Honduras: Physical Geography

Honduras lies in the heart of Central America, bordered by Guatemala and El Salvador to the west and Nicaragua to the south and east, with the Caribbean Sea along its northern coast and a short stretch of Pacific coastline on the Gulf of Fonseca in the south. Covering about 112,780 square kilometers (43,540 square miles), the country is overwhelmingly mountainous: roughly four-fifths of its territory consists of rugged interior highlands, with narrow lowland plains confined to the two coasts.

The interior highlands hold most of the population, including the capital, Tegucigalpa, which sits in a mountain valley at about 1,000 meters (3,280 feet). Honduras's highest point, Cerro Las Minas, rises to roughly 2,870 meters (9,420 feet) in the Celaque mountain range in the west. The country's longest river, the Ulúa, flows north through the fertile Valle de Sula to the Caribbean, while Lake Yojoa, the nation's only significant natural lake, lies in the west-central highlands.

Honduras's coastline totals about 830 kilometers (515 miles). The Caribbean coast includes the sparsely populated lowlands of La Mosquitia in the east and the offshore Bay Islands of Roatán, Utila, and Guanaja, while the shorter Pacific coast centers on the Gulf of Fonseca. The country lies within the Caribbean hurricane belt and is prone to earthquakes and seasonal flooding; Hurricane Mitch in 1998 caused catastrophic damage along the Caribbean coast.