page_title: Honduras
section_title: Administrative divisions
hierarchical_section_title: Honduras / Government and politics / Administrative divisions
caption_attribution_description: Departments of Honduras
context_page_description: Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras 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, and to the north by the Gulf of Honduras, a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea.
  Honduras was home to several important Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya, before the Spanish Colonization in the sixteenth century. The Spanish introduced Roman Catholicism and the now predominant Spanish language, along with numerous customs that have blended with the indigenous culture. Honduras became independent in 1821 and has since been a republic, although it has consistently endured much social strife and political instability, and remains one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. In 1960, the northern part of what was the Mosquito Coast was transferred from Nicaragua to Honduras by the International Court of Justice.
  The nation's economy is primarily agricultural, making it especially vulnerable to natural disasters such as Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
context_section_description: Honduras is divided into 18 departments. The capital city is Tegucigalpa in the Central District within the department of Francisco Morazán.
  Atlántida
  Choluteca
  Colón
  Comayagua
  Copán
  Cortés
  El Paraíso
  Francisco Morazán
  Gracias a Dios
  Intibucá
  Bay Islands Department
  La Paz
  Lempira
  Ocotepeque
  Olancho Department
  Santa Bárbara
  Valle
  Yoro
  A new administrative division called ZEDE (Zonas de empleo y desarrollo económico) was created in 2013. ZEDEs have a high level of autonomy with their own political system at a judicial, economic and administrative level, and are based on free market capitalism.
caption: The departmental divisions of Honduras
exif: {}