HONDURAS CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Honduras Cultural Diversity

Abstract

Honduras is a republic in Central America; it borders on Guatemala and El Salvador on the west and Nicaragua on the south. It has both a Caribbean Sea and a Pacific Ocean coast. Tegucigalpa is the capital. Honduras's rugged terrain has limited the transportation network and kept the population, which is predominantly rural, relatively isolated. The economy of Honduras is based on agriculture and is one of the least advanced in Central America.

Table of Contents

Abstract2

Summary4

Thesis Statement5

Cultural Diversity in Honduras5

Population and Demographics6

Ethnicity12

Healthcare: A Major Problem in Honduras15

Solution for Healthcare Issues19

Conclusion19

References22

Annotated Bibliography23

Honduras Cultural Diversity

Summary

This paper is about the cultural diversity of Honduras and the high unemployment. The problem of cultural diversity in Honduras can be extremely damaging to the viability of the country. The different tribes can pose a major problem to the stability of the government if any particular tribe assumes they are being relegated to a minority status and overlooked for governmental services. There are numerous dialects spoken among the various ethnicities and when laws are enacted, making one dialect superior to the other trouble ensues. There are many other environmental, societal, multicultural, gender differentiations and ethnocentricities associated with this diverse culture. In addition to all the diversity, Honduras is struggling with an extremely high unemployment rate. Although of this unusual ethnocentric diversity of the population, the government maintains a high degree of stability in the maintenance of social equality for the population.

Majority of the population is of Hispanic origin and healthcare assess is one of the major problems facing the country.

Thesis Statement

Although there are problems in this unusual ethnocentric cultural diversity of the population of Honduras, stability is maintained despite years of foreign and domestic oppression.

Cultural Diversity in Honduras

Archaeologists believe that humans have lived in the area of Honduras for more than 8,000 years. Evidence suggests that agricultural communities had been established by the 2d millennium on the Humuya River and at Lake Yojoa. By the 4th century the Maya civilization was developing; the city of Copán was flourishing by 500 (Shepherd, 2006).

The Spanish settled southern Honduras in 1524. The north coast remained practically untouched, except for periods of British control, until the banana companies arrived. Throughout the colonial period Honduras was part of the captaincy-general of Guatemala. Honduras declared independence from Spain in 1821 and joined the other Central American colonies to form the Central American Federation (Rosenberg, 2006). This federation dissolved in 1838, and Honduras became an autonomous state. The Honduran national hero Francisco Morazán was unsuccessful in his attempts to keep a united Central America. The expansion of the banana industry brought interference in Honduran politics by U.S. companies, which expected favorable treatment from the government. As recently as 1975 a military coup was prompted by the disclosure of an American bribe paid to a high official to obtain lower banana-export taxes (Peckenham, 2005). In 1969 a brief war broke out between Honduras and El Salvador as a result of the friction caused by the large number of Salvadoran immigrants in Honduras ...