The oldest known evidence of human presence in present-day Honduras is stone knives, scrapers and other tools thought to be 6000 to 8000 years old and uncovered by archaeologists in 1962 near La Esperanza, Intibucá.
The native people were forced to work for the Spanish but their numbers fell drastically partly due to European diseases to which they had no resistance such as smallpox. In the early 19th century the Spanish colonies in central and South America gained their independence.
Having been the site of such a historic landing, the Honduran Caribbean coast was all but ignored by explorers for the next twenty years, who focused instead on Mexico, Panama and the Caribbean islands. Hernán Cortés' expedition into the Aztec heartland, however, revived interest in Central America. On September 15, 1821, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Nicaragua declared independence from Spain, and shortly thereafter joined the newly formed Mexican Empire.
The banner of Honduras was embraced on February 16, 1866. The blue and white and the five stars speak of the United Provinces of Central America after they picked up their independence from Spain.
The banner of Honduras was made upon the banner of the Federal Republic of Central America, which uses a pale shade of blue for the external groups, and the organization's seal in the middle. After the league disintegrated around 1838, Honduras kept the union's banner, embracing it as its own, including the five stars in trusts the countries could be united once more, and mirroring their mutual history.
The flag of Honduras is comprised of three equal-sized horizontal bands, with blue on the top and bottom and white in between. On the middle band are five stars, forming an H in the center, two stacked together on the right and left, and one in the very center. The blue stripes symbolize the waters bordering Honduras: the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The white symbolizes peace and prosperity while the five stars represent the nations of the former Federal Republic of Central America, which included El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala.
The native people were forced to work for the Spanish but their numbers fell drastically partly due to European diseases to which they had no resistance such as smallpox. In the early 19th century the Spanish colonies in central and South America gained their independence.
Having been the site of such a historic landing, the Honduran Caribbean coast was all but ignored by explorers for the next twenty years, who focused instead on Mexico, Panama and the Caribbean islands. Hernán Cortés' expedition into the Aztec heartland, however, revived interest in Central America. On September 15, 1821, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Nicaragua declared independence from Spain, and shortly thereafter joined the newly formed Mexican Empire.
The banner of Honduras was embraced on February 16, 1866. The blue and white and the five stars speak of the United Provinces of Central America after they picked up their independence from Spain.
The banner of Honduras was made upon the banner of the Federal Republic of Central America, which uses a pale shade of blue for the external groups, and the organization's seal in the middle. After the league disintegrated around 1838, Honduras kept the union's banner, embracing it as its own, including the five stars in trusts the countries could be united once more, and mirroring their mutual history.
The flag of Honduras is comprised of three equal-sized horizontal bands, with blue on the top and bottom and white in between. On the middle band are five stars, forming an H in the center, two stacked together on the right and left, and one in the very center. The blue stripes symbolize the waters bordering Honduras: the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The white symbolizes peace and prosperity while the five stars represent the nations of the former Federal Republic of Central America, which included El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala.