San Pedro Sula

San Pedro Sula

The capital of the Cortés Department of Honduras, San Pedro Sula is located in the northwestern corner of the country, in the Sula Valley. Prior to the Spanish arrival, the Sula Valley was home to around 50 000 natives. The site of the present city served as a local trading hub for the Mayan and Aztec civilizations. The conquest of Spain brought a demographic collapse that the indigenous people never recovered from. Don Pedro de Alvarado founded the Spanish town of Villa de Señor San Pedro de Puerto Caballos on 27 June 1536, near the Indian settlement of Choloma. The Spanish government declared Santo Tomás the official port of the Central American colonies in 1601, a move that diverted exports from Puerto Cortés and led to an economic depression that lasted throughout the 17th century. In addition, San Pedro Sula was subject to raids by pirates and French, Dutch and English mercenaries. In the middle of the 18th century, the Spanish government began to build a series of coastal forts to contain English attacks, one of them being Fortaleza de San Fernando in Omoa, less than 50 miles from San Pedro Sula. Landmarks include a Roman Catholic Cathedral, built in 1949, and a Greek Orthodox cathedral, the Iglesia Ortodoxa de Antioquía San Juan Bautista, built in 1963. Close to the city is the Currusté archaeological site, two kilometers along the road to Lake Jucutuma. The 2006 expeditions found several Pre-Columbian artefacts and the ruins of an unknown civilization. The ruins have been abandoned since 2009.