settled
along the Caribbean coast in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and
Nicaragua. The majority live in Honduras. Each April, Garifuna
Christians celebrate God's protection of their ancestors and His love
for the Garifuna people.
