Honduras Natural Environment

The country has an area of 112,000 sq km.  It sits Central America has Guatemala and El Salvador to its west, and Nicaragua to the southeast.  To its east is the Caribbean. 

The interior of the country is mountainous and constitutes 80% of the area.  The mountains in the west are an extension of the mountain ranges from Guatemala, whereas the mountains in the east are part of a system that enters Nicaragua.  Several peaks in these mountain ranges reach heights of around 2,500 m.  The highest peak is the Cerro de Las Minas at 2850 m. 

With the mountain regions are wide valleys where cities and human settlements are located.  Most of the population live in the highland regions.  These valleys support farming and other agricultural activities.  Along the Pacific and Caribbean coasts are lowlands and alluvial plains, but large stretches of them are not inhabited.

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Gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc and iron deposits are found in the country. 

The country is located in the hurricane belt and was hit by a disastrous hurricane (Mitch) in 1998.

The capital city is Tegucigalpa with a population of over 1 million.  The second largest city is Pedro Sula with about 800,000 inhabitants.