La Virtud () is a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
in the
Honduran department of
Lempira.
It is one of the municipalities of the
Lempira department. It is also one of the furthest from the big cities in Honduras but near to
El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
border. It takes up to 4 hours to get there taking either way of
Gracias
Gracias () is a small Honduran town/municipality that was founded in 1536, and is the capital of Lempira Department.
The municipality has a population of 61,421 and the town a population of 18,550 (2023 calculation). It is located in the moun ...
or
Santa Rosa de Copán
Santa Rosa de Copán () is a municipality in Honduras. The city of Santa Rosa de Copán is the municipal seat and the departmental capital of the Honduran department of Copán. It is located approximately above mean sea level.
Santa Rosa de ...
. However, the best way is via Santa Rosa de Copan-San Marcos de Ocotepeque-Cololaca-Valladolid-La Virtud.
History
The very first settlers were Spanish from
El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
, seeking fields for sowing the raw material for bluing. It is believed that its founder was a priest called Doroteo Alvarenga in 1775. It was granted a municipality back in 1859.
Geography
The municipality capital is located in a valley and causing to decrease its elevation to sea level and the vegetations corresponds to the dry subtropical forest and the weather is hot throughout the year. Throughout the rest of the municipality there are some mountains and hills but the vegetation and weather are the same.
Boundaries
Its boundaries are:
*North :
Valladolid
Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...
municipality.
*South :
El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
.
*East :
El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
.
*West :
Gualcince
Gualcince () is a municipality in the Honduran department of Lempira.
It is one of the several municipalities of the Lempira department. It is located 78 km from Gracias city. It is necessary to pass by San Juan, Intibuca and through t ...
and
Mapulaca municipalities.
*Surface Extents: 83 km²
Resources
The main activity is commerce, especially with
El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
, so the US dollar is used as currency as well. The 2nd economical activity is cattle and milk products. There are a few gathering points for coffee grains. Corn and bean crops can not be absent. There is electricity in the municipality capital and hardware and grocery stores.
Population
The majority of people is a cross-breed of native Indians and Spanish settlers, and there's a small amount of Indian descendants in the surrounding villages.
*Population: The figure was 6,133 people in 2001. Based on this, an estimate was elaborated for 2015, resulting in 6,640.
*Villages: 13
*Settlements: 48
Demographics
At the time of the 2013 Honduras census, La Virtud municipality had a population of 6,583. Of these, 55.52% 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 ...
, 28.95%
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 ...
, 9.51%
Black or Afro-Honduran, 5.94%
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 ...
and 0.08% others.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), bases de datos en línea
/ref>
Tourism
It has the typical colonial Spanish distribution in the downtown area. Perhaps the best feature is going swimming in one the rivers nearby, one of those is the "Lempa" river on the border with El Salvador
El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
. For more information about hobbies and entertainment in this municipality go to the next link
La Virtud
*Local Holidays: "Virgen del Carmen" day in July and also "Virgen de Santa Barbara" day on December 4.
References
Municipalities of the Lempira Department
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