Amapala is a
municipality in the
Honduran department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
of
Valle
Valle may refer to:
* Valle (surname)
Geography
*"Valle", the cultural and climatic zone of the dry subtropical Interandean Valles of the Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and northwest Argentina
*University of Valle, a public university in Cali, Colombia ...
.
It is formed by
El Tigre Island
El Tigre is an island located in the Gulf of Fonseca, a body of water on the Pacific coast of Central America. The island is a conical basaltic stratovolcano and the southernmost volcano in Honduras. It belongs to Valle department. Together wit ...
and its satellite islets and rocks in the Gulf of Fonseca. It has an area of and a population of 2,482 as of the
census of 2001 (of which 4 people were living on Isla Comandante). Thanks to a natural deep channel, and despite lacking modern infrastructure, Amapala long served as the main Honduran port in the Pacific Ocean.
History
The name of the island on which Amapala is based is due to the fact that in the 16th century a group of pirates operated by the pirate
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 (t ...
operated on the island, he and his men were considered by the inhabitants of the area as wild and bloody beasts , so they called the island "Cerro de El Tigre". The name Amapala derives from
Nahuatl
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller ...
and means "close to amates." However, there is another theory that states that it comes from the words "ama" (corn) and "palha" (hill) of the Goajiquiro dialect, and therefore would mean "hill of corn".
Amapala was founded in 1838, and its port was opened and declared free in 1868. During the 19th century it exported large quantities of gold, silver and other ores, although its progress was retarded by the delay in constructing a transcontinental railway from
Puerto Cortés
Puerto Cortés, originally known as Puerto de Caballos, is a port city and municipality on the north Caribbean coast of Honduras, right on the Laguna de Alvarado, north of San Pedro Sula and east of Omoa, with a natural bay. The present city ...
.
By the mid 1970s, Amapala was gradually replaced in importance by the port of
San Lorenzo
San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to:
Places Argentina
* San Lorenzo, Santa Fe
* San Lorenzo Department, Chaco
* Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...
on the mainland.
A description of the town in 1881 can be found in the book ''A Lady's Ride Across Spanish Honduras'' by Mary Lester (a.k.a. Mary Soltera). It was intended to be the capital of the
Republic of Central America in the late 1890s.
Demographics
At the time of the 2013 Honduras census, Amapala municipality had a population of 12,250. Of these, 74.16% were
Mestizo
(; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also r ...
, 22.81%
White, 1.55%
Black or Afro-Honduran, 0.09%
Indigenous and 1.39% others.
Climate
This area typically has a pronounced dry season. According to the
Köppen climate classification system, Amapala has a
tropical savanna climate, abbreviated "Aw" on climate maps.
Economy
The community receives funds from former residents who have moved to other countries. most residents work as fishermen, while 300 have formal jobs.
Gallery
File:Puerto de amapala Honduras.jpg, Boardwalk, Puerto de Amapala
File:Esquina de la plaza de Amapala.jpg, Building at La Plaza de Amapala
File:Ninos en amapala Honduras.jpg, Shore at Amapala
References
{{Authority control
Municipalities of the Valle Department