Lempira is one of the 18 departments in Honduras. located in the western part of the country, it is bordered by the departments of

Ocotepeque Ocotepeque is a municipality in the Honduran department of Ocotepeque. The town of Nueva Ocotepeque is the municipal seat and the capital of the department. The department borders two countries, Guatemala and El Salvador and covers 1,630 ...

and

Copán Copán is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization in the Copán Department of western Honduras, not far from the border with Guatemala. This ancient Maya city mirrors the beauty of the physical landscape in which it flourished—a fer ...

to the west, Intibucá to the east, and Santa Bárbara to the north. To its south lies the

El Salvador–Honduras border The El Salvador–Honduras border is a continuous line of 256 km long, separating the east and the north of El Salvador from the territory of Honduras. There are two excerpts: * South–north direction, running from the coast of Pacific Ocea ...

. The departmental capital is

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 57,182 and the town a population of 16,680 (2020 calculation). It is located in the moun ...

. It was named Gracias department until 1943. In colonial times, Gracias was an early important administrative center for the Spaniards. It eventually lost importance to Antigua, in Guatemala. Lempira is a rugged department, and it is relatively isolated from the rest of the country. The highest mountain peak in Honduras, Cerro las Minas, is in Lempira. The department was named after Lempira, a local chieftain of the

Lenca people The Lenca or Lepawiran "people of the jaguar" are from present day southwest Honduras and eastern El Salvador in Central America. They once spoke many Dialects such as Chilanga, Putun, Kotik etc. Although there were different dialects, they un ...

who fought against the Spanish conquistadores in the early 16th century.

Opal Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3 to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6 and 10%. Due to its amorphous property, it is classified as a mineraloid, unlike crystalline form ...

s are mined near the town of Erandique. The department covers a total surface area of 4,290 km². In 2005, had an estimated population of 277,910.

Municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

# Belén # Candelaria # Cololaca # Erandique #

# Gualcince # Guarita # La Campa # La Iguala # Las Flores # La Unión # La Virtud #

Lepaera Lepaera is a municipality in the Honduran department of Lempira. It has tropical climate all year round. Lepaera is one of the oldest municipalities of the Lempira department. It is also the departmental capital of the municipality. The dist ...

# Mapulaca # Piraera # San Andrés #

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

# San Juan Guarita # San Manuel Colohete # San Marcos de Caiquín # San Rafael # San Sebastián # Santa Cruz # Talgua # Tambla # Tomalá #

Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

Notes

References

Departments of Honduras {{Honduras-geo-stub