Mapulaca is a municipality in the Honduran department of Lempira. It is one of the smallest municipalities in the south of Lempira department, accessible via

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 ...

-San Marcos de Ocotepeque-Cololaca-Valladolid-La Virtud-Mapulaca or via Santa Cruz- San Andrés- Candelaria, a journey of about 5 to 6 hours. On the border, "El Puente Colgante" (The Hanging Bridge) leads to Sonsonate municipality in

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 ...

. There is also a newer bridge called "Puente La Intregracion".

History

Mapulaca was founded on 30 October 1692. In the census of 1791, it was part of "Curato de Cerquin". It has real state titles granted by the "Convent" 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 ...

on 10 March 1817. Subscribed by his majesty King Felipe IV. In 1889 it was a municipality of Candelaria district.

Geography

Mapulaca is located at approximately 300 m above sea level, and after coming down "Congolón" mountain. It is surrounded by high hills and by dry subtropical forests. It also has some flat lands for sowing with some settlements.

Boundaries

Its boundaries are: *North: Gualcince municipality. *South:

. *East: Candelaria and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

municipalities. *West: La Virtud municipality. *Surface area: 32 km²

Resources

The main economic activity is commerce, especially since the border is only 3 km away from the departmental capital. Next is corn and bean crops and on, a smaller scale, cattle and milk products mostly for local consumption. Mapulaca has had electricity and mobile communication services for several years, and water is obtained from wells. It has two hardware stores and several grocery stores. In some houses, people sell gasoline or diesel fuels.

Population

*Population:The population in 2001 was 3,866, and according to estimates by the INE Honduras, 4,314 is expected for 2015. *Villages: 5 *Settlements: 35

Demographics

At the time of the 2013 Honduras census, Mapulaca municipality had a population of 4,261. Of these, 98.31% were

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 ...

(98.26%

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 ...

), 1.43%

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 ...

, 0.14% Black or Afro-Honduran, 0.09%

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 0.02% others.Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), bases de datos en línea
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Tourism

The Puente Colgante is a hanging bridge that connects to the Chalatenango municipality in

. It was built by Swiss architect Toni El Suizo, who built more hanging bridges after

Hurricane Mitch Hurricane Mitch was an extremely deadly and catastrophic Atlantic hurricane, which became the second-deadliest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin on record. Mitch caused 11,374 fatalities in Central America in 1998, including approximately ...

back in 1998. Tourists swim in the

Lempa River The Lempa River () is a river in Central America. It is a transboundary river shared by El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Geography Its sources are located in between the Sierra Madre and the Sierra del Merendón mountain ranges in southern ...

, although its currents are strong and dangerous, as well as its tributaries. There are several tributaries to the Lempa, which are also nice places to cool off. There is one hostel in Mapulaca with a restaurant. *Local Holidays: San Juan de Dios' Day, on 8 March.

Gallery

Image:Mapulaca,Lempira 3.JPG, Central Park in Mapulaca Image:Mapulaca,Lempira 4.JPG, The Small Church in Mapulaca Image:Mapulaca,Lempira.JPG, A Street in Mapulaca Image:Mapulaca,Lempira 5.JPG, Lempa River on the border, near Mapulaca Image:Mapulaca,Lempira 6.JPG, The Hanging bridge to El Salvador Image:Mapulaca,Lempira 7.JPG, In Honor to the Bridge Maker Image:Mapulaca,Lempira 8.JPG, Welcome to El Salvador

References

{{coord, 14, 02, N, 88, 37, W, display=title, region:HN_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Municipalities of the Lempira Department