Choluteca is one of the 18

departments Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military * Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

''(departamentos)'' into which

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

is divided. The departmental capital is the city of Choluteca. The Choluteca River runs through the department.

History

In the Mesoamerican Classic period, the indigenous Cholutecas were engaged in trade in a vast territory encompassing the south of

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

, parts of

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 ...

and

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

. In the exercise of this industry they reached the South Coast of

, and founded the settlement of what is now the city of Choluteca hundreds of years before the Spanish conquest. Choluteca was created as a division of colonial rule from Guatemala in March 1535. Upon independence from Spain, the department of Choluteca was created on June 28, 1825, as one of the seven original departments in which Honduras was divided after independence during the government of the first head of state of Honduras,

Dionisio de Herrera José Dionisio de la Trinidad de Herrera y Díaz del Valle (9 October 1781 in Choluteca, Honduras – 13 June 1850 in San Vicente, El Salvador) was a Liberal Honduran politician, head of state of Honduras from 1824 to 1827 and head of s ...

. Its borders were changed twice after the original partition. In 1843 the district of Guascorán was added to its territory, until then part of

Comayagua Comayagua () is a city, municipality and old capital of Honduras, located northwest of Tegucigalpa on the highway to San Pedro Sula and above sea level. The accelerated growth experienced by the city of Comayagua led the municipal authoriti ...

. In 1893 its westernmost part was split, with the creation of the Valle department.

Geography

Choluteca is the southernmost department of Honduras with an area of 4360 km². In 2015 it had an estimated population of 447,852 inhabitants. Chuleteca has many lands that are used for agriculture, fishing, sugar production, and shrimp farms. The head of the department is the city of Choluteca, which is located on the Choluteca river that crosses the department. One crosses the Choluteca Bridge to enter the city. Choluteca is bordered to the north by the departments of Francisco Morazán and El Paraíso, to the west by the Golfo de Fonseca and the department of Valle, and to the east and south by

Governance

Municipalities

# Apacilagua # Choluteca #

Concepción de María Concepción de María () 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 whic ...

# Duyure # El Corpus # El Triunfo # Marcovia # Morolica # Namasigüe # Orocuina # Pespire # San Antonio de Flores # San Isidro # San José # San Marcos de Colón # Santa Ana de Yusguare

Deputies

The Choluteca Department has a number of 9 deputies elected for the National Congress.

Economy

The department is, historically, a prominent producer of gold, silver, and copper. The region also had a cattle industry.

References

Notes

Departments of Honduras States and territories established in 1825 {{Honduras-geo-stub