9781422286562

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Honduras

rich because it washes down from the mountain slopes. Farms in the Pacific lowlands produce sesame seed, cotton, and some corn and sorghum. Cattle graze in the lowland pastures, and coffee is grown on the nearby uplands. Fishing in the gulf is good for two reasons: First, the water is shallow and attracts fish and mollusks. Second, mangroves along the shore provide safe breeding grounds for shrimp and shellfish that live among the trees’ roots. Several islands in the gulf belong to Honduras. The two largest— Zacate Grande and El Tigre—are eroded volcanoes, part of the chain of volcanoes that extends along the Pacific coast of Central America. Both islands have volcanic cones that rise more than 2,296 feet (700 m). Ship captains use them as markers showing the way to Honduras’s Pacific ports. A Water-Rich Country Honduras is a water-rich country. Numerous rivers, which have carved broad, fertile valleys, drain the interior highlands and empty to the north into the Caribbean. The downstream portions of these rivers near the Caribbean will float shallow-draft boats, but upstream from the first rapids at the foot of the mountains, only dugout canoes can be used for local travel and commerce. The major rivers in Honduras are the Ulúa, Aguán, Negro, Platano, Patuca, and, on the Nicaragua border, the Rio Coco, the largest in Central America. Economically, the most important river is the Ulúa, which flows 672 miles (400 km) through the Valle de Sula. Rivers also define about half of Honduras’s international borders. The Río Goascorán, flowing to the Golfo de Fonseca, and the Río Lempa create the border between El Salvador and Honduras. The Río Coco marks about