Honda, Tolima

Honda
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): "The Bridge City"
Location of the municipality and town of Honda in Tolima Department.
Departament	Tolima
Government
• Mayor	Alberto Arce Camacho
Area
• Total	309 km2 (119 sq mi)
Elevation	229 m (751 ft)
Population (2006)
• Total	26,873
• Density	323.7/km2 (838/sq mi)

Honda is a town and municipality in the Tolima department of Colombia. The population of the municipality was 26,873 as of the 2005 census. Along with Líbano, Honda is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Líbano-Honda. The main industries of Honda are tourism, fishing, and cattle-ranching.

Toponymy (name origin)

Panorama view of Honda

Honda takes its name from the Ondaimas, the indigenous people that inhabited the banks of the Magdalena river and the region where the city lies today.

Honda is called "the City of Bridges" with more than 25 of them on the rivers Magdalena, Gualí, Guarinó, and Quebrada Seca. It is also called the "City of Peace" as it escaped most of the violence of the 1950s.^{[citation needed]}

History

Honda and the Magdalena in the foreground

Honda was founded on August 24, 1539 by Francisco Nuñez Pedroso. The "golden age" of the city was between 1850 and 1910 when the Magdalena river constituted the only means of transportation between the Caribbean coast and the inland city of Bogotá. The city was the main river port of the country and all the imported goods and articles arrived in Bogotá through the port of Honda.

v t e Municipalities in Tolima Department Alpujarra Alvarado Ambalema Anzoategui Armero Ataco Cajamarca Carmen Apicala Casabianca Chaparral Coello Coyaima Cunday Dolores Espinal Falan Flandes Fresno Guamo Herveo Honda Ibagué Icononzo Lérida Libano Mariquita Melgar Murillo Natagaima Ortega Palocabildo Piedras Planadas Prado Purificacion Rioblanco Roncesvalles Rovira Saldaña San Antonio San Luis Santa Isabel Suárez Valle de San Juan Venadillo Villahermosa Villarrica

Coordinates: 5°12′15″N 74°44′30″W / 5.20417°N 74.74167°W / 5.20417; -74.74167