Coxen Hole is the largest city on the island of

Roatán Roatán () is an island in the Caribbean, about off the northern coast of Honduras. It is located between the islands of Utila and Guanaja, and is the largest of the Bay Islands of Honduras. The island was formerly known in English as Ruatan ...

, and the capital of the

Bay Islands Bay Islands may refer to: * Bay Islands Department, Honduras * Southern Moreton Bay Islands, Queensland, Australia See also * Bay of Islands * Bay of Isles * Island Bay, Wellington * Little Bay Islands Little Bay Islands is a vacant town in ...

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, ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

, with a population of 5,070 as of

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

2001. It is also the location of the island's

Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport Juan Manuel Gálvez International Airport ( es, link=no, Aeropuerto Internacional Juan Manuel Gálvez) is an international airport located on the island of Roatán, in the Caribbean Sea off the northern coast of Honduras. from DAFIF (effecti ...

History

Background

The first records indicating permanent English settlements in the Bay Islands show that Port Royal, on the island of Roatán, was again occupied in the year 1742. In this year the British made an attempt to gain possession of most of the Caribbean coast of

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

, and in doing so, rebuilt the old fort on Roatán. "The archives at Belize record a Major Caulfield in command of Roatán as early as 1745. On August 2nd of that year, the Major wrote a letter to a Mr. Edward Trelawny, Governor of Jamaica, describing Spanish harassment of English settlements.These settlements appear to have been well established on the island of Roatán by 1775.

Foundation

The city was founded in 1835 when several British families moved to Roatán from the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

. It is named after the pirate Captain John Coxen/Coxon due the fact that during the 17th Roatán was once home to over 5,000

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

living all through the island. British Caymanian slave-owners brought their slaves and seafaring culture to Roatan, forming a majority of the island’s permanent population. The Bay Islands were briefly declared a colony by the

British empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

in the 1850’s, though the territory was ceded to Honduras in the following decade. After the acquisition of the Bay island colony through the Wyke-Cruz Treaty, all British settlers changed their nationality to Honduran. The “Banana Republic” era of the fruit trade industry in the late 1800’s bolstered American and European presence in the region. As such, various dialects of English remain the primary language of the Bay Islands.

Modern day

Coxen Hole is the biggest city in they Bay islands.

Bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

service connects Coxen Hole with other points on the island. Coxen Hole Stadium is located in the town. There is also a small hospital, Woods Medical Facility.

References

Roatan Tips
by Peter S. Dunham

External links

The ''Bay Islands Voice'' newspaper

Roatán Populated places in Honduras Port settlements in Central America Populated places established in 1835 1835 establishments in North America Bay Islands Department {{honduras-geo-stub