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The Pre-Colombian city of Copán is a locale in extreme western Honduras, in the Copán near the Guatemalan border. It is the site of a major Maya civilization. The same Maya kingdom of the Classic era. The ancient kingdom, named Xukpi flourished from the 5th century AD to the early 9th century, with antecedents going back to at least the 2nd century AD. The Maya civilization decayed, and by the time the Spanish came to Honduras, the once great city-state of Copán was overrun by the jungle. On his fourth and final voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus reached the coast of Honduras in 1502. After the Spanish discovery, Honduras became part of Spain's vast empire in the New World within the Kingdom of Guatemala. The Spanish ruled Honduras for approximately three centuries. Honduras declared independence from Spain the 15th of September 1821 with the rest of the Central America provinces, in 1822 the Central American State annexed to the newly declared Mexican Empire of Iturbide. The Iturbide Empire was overthrown in 1823 and Central America separated from it forming The federation of the United Provinces which disintegrated in 1838. The states of the United Provinces became independent nations. The so-called Soccer War of 1969 was fought with El Salvador. There had always been border tension between the two countries after Oswaldo López Arellano, past president of Honduras, blamed the poor economy on the large number of immigrants from El Salvador. From that point on the relationship between El Salvador and Honduras had been a soured one. It peaked when El Salvador met Honduras for a 3-round football elimination match as a preliminary to the World Cup. Tensions escalated and on July 14, 1969, the Salvadoran army launched an attack against Honduras. The Organization of American States negotiated a cease-fire which took effect on July 20, with the Salvadoran troops withdrawn in early August. The war lasted approximately 100 hours and led to an arms race between the two countries. During the 1980s, the United States established a military presence in Honduras with the purpose of supporting the anti-Sandinista Contras fighting the Nicaraguan government and to support the El Salvador military fighting against the FMLN guerrillas. Though spared the bloody civil wars wracking its neighbors, the Honduran army quietly waged a campaign against leftists. Hurricane Fifí caused severe damage while skimming the northern coast of Honduras on September 18 and 19, 1974. Many years later, Hurricane Mitch devastated the country and wrecked its economic system in 1998 |
Honduras Information: Inside
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