Puerto Lempira or Auhya Yari is the Miskito capital of the

Gracias a Dios department Gracias a Dios (; "Thanks to God", or "Thank God") is one of the 18 departments (''departamentos'') into which Honduras is divided. The departmental capital is Puerto Lempira; until 1975 it was Brus Laguna. History Once a part of the Mosquito Co ...

in northeastern

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 ...

, located on the shores of the

Caratasca Lagoon The Caratasca Lagoon ( es, Laguna de Caratasca) is a large lagoon in the department of Gracias a Dios in northeastern Honduras. Puerto Lempira, the capital of the department, lies on its shores. The lagoon covers and extends approximately 25 mile ...

. Though it does not have paved roads, it is the largest town in the La Mosquitia region. The town is named for the 16th century leader of the indigenous

Lenca The Lenca or Lepawiran "people of the jaguar" are from present day southwest Honduras and eastern El Salvador in Central America. They once spoke many Dialects such as Chilanga, Putun, Kotik etc. Although there were different dialects, they under ...

peoples, Lempira, who directed an ultimately unsuccessful resistance against the Spanish ''

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

'' forces in the 1530s. Puerto Lempira became the departmental capital in 1975, prior to which it was

Brus Laguna Brus Laguna () is a municipality in the Honduran department of Gracias a Dios. The municipality's population is about 13,200 inhabitants. It is served by Brus Laguna Airport, a gravel airstrip south of town. Demographics At the time of the ...

. In the 1980s, the town became a centre for

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

operations against the

Sandinistas The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto Cé ...

. Its population is 20,190 (2020 calculation). Puerto Lempira is sister city to

Plattsburgh, New York Plattsburgh ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is a city in, and the seat of, Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the 2020 census. The population of the surrounding ...

, US, and has been since 2011.

Demographics

At the time of the 2013 Honduras census, Puerto Lempira municipality had a population of 47,528. Of these, 82.41% were

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

(81.98%

Miskito Miskito may refer to: * Miskito people, ethnic group in Honduras and Nicaragua ** Miskito Sambu, branch of Miskito people with African admixture ** Tawira Miskito, branch of Miskito people of largely indigenous origin * Miskito language, original la ...

), 14.86%

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 ...

, 1.34% Afro-Honduran or Black, 1.27%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

and 0.13% others.Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), bases de datos en línea
/ref>

Culture

culture is dominant, though not exclusive.

Language

Miskito language is dominant and official in the region, followed by Mayangna and Spanish.

Transportation

The city is served by

Puerto Lempira Airport Puerto Lempira Airport is an airport serving Puerto Lempira in Gracias a Dios Department, Honduras. It handles regional air traffic for the city. It is also a hub for general aviation and the Honduran Air Force. The airport is within Puerto Le ...

, which operates several flights a week on a regular schedule.

Climate

Like most of the Caribbean side of Central America, Puerto Lempira has a warm, humid and rainy

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Af''). Its driest month of March, when the relentlessly wet

trade wind The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisph ...

s are weakest, is only marginally rainy enough to avoid a tropical monsoon classification; however, between June and December monthly rainfall consistently averages above or near .

References

Municipalities of the Gracias a Dios Department {{Honduras-struct-stub