Department of Islas of Bahía

The department of Islas of Bahía (in Spanish: be Departamento de Islas of Bahía) is one of the 18 departments Honduras. Its name means literally, in French, islands of bay .

History

The islands in first are populated by Amerindian of Maya origin .

In 1502, Christophe Colomb discovers the Archipel at the time of its fourth voyage to the America S. These islands pass alternatively under Spanish, English dominations and Dutchwomen; but the archipelago is actually inhabited by Boucanier S and others Pirate S. the presence of the French buccaneers is still visible besides since the third village more populated island of Roatán is called French Harbor.

The archipelago is British of 1643 with 1790 (except during one month of 1790 where it passes by again Spanish) and dependant administratively on the Jamaica. During this period the islands will be populated by white Garifuna S and colonists coming from Saint-Vincent.

Following the war of the flibustiers opposing the countries of Central America to American William Walker, the British recognize Honduran sovereignty on the archipelago in 1870. The department of Islas of Bahía is created in 1872.

In 1998, the islands are touched hard by the Ouragan Mitch which will remain several days above the archipelago.

Thanks to its sand beaches white and its coral Reefs, the archipelago, mainly the island of Roatán, today became an important tourist site for Honduras. The international airport of Roatán accommodates flights coming from the the United States and even of Europe (Italy).

Geography

The department, from its insular situation in the Caribbean Sea to a few tens of kilometers of the coast of Honduras, is not bordering on any other department, nor of any foreign State (one sees on the chart the three principal islands).

The archipelago is made up:

of three principal islands,

Guanaja,
Roatán,
Útila,

of various small islands:

two small islands close to Útila and attached to its municipality,
two small islands located at the east of the island of Roatán, attached to the municipality of Jose Santos Guardiola,

of the archipelago of the Cayos Cochinos, classified marine national monument by decree of July 30th, 2003, made up of two small islands, Cayo Mayor and Cayo Menor, and of a dozen tiny covered sandy small islands of vegetation. This archipelago is the part nearest of the Honduran coast, to approximately 30 km in the north of the town of Ceiba (Département of Atlántida).

It has a surface of 260,60 km ².

Subdivisions

The department includes/understands 4 municipalities:

Guanaja, corresponding to the homonymous island,
Jose Santos Guardiola, on the oriental party of the island of Roatán,
Roatán, Spanish chief town (: be Cabecera), on the Western part of the island of the same name,
Útila, corresponding to the homonymous island.

Demography

The population rises with approximately 24.000 inhabitants, it is primarily Garifuna.

The population density of the department is of 92,10 hab. /km ².

Because of its history, the Spanish is not the language most usually spoken by the local population. Although the majority speaks a Créole (a variety of the Caribbean English) mixing the English, the Dutch, the French, Spanish and some words Amerindian, officially 95% of the population speaks English, 4% Spanish and 1% of other European languages.

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