La Paz () is the capital city of the La Paz Department of

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. The town, founded in 1792, has a population of 32,450 (2023 est.). La Paz is located 750 m (2461

feet The foot (: feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is an organ at the terminal part of the leg made up of ...

) above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

on the Comayagua River near the Cordillera de Montecillos in an area that has mountainous terrain with thick

jungle jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅgala'' ...

cover.

History

The town dates back to 1750 when two Spanish colonies existed in the area. The town's title was given on 14 September 1848, when the name "La Paz" was officially recognized by a decree from

Comayagua Comayagua () is a city, municipality and old capital of Honduras, located northwest of Tegucigalpa on the highway to San Pedro Sula and above sea level. The accelerated growth experienced by the city of Comayagua led the municipal authoriti ...

; in 1861, it was given the status of a city, and in 1869 it was made a departmental seat.

Demographics

At the time of the 2013 Honduras census, La Paz municipality had a population of 43,980. Of these, 91.32% were

Mestizo ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...

, 4.78%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.42%

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

(2.19%

Lenca The Lenca,are an Indigenous people from present day southwest Honduras and eastern El Salvador in Central America. They historically spoke various dialects of the Lencan languages such as Chilanga, Putun (Potón), and Kotik, but today are nat ...

), 1.32% Black or Afro-Honduran and 0.16% others.Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), bases de datos en línea
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Economy

Major industries in and around the city include

henequen ''Agave fourcroydes'' or henequen is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to southern Mexico and Guatemala. It is reportedly naturalized in Madeira, Italy, the Canary Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Hispaniola, the Cayman I ...

and

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

farming,

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...

raising, timber processing, tanning,

distilling Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

and some

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

Culture

The festival of the "Virgen de los Dolores" is held in November. The local

cultural center A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run. Africa * ...

is located in a 19th-century house and has a collection of paintings and cultural objects that date to the 19th century period. It also organizes activities throughout the year.

Sports

The local football team, Municipal Paceño, play their home games at the Estadio Roberto Suazo Cordoba. In summer 2013, they were relegated to the third tier of Honduran football.

References

Municipalities of the La Paz Department (Honduras) {{Honduras-geo-stub