Tegucigalpa

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Area
Tegucigalpa
Central Tegucigalpa as seen from La Tigra National Park
Country	Honduras
Department	Francisco Morazán
Municipality	Tegucigalpa
Founded	1578
Capital of the Nation	1880
- City	km²
Population
- City (2006)	1,682,725
Website: http://www.alcaldiadetegucigalpa.com

Tegucigalpa (IPA: [ˌteɰusiˈɰalpa] (Tegus for short), population 1,682,725 (2006) (metro area), is the capital of Honduras and the republic's largest city.

The former Presidential Palace

Replica of the Pre-Columbian Temple Pyramid in Concordia Park

The city is located in a valley of the same name at 14°5′N 87°13′W, and an elevation of 3,250 feet. The name is derived from the Nahuatl Teguz-galpa, meaning "silver hills". Tegucigalpa is also the capital of Honduras' Francisco Morazán department. The city's industries include textiles, sugar, and cigarettes.

1 History
- 1.1 Hurricane Mitch
2 Politics
3 Places of interest
4 Transportation
- 4.1 Automobile
- 4.2 Airport
5 Sports
6 Sister cities
7 External links

[edit] History

Tegucigalpa was founded under the name of "Real Villa de San Miguel de Tegucigalpa de Heredia" on September 29, 1578 on top of an existing indigenous settlement. At that time it was a center of silver and gold mining. The first capital of Honduras was the port of Trujillo. It later moved to the city of Gracias, in the western department of Lempira. The capital of the independent Republic of Honduras then switched back and forth between Tegucigalpa and Comayagua until it was permanently settled at Tegucigalpa in 1880. It is said that the society of Comayagua, the long time colonial capital of Honduras, was publicly disliked by the wife of President Marco Aurelio Soto, who took revenge by moving the capital of the republic to Tegucigalpa. Going beyond the public saying, it is most likely that the change of the seat of the capital took place due to the fact that President Marco Aurelio Soto was an important partner of the Rosario Mining Company, whose operations where based in San Juancito, located about 40 km outside of Tegucigalpa, and he needed to be closer to his personal interests.

The city remained relatively small and provincial until the 1960's. However, it has experimented rapid development in the past few decades, and the city continues to sprawl far beyond the colonial downtown.

The National Autonomous University of Honduras was established in Tegucigalpa in 1847. The National Museum here has a notable collection of Pre-Columbian artifacts. In the 1930s the town of Comayagüela (on the other side of the Choluteca River from central Tegucigalpa) was incorporated into the city.

[edit] Hurricane Mitch

On October 30, 1998, the city was significantly damaged by Hurricane Mitch, which destroyed part of the Comayagüela section of the city, as well as other places along the riverbanks of the Choluteca River. The hurricane remained over Honduran territory for five days, dumping heavy rainfall late in the rainy season. The ground was already saturated and could not absorb the heavy precipitation, while deforestation and debris left by the hurricane led to catastrophic flooding all throughout the country, especially in Tegucigalpa.

The heavy precipitation caused flash floods of the Choluteca river's tributaries, and the swollen river overflowed its banks and ravaged the city, tearing down entire neighborhoods and bridges across the city. The rainfall also triggered massive landslides around El Berrinche hill, close to the downtown area. These landslides destroyed most of the Soto neighborhood, and debris fell on the river, forming a dike. The dike clogged the waters of the river and many of the low-lying areas of Comayaguela were submerged; historic buildings located along Calle Real were destroyed.

[edit] Politics

The local government in the Honduran consists of a mayor, accompanied by five councillors of other political parties.The current mayor is Ricardo Alvarez from the National Party of Honduras.

This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

[edit] Places of interest

El Teatro Manuel Bonilla
Parque La Leona
El Museo Nacional Villa Roy
Cerro del Picacho
Monumento a la paz. Juan A. Laínez
La Iglesia Catedral
El Santuario de Suyapa
Parque Naciones Unidas
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras
Santa Lucía
San Juancito
Valle de Ángeles

Statue of Jesus Christ in El Picacho National Park overlooking Tegucigalpa.

Parque Nacional La Tigra
Paseo del cerro Juan A. Laínez
El Zoológico Metropolitano del Picacho
Chiminikee (park and science museum for children)

[edit] Neighborhoods

Colonia La Reforma
Colonia Maradiaga
Barrio La Granja
Barrio El Manchen
Colonia 21 de Octubre
Residencial 3 caminos
Residencial Miramontes
Colonia Kennedy
Barrio El Hato de Enmedio
Colonia 15 de Septiembre
Colonia Las Minita
Colonia Tepeyaca
Colonia Lomas del Guijarro
Colonia Loma Alta
Colonia El Hogar
Colonia San Ignacio
Residencial Luis Landa
Colonia La Florencia Norte
Colonia La Florencia Sur
Barrio El Prado

[edit] Museums

Museo de la Identidad Nacional
Museo Nacional Villaroy
Museo del Hombre
Museo Histórico Militar
Sala Bancatlán
Galería de Arte Nacional
Museo de Historia Natural

[edit] Shopping centers

Mall Multiplaza
Plaza Miraflores
Mall Megaplaza
Mall El Dorado
Mall Las Cascadas
MetroMall
Centro Comercial Centroamerica
Centro Comercial Los Castaños

[edit] Bilingual schools

Instituto Bilingüe Gran Comisiòn
Macris School
DelCampo International School
Academia Los Pinares
American School of Tegucigalpa
José Cecilio Del Valle School
Liceo Franco Hondureño (trilingual high school, in French, Spanish and English.)
Instituto Hondureño de Cultura Interamericana (IHCI)
Centro Escolar Aldebarán
Dowal School
Saint Patrick's Academy
Metropolitan
Summer Hill School
Intercontinental School
Elvel School
La Estancia School
CEAD Christian School

[edit] Transportation

There are no railroads in Tegucigalpa, one of the very few capital cities in the mainland of the Americas not to have a rail connection to the sea.

[edit] Automobile

The fastest way to get from one part of the city to another is along the peripheral road, which surrounds Tegucigalpa in an 'O'. The city is also connected to the state highway, where one can go to the north (towards San Pedro Sula,) or the south (towards Nicaragua.)

[edit] Airport

The main airport that serves Tegucigalpa is Toncontín International Airport. The origin of this name is unknown. This airport has received much criticism for being one of the most dangerous in the world (due to its vicinity to a sierra, its short runway, and difficult approach). Efforts have been made for years to replace it with Palmerola airport in Comayagua, currently a Honduran airbase. Toncontín has been improved significantly by the work of CAT (the Airport Corporation of Tegucigalpa) and by INTERAIRPORTS, a company hired by the government of the Honduras to administer the four airports of the country.

Airlines in Toncontín:

[edit] Sports

Their most famous football team is Olimpia but Motagua also play there.

There are also inter-city school sports championships.

There is a Coliseum used for basketball mainly ( second purposes include concert location). There is also what is called a "Villa Olímpica" to practice all olimic sports, from sparring to archery, tennis and tae-kwon-do.