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60 free Honduras trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Honduras gave the world the phrase "banana republic", fought a war remembered for a football match, hosts one of the great Maya cities, and has a town where fish turn up on the streets after storms. It is also home to the largest island on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef and a national bird as bright as its flag is calm. This Honduras trivia quiz covers all of it. Fifty-five questions run from geography (Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, Roatán, La Mosquitia, Lake Yojoa) through history (Copán, Columbus at Trujillo, Lempira, independence in 1821, O. Henry, the Football War, Hurricane Mitch, the 2009 coup) to symbols and culture (the five-starred flag, the scarlet macaw, the lempira, baleadas, punta, the Garifuna, the rain of fish of Yoro) and sport (three World Cups, the 1981 CONCACAF title). Roughly a third are easy, a third medium, and the rest are for people who really know Central America. Every answer has been checked against encyclopaedia and official pages, so the dates, numbers and names are ones you can rely on.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital and largest city of Honduras?
Tegucigalpa
Locals shorten it to Tegus; it has been the capital since 1880 and shares the Central District with its sister city Comayagüela.
Q 02The Spanish word honduras literally means what?
Depths
One story credits Columbus with saying "Thank God we have departed from those depths" after escaping deep waters off the coast.
Q 03By what nickname are Hondurans commonly known in Spanish?
Catrachos
The feminine form is catracha; Independence Day food fairs are called Fiesta Catracha.
Q 04Which great Maya city in western Honduras is a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
Copán
It flourished from the 5th to the 9th centuries and was abandoned in the early 10th, its rulers recorded on the famous Hieroglyphic Stairway.
Q 05In which year was Honduras's principal Maya site declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
1980
The Honduran government designated it a national cultural monument two years later.
Q 06On his fourth voyage in 1502, Columbus landed near which modern Honduran town?
Trujillo
His brother Bartholomew then met a Maya trading canoe off the coast, the first recorded encounter between Spaniards and the Maya.
Q 07Who in March 1524 became the first Spaniard to enter Honduras as a conquistador?
Gil González Dávila
Cortés soon followed with forces brought down from Mexico, and much of the fighting was done by Tlaxcalan and Mexica allies.
Q 08Which indigenous people of the western highlands are Honduras's largest native group?
Lenca
Their language lost its last fluent speakers in the 20th century and is now the subject of revival efforts.
Q 09What is the currency of Honduras?
Lempira
It is named for a 16th-century Lenca chief who resisted the conquistadors and is honoured on the 1-lempira note.
Q 10The Honduran currency was introduced in 1931 to replace which unit at par?
Peso
Until a 1990 devaluation the official rate was fixed at two to the US dollar, which is why the 20-centavo coin is nicknamed a daime.
Q 11Honduras gained independence from Spain in which year?
1821
It then belonged briefly to the First Mexican Empire before joining the United Provinces of Central America in 1823.
Q 12Which city was the capital of Honduras until the seat of government moved in 1880?
Comayagua
A planned railway from the Caribbean to the new capital ran out of money in 1888 at San Pedro Sula, which grew into the industrial hub instead.
Q 13Which American writer coined the term "banana republic" after living in Honduras?
O. Henry
His 1904 novel Cabbages and Kings set the phrase in the fictional country of Anchuria, based on his six months in Honduras.
Q 21Who was elected in 2021 as the first female president of Honduras?
Xiomara Castro
She won 53% of the vote and ended a 12-year run of National Party rule.
Q 22Former president Juan Orlando Hernández was extradited to the United States in 2022 on what charges?
Drug trafficking and money laundering
He had served two terms from 2014 to January 2022 and was later pardoned by the Trump administration in 2025.
Q 23In 1960 the International Court of Justice transferred the northern Mosquito Coast to Honduras from which country?
Nicaragua
The two countries fell out again in 2000 over a maritime boundary, when a 35% tariff was slapped on Honduran goods.
Q 14Which firm dominated Honduran banana exports until 1930?
Cuyamel Fruit Company
The banana firms built tax-exempt enclaves on the north coast, and US troops landed in Honduras seven times between 1903 and 1925.
Q 15The 1969 Football War was fought between Honduras and which neighbour?
El Salvador
The fighting lasted about 100 hours, and as many as 130,000 Salvadoran immigrants were expelled from Honduras afterwards.
Q 16The Football War began on 14 July 1969 and its ceasefire was negotiated by which organisation?
Organization of American States
The war's nickname comes from riots at a World Cup qualifier, but land and migration disputes were the real causes.
Q 17Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras in which year?
1998
President Carlos Roberto Flores said it had reversed 50 years of progress; about 70% of crops and nearly all bridges were destroyed.
Q 18Roughly how many people were killed in Honduras by Hurricane Mitch?
5,000
A further 12,000 were injured, 33,000 houses were destroyed and total losses were put at US$3 billion.
Q 19Which hurricane skimmed Honduras's northern coast in 1974, causing severe damage?
Fifi
The rebuilding that followed created much of the country's modern infrastructure and telecommunications.
Q 20Which president was removed in the 2009 Honduran coup and flown to Costa Rica?
Manuel Zelaya
The OAS suspended Honduras, and a later truth commission concluded the ousting had indeed been a coup.
Q 24During the 1980s the United States used Honduras as a base to support which guerrilla force?
The Contras
The Honduran army meanwhile ran the CIA-trained Battalion 316, later blamed for a campaign of enforced disappearances.
Q 25Into how many departments is Honduras divided?
18
The capital lies in Francisco Morazán department, named for the Central American federation's great leader.
Q 26How many members sit in the National Congress of Honduras?
128
Deputies are elected for four-year terms by proportional representation on a departmental basis.
Q 27The blue stars on the flag of Honduras represent what?
The states of the Central American Union
The middle star stands for Honduras, sitting at the geographic centre of the old federation.
Q 28What do the two blue stripes on the Honduran flag symbolise?
The Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea
The country touches the Pacific only at the Gulf of Fonseca, while its long northern shore faces the Caribbean.
Q 29At the base of Honduras's triangular coat of arms sits a volcano between how many castles?
Three
Above them a rainbow and a shining sun complete the design, established in 1945.
Q 30What is the national bird of Honduras?
Scarlet macaw
The bird was highly prized by the pre-Columbian civilisations of the region.