Cortés is one of the 18

departments of Honduras Honduras is divided into 18 departments ( Spanish: ''departamentos''). Each department is headed by a governor, who is appointed by the President of Honduras. The governor represents the executive branch in the region in addition to acting as int ...

. The department covers an area of 3,954 km² and, in 2015, had an estimated population of 1,612,762, making it the most populous in Honduras. The Merendón Mountains rise in western Cortés, but the department is mostly a tropical lowland, the Sula Valley, crossed by the Ulúa and Chamelecon rivers. It was created in 1893 from parts of the departments of Santa Bárbara and

Yoro Yoro, with a population of 25,560 (2020 calculation), is the capital city of the Yoro Department of Honduras and the municipal seat of Yoro Municipality. It is notable for a local event known as Lluvia de Peces, where it is claimed that strong ...

. The departmental capital is San Pedro Sula. Main cities also include

Choloma Choloma is a city and municipality in the Honduran department of Cortés. It is the third-largest city in Honduras with a population of 202,000 (2020 calculation). Many factories are stationed in Choloma due to its cheap labour which has booste ...

La Lima La Lima is a city, with a population of 75,100 (2020 calculation),Citypopulation.de
Population of the major ...

, Villanueva, and the

sea port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

s of

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 ...

and

Omoa Omoa is a town, with a population of 7,020 (2013 census), and a municipality in the Department of Cortés in Honduras. Omoa is located on a small bay of the same name 18 km west of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea coast. Geography ...

. The Atlantic coast of the Department of Cortés is known for its many excellent beaches. Cortés is the economic heartland of Honduras, as the Sula Valley is the country's main agricultural and industrial region. US banana companies arrived in the area in the late 19th century, and established vast plantations, as well as infrastructure to ship the fruit to the United States. San Pedro Sula attracted substantial numbers of European, Central American, and

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

and Lebanese immigrants. Industry flourishes in the department, and Cortés today hosts most of the country's assembly plants, known as maquilas.

Municipalities

La Lima La Lima is a city, with a population of 75,100 (2020 calculation),Citypopulation.de
Population of the major ...

# Pimienta # Potrerillos #

San Antonio de Cortés San Antonio de Cortés is a town, with a population of 5,509 (2013 census), and a municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by nation ...

San Francisco de Yojoa San Francisco de Yojoa () is a municipality in the Honduran department of Cortés. Its religious composition is majority Christian, with a lesser presence of Christian Evangelic Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity o ...

# San Manuel # San Pedro Sula # Santa Cruz de Yojoa # Villanueva

References

Departments of Honduras States and territories established in 1893 {{Honduras-geo-stub