Five Centuries of European Presence in Honduras

This year, 2024, marks 500 years of a permanent European presence in Honduras. The civilization brought here by Spanish conquistadors half a millennium ago set Honduras on a path to poses a common language, Christianity, an administrative system, schools, roads, and a legal system. All which glues Honduran society together began in March 1524. Yet, you would not know that living here.
The Honduran government held no celebrations to mark this occasion. The Catholic Church in Honduras held no celebrations of 500 years of presence of Catholic sacraments in the country. Even the Spanish embassy in Honduras showed limited interest in talking about the mid-millennial anniversary with Paya Magazine. This willful disinterest in celebrating – or even acknowledging – the Christian, western roots of Honduras signifies something. It signifies that the powers that control the discourse in Honduras hold European and Christians culture in little regard. That of the religion and Christianity of the country’s fathers and forefathers.
There are also no Spanish embassy lectures or exhibitions. Spanish themselves have bought into the idea that for 300 years they have raped and pillaged the indigenous population, and that there is no reason to celebrate the half-millennium anniversary this year.
Honduras has but a peripheral battlefield in the culture wars taking place across the globe. The European and Christian civilization is increasingly vilified and devalued. There are groups interested in debasing not only European culture, but Christianity in particular.

The reality was that the Spanish came to the Americas for a variety of reasons. Some came to gain fame, glory, and riches. Other came to set up roads and build churches and cities. Others yet came to spread Christian faith and educate the natives.

That is a rich tapestry of Spanish men, who sacrificed, suffered, and died while creating the foundation of what is today Honduras. They brought with them the Catholic sacraments, Spanish language, Latin alphabet, a moral code, construction, administration, and a monetary and legal system.

All that laid a foundation of today’s Honduran identity.

You would not know this by visiting the museum of National Identity in Tegucigalpa. There, the Spanish across 300 years are given almost no credit. The sad fact is that Honduras’ history and identity has been captured by forces opposed to Western and Catholic values.

European and Christian civilization is increasingly vilified and devalued.

The 500 year anniversary of European and Christian presence in Honduras was not and will not be celebrated. Except for local events in Tela, there were no celebrations of the events that took place exactly 500 years ago in what is today Honduras. There were no celebrations of first European colonist’s arrival in the country. There were no celebrations of the arrival of Christianity and the first sacraments that took place in Honduras in 1524.

Honduras’ Discovery

On Columbus’s fourth voyage (1502-04) to the Americas, the great explorer finally set foot on the American continent. He did this on Honduran soil. This fact is little appreciated and even less celebrated in this Central American nation. His fourth expedition was made in his final attempt to find a maritime route to the Far East. While failing to do so, Columbus begun a chapter in Spanish and European colonization of the Americas.

The explorer’s first sitting of what is today Honduras took place on July 30, 1502, when he visited Guanaja, which he named Isla de Pinos – Pine island. He spent several days with the local Paya Indians and then continued to the coast, visible in the distance only 40 miles away. He named the mainland Honduras – depths after the deep water off the coast.

Capitanía, Santiago, Gallego and Vizcaíno, sailed 40 miles south to reach Punta Castilla.

While at sea Columbus came upon a Maya canoe on a trading expedition to the Payas. The canoe, captained by an elderly man, likely came from Nito – a Mayan port 200 miles west at the mouth of Río Dulce. The Mayan canoe was large and seaworthy: eight feet wide and 100 feet in length.

The canoe was covered by a canopy in its middle portion. It accommodated 25 men, women, and children. It carried large and varied goods: cacao, cotton ornamented garments, crucibles for melting copper, flint-edged wooden swords, stone axes, and knives. This was the first interaction between Europeans and Mayas.

Columbus’ four Spanish ships: Capitanía, Santiago, Gallego and Vizcaíno, sailed 40 miles south to reach Punta Castilla. It was the first landing of the Spanish on the American mainland, and it took place in Honduras. It took the Spanish a decade of exploration in the Caribbean to finally land on the mainland.

On August 13, 1502, the first Catholic mass was celebrated on the American continent. Brother Alejandro of Barcelona celebrated that mass in Puerto Castilla, and then named Punta Caxinas. Columbus, who was given the authority of the Spanish crown to do so, claimed the territory that we know today as Honduras for the king, Ferdinand the V of Spain.

Unlike the 2024 missing celebrations, on August 13, 2002, Honduran and other bishops celebrated the 500 year anniversary of the first mass on the American continent. This was celebrated near Punta Caxina, or just outside of Puerto Castillo. Columbus also sailed further into the Trujillo Bay, to Trujillo itself.

Honduras’ Conquista

After the conquest of Mexico in 1519-1521 the Spanish turned their attention to lands south: Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. They also continued looking for a maritime passage to the East Indies.

The terra incognita that was America was still mostly an unexplored and open book. While Hernán Cortés was the grand explorer of Mexico, his captains kept discovering populous areas full of riches promising them income from tributes, plantations, and gold. The idea of being a governor of a large province made one Spanish conquistador turn against the other. The territory of Honduras and Nicaragua attracted three suitors. The permanent presence of the Spanish in Honduras came three years later, in the spring of 1524.

Velázquez managed to convince Olid to betray Cortés.

The first to land in Honduras was Gil González Dávila, who claimed the land under the auspices of the Spanish crown. The Spanish king authorized González to seek passage to the Pacific along the Honduran coast. On March 19, 1524 González left Santo Domingo with four ships. He commanded an impressive force of 300 men and 50 horses. He landed in an area called Cieneguita, and funded Villa de la Natividad de Nuestra Señora near today’s Puerto Cortés.

He had to lighten the ship by throwing 17 of his 50 horses overboard, hence the name Puerto Caballos (now Puerto Cortés). González then sailed further west, to the Bay of Amatique and the Río Dulce, where he founded the town of San Gil de Buenavista.

The second conquistador to arrive in Honduras was Cristóbal de Olid. Olid was Cortés’ trusted and tested man. He had served Cortés well being one of his four captains that lead Spanish forces in the conquest of Mexico. Olid helped to capture Xochimilco in a key battle of the Mexican campaign. At one point Olid even saved Cortés from certain death as Cortés was captured by the Aztecs.

The Spanish conquest of the Americas was full of intrigue between the conquistadores themselves who competed not only in spreading the Spanish empire, but in creating provinces and territories of which they could become governors.

Olid was camp commander in May 1520, while a trial of Juan de Villafaña, on charge of plotting to assassinate Cortés, was being held. Four years later, as a form of reward, Hernán Cortés dispatched Olid by ship to Honduras with orders to establish a town.

In January 1524, Olid departed with six ships and 400 men for Cuba. He also brought many arms, artillery pieces, and 8,000 pieces of gold to buy horses and vestments. In Cuba, he met with Diego Velázquez, the island’s governor and a known political enemy of Cortés.

Velázquez was aware of Cortés being appointed by King Carlos, governor of New Spain, and resented his success. Velázquez managed to convince Olid to betray Cortés and accept his sponsorship during the conquista of Honduras.

On May 3, 1524 Olid landed in today’s Tela bay, likely to avoid confronting the expedition of González which had arrived in Puerto Cabezas just a few weeks earlier. Thus Olid founded the port of Triunfo de la Cruz, a town that is known today as Tela.

Upon landing on Honduras’ coast, Olid acted in a resolute manner. He decided not to act quickly, but to better establish himself, gain strength, and gather knowledge in order to truly understand if the new lands were worth the political risk of standing up to Cortés. Olid took position of Honduras in the name of Cortés, but held papers that referred to himself, a shrewd but ultimately disastrous strategy.

Olid can arguably be considered the founder of what would eventually become Honduras.

In June 1524, Cortés acted upon his knowledge of Olid betraying him. He sent his trusted lieutenant and cousin Francisco de Las Casas with five well-armed ships and men to Honduras to confront and arrest Olid. All of a sudden, Olid found himself fighting on two fronts. He was confronting the expedition of Gil González Dávila on land and de las Casas at Sea.

Fate intervened as Las Casas sailed to Puerto Caballos, now controlled by Olid. “Olid decided to launch an attack with two caravels. Las Casas returned fire and sent boarding parties, which captured Olid’s ships. Under the circumstances, Olid proposed a truce to which Las Casas agreed, and he did not land his forces. During the night, a fierce storm destroyed his fleet and about a third of his men were lost. The remainder was taken prisoner after two days of exposure and without food. After being forced to swear loyalty to Olid, they were released,” writes Robustiano Vera in his 1899 book “Notes on the history of Honduras.”

Fate has favored Olid until that time. “Las Casas was kept a prisoner, soon to be joined by González, who had been captured by Olid’s inland force,” writes Robustiano Vera. As he fled, González was surprised near Choloma and brought to Olid by Briones, one of Olid’s captains.

Olid became victorious against two divided foes, and moved the men to the town of Naco, a large pre-Hispanic town right outside of the Maya territory, but certainly with contact and trade with the Maya. While Naco today is an unimpressive dirt road settlement, 500 years ago it was the center of a three way competition of Spanish conquistadores trying to secure land that promised perhaps as many resources and opportunities as Mexico just a couple of years before.

Fortunes turned on Olid’s miscalculation. Olid allowed his two prisoners to leave their prison and have dinner with him. “One night after the snack, and Olid being alone with his prisoners, Las Casas got up and grabbed Olid by the beard and buried a sharp knife that he had hidden under his dress in his throat. Gil González threw himself at the same time and also cruelly wounded him… Thus he was able to escape and went to hide in some bushes,” writes Robustiano Vera in his 1899 book “Notes on the history of Honduras.”

Olid was eventually found out and brought back. Olid was accused of treason against the Spain’s royal power. A brief trial took place and Olid was found guilty and sentenced to death. On January 16, 1525, his head was cut off and placed on a spike on the main plaza in the town of Naco. This rushed judgment and execution came into question soon after in Mexico. Even the locals felt this was not a fair treatment for Olid.

The relationship with the new Spanish bosses and local population deteriorated. The locals refused to supply more food and the Spanish left. Las Casas and González left for Mexico, and other settler went to establish settlements in other parts of Honduras.

Olid can arguably be considered the founder of what would eventually become Honduras. To other conquistadors, Olid was seen as an independent operator, dangerous to other Spanish players – especially Cortés.

When Las Casa and González returned to Mexico, the new man in charge – Salazar de la Pedrada – had replaced Cortés as governor and didn’t like them making themselves the judge and executioner of a well respected Olid. What didn’t help was that the two continued to insist they owed their alliance to Cortés and not to Pedrada. So Salazar de la Pedrada had them arrested and tried for Olid’s execution. He was determined to execute them, but finally, the two were taken to Spain as prisoners and avoided further consequences.

Cortés himself avoided travelling through Naco.

Cortés in Honduras

Hernán Cortés decided to head to Honduras himself in 1525, via a land route. Cortés’s main force headed for the coast, while a smaller force travelled by land, south to Naco.
When Cortés arrived in Nito, on the tip of the Bay of Honduras on his overland journey from Mexico, the settlement was manned with a few dozen Spaniards, ill-provisioned and unhealthy form malaria and other diseases. A Spanish ship full of provisions arrived just in time.

The Spanish raced to repair a caravel and a brigantine and sail east to arrive in Honduras by sea. Nito was judged too unhealthy to remain. Cortés himself avoided travelling through Naco on his march across Mayan country and travelled from Río Dulce via boat to Puerto Cortés, then Trujillo, then set off north to Havana.

Captain Sandoval of Cortés’s crew went with soldiers and settlers to the valley of Naco, where Olid made his headquarters earlier. Sandoval found Naco deserted right before their arrival. This was not uncommon. The Spanish would find abandoned towns on their paths of conquest as populations fearing for their lives would scatter and leave everything behind. “We took up our quarters in some very large courts where they had beheaded Cristobal de Olid. The pueblo was well provisioned with maize and beans and Chili peppers, and we also found a little salt which was the thing we needed most,” wrote Bernal Díaz of his arrival in Naco. Even though Spanish conquest disrupted trade, Naco recovered and continued operating as a trade center.

Paya Magazine went looking for the unknown burial site of de Olid.

Nonetheless, the Spanish were impressed with the natural resource of the valley and Naco river. “In this pueblo is the best water we have found in New Spain, and a tree which in the noon-day heat, be the sun ever so fierce, appears to refresh the heart with its shade, and there falls from it a sort of very fine dew which comforts the head,” according to 1539 accounts of Francisco de Montejo.

1525 and After

One of Francisco de Las Casas parting contributions to Honduran History was the founding of the country’s third oldest city, and later its first capital, Trujillo. On May 18, 1525 de las Casas founded Trujillo before departing with his prisoner Gil González Dávila.

Later in 1520s Honduras saw several explorers and conquistadores from Spain. One of them was the Juan de Grijalva who explored Cuba in 1511 and then Mexican coasts on Yucatan and Tabasco in 1518. In 1527 de Grijalva joined Pedro Arias Dávila in exploration of Honduras and Nicaragua. Grijalva was killed by natives in Olancho and buried there.

Olid’s Lost Grave

Without a doubt the principal historical figure of Honduras’ Conquista was that of Cristóbal de Olid. He is the country’s forgotten conquistador, and an overlooked hero that brought the first vestiges of western civilization, Christianity, and European administration.

Paya Magazine went looking for the unknown burial site of de Olid. We made two trips to Naco, Cortés, and areas surrounding that town. While Naco is now a backwater town, it was once a well known and well inhabited place.

The town is located where Naco river runs into Chamelecón river and where the valley widens, allowing ample area for cultivation. The Naco Valley is situated in the middle part of the Chamelecón Valley. In the 1500s, Naco was estimated to have as many as 10,000 inhabitants and was located on the edge of Mayan civilization. Mayan language was certainly spoken, or at least known to the natives. The Spanish were already familiar with Mayan civilization and dialects during their conquest of Mexico in the years prior.

His contribution to the Honduran nation remain unacknowledged.

The foothill area where we focused our search for de Olid’s grave is known to be under control of narco gangs. While we looked for Olid’s grave, we found many abandoned graves but nothing dating further than maybe a century.

While Naco is forgotten, it is still one of Honduras’ premier colonial archeological sites. It was located in a transitional zone between the Maya to the west and non-Maya tribes to the East. “Historical and archaeological evidence indicates that Naco, one of the principal late pre-Hispanic centers in the region, maintained strong ties with the rest of the Maya world and with non-Maya Central America,” writes John Henderson of Cornell University.

The archeological location of the Naco can be traced to Naco Nuevo and Las Flores de Naco. Local oral tradition remembers “El Rey” who fled wounded to the El Salto waterfall on the Naco River. According to the story, he was brought back from there and killed. In high likelihood, the story described Cristobal de Olid final days.

Where to Honduran Man?

A man who not knows his father, will not know his past and will not be in control of his destiny. The people who are in charge in Honduras, those obliging memorization of national hymns and requiring school children parades in Lempira costumes, are interested in keeping the memory of Olid and other Spanish conquistadors unknown.

While Olid was accused of treason and executed, that is nothing new. Fierce competition and even summary execution of conquistadors was not without precedent.
Olid met the same fate as reputed founder of Nicaragua, Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, two years later in 1526. Cordoba, the founder of Granada and Leon, was executed in Leon Viejo by the order of Pedro Arias de Ávila, the colonial administrator who was named governor of Nicaragua a year later.

Since Córdoba was accused as an insurrectionist and a traitor, he was beheaded. His headless remains were discovered in 2000, in a crypt at the church of La Merced in León Viejo. That same year his remains were moved to a monument at the old Managua cathedral and honored with a 21 cannon salute.

Olid’s remains, on the other hand, remain undiscovered. His contribution to the Honduran nation remain unacknowledged. While ignored, the undisputed fact is that Cristobal del Olid was a first class adventurer and valiant conquistador. There is a valid case for Hondurans to claim Olid as their founding father.

I spoke with old heads in Trujillo, taxi drivers in La Ceiba, shop keepers in Olancho, and doctors in Tegucigalpa. Apparently, that basic question was far from the minds of Hondurans. Some felt it was curious no one ever asked them that before, or taught them in school.

The concept of a country’s founder is universally accepted. Just about all Americans will agree that George Washington was their country’s founder. Mexicans will say it was Hernán Cortés – like him or not, he had that honor. Nicaraguans will say it was Francisco de Córdoba. Both Guatemalans and Salvadorians will point to Pedro de Alvarado as the founding figure of their nation. But Honduras, when asked about their country’s founder, find themselves perplexed. After traveling across Honduras, we have concluded that the basic concept of “father of a nation” is foreign to most of Hondurans.

There was an attempt to point to Honduras’ founder. Some of those interviewed by us would say this man is Christopher Columbus. That could not be, however. The fact is that Christopher Columbus discovered Honduras in 1502, but left without leaving settlement behind or much of a mark.

Others said the founder is chief Lempira, the leader of the Lenca people who fought Francisco de Montejo in 1530s. Yet Lempira, if not a fictional figure, is a symbol of indigenous resistance to Spanish colonization who fought for tribal self determination, and who resisted today’s Honduras being organized into any type of larger entity. He was definitely not a founder, but more like someone would resist founding of any entity resembling the state of Honduras.

Christopher Columbus discovered Honduras in 1502, but left without leaving settlers behind or much of a mark.

Some people said the founder of Honduras was Hernán Cortés. Cortés even has a Honduran department named after him, a fact which supports that claim. Yet, Cortés sailed to Honduras in 1525-6 for a brief stay and only after several other Spanish captains preceded him more than a year earlier.

Some Hondurans suggested that Francisco Morazán is Honduras’ founding father. Yet José Francisco Morazán Quesada was more of a visionary thinker and political martyr. Morazán was a liberal politician, general, and a freemason who served as the president of the Federal Republic of Central America after he was head of state of Honduras. He was also head of state of El Salvador and Costa Rica. Morazán is much more a symbol of Central American unity other than Honduran nationhood.

I’ve also had someone tell me that Honduras didn’t really have a founder. Well, that would make Honduras a nation born without a father, an idea not only sad, but impossible. A nation that doesn’t have a father, or grows up without knowing who the father was, is at a great disadvantage. It is like not knowing where you came from, not knowing your roots or ancestors.

Studying Honduran history in some detail, one finds out quickly that there is a man who can place a rightful claim on being Honduras’ founder. A brave, handsome, and adventurous man born in 1487 in Andalucía, whose body has been buried in an unknown place somewhere around Naco, Cortés. His name was Cristóbal de Olid.

One historical fact has been confirmed by several credible historical sources: 500 years ago, on May 3, 1524 Cristóbal de Olid landed on modern day Tela, and with settlers and religious figures, he founded a town he named Triunfo de la Cruz, or Triumph of the Cross. Cristóbal de Olid claimed the land for Hernán Cortés and later for himself.

Olid came with 400 Spanish and launched what was to be a Christianization and spreading of Western Civilization that bore fruits in churches, cities, and universities. While forgotten, and called a traitor by Cortés, de Olid should be called the father of Honduras.

1524 was a pivotal year in Honduran history. There were in fact three conquistadors roaming the country’s northern coast, bringing in settlers and planting flags. In March 1524, Gil González Dávila landed near Puerto Cortés and founded a town he named Natividad de Nuestra Señora. A few months later, Cortés sent Francisco de las Casas with more men and ships to quell Olid’s ambitions.

In a three way confrontation, it was de las Casas and Dávila who gained the upper hand and had Olid tried for treason in the town of Naco. Olid was found guilty and beheaded. His head was displayed on a wooden spike in the town’s main plaza. While the execution of 36-year-old Olid was later condemned by a Mexican court, none of his executioners suffered punishment.

Olid should be called the father of Honduras.

Having a father of a nation accused of treason is nothing new. One only has to look at Nicaragua and Panama to prove that. Nicaragua celebrates executed Francisco Hernández de Córdoba as a founder of their nation.

Also, Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the founder of Panama, was tried and executed by his countrymen and his remains are still missing. Olid, Córdoba and Balboa were executed as traitors and their headless bodies were missing for centuries.

Only Nicaraguans were able to locate the body of the country’s founder. In the year 2000, Córdoba’s headless skeleton was discovered in a crypt of a church in León Viejo. Panamanians are still looking for Balboa’s grave and Hondurans didn’t seem to care much where Olid was buried. The Catrachos are even less interested in acknowledging Olid’s parental rights to their country.

Hondurans stand in sharp contrast to Panamanians and Nicaraguans as far as their pursuit of recognizing their Spanish ancestors. One diversion is how the three countries call their currencies. Nicaraguans replaced their peso in 1913 with, Córdoba notes, acknowledging the contribution of the Spanish Conquistador in bringing in Christianity and civilization to their country. Gaining independence from Colombia in 1904, Panama replaced their Colombian Peso with Balboas.

Honduras did the exact opposite, and in 1931 it replaced their peso note with the Lempira note. The currency named after a cacique figure who opposed the Spanish conquistadores.

Naming currency after a Spanish fighting cacique is unique in Central America, and in fact Latin America in general. It’s a bit like if the US would rename their dollar to Geronimo, acknowledging the Apache chieftain resistance to American western conquest.

Spanish speaking nations either called their money after Spanish like Columbus in Costa Rica, Córdoba in Nicaragua, or Balboa in Panama. Several countries like Mexico and Argentina left their currency name peso like the original Spanish currency. Guatemalans went for something neutral and named their currency after a national bird.

So here is an idea. While El Salvador is stealing everyone’s thunder in Central America, there is something Honduras at least can do and reclaim its rightful father all in one sweep. What about creating a new Honduran currency, tying it to Bitcoin and laming it Olid?

Island Fauna Strikes a Delicate Balance between the Original and Invasive Species

Roatan as we experience it today is much different than it was 500 years ago when the first Europeans set foot on the Bay Islands archipelago. Many trees have been imported, land cleared and the animals, especially mammals, living on the island are not the same as they were even just two centuries ago.
Originally the island had only three native land mammals and four flying mammals.

Most land mammals living on the island today have been introduced to Roatan by Spanish or Cayman Islander settlers. Several mammals like wild hogs and manatees have disappeared from the island.
Currently, there are an estimated 22 land and sea mammal species on Roatan or in waters around the island.

THE NATIVES

Agouti

The animal is shiny brown and orange with a white spot on its chin and a yellowish patch on its belly. Ruatan Island agouti species bare a few dark hairs as opposed to their mainland cousins.
The agoutis are shy and won’t let humans approach them. They are active mostly in the daytime. The animals thrive on patches of brush across the island, foraging on almonds, coconuts, hibiscus, and Pentaclethra pods.
Hunting the Ruatan Island agouti has been a right of passage for the island youth for 200 years. The island rabbit is recognized as a culinary delicacy for its sweet meat. “You could stew it, you could bake it, and how you wanted to do it,” says Mr. Truman Jones, from Brick Bay. “Their meat is very good.” While human hunting has kept the agouti population down, an even bigger threat is the loss of habitat from developments and houses that are multiplying all over the island. Also, the young ones are attacked by opossums.

Mouse Opossum

The smallest mammal on the island grows no larger than eight ounces in weight. The Linnaeus’s mouse opossum (Marmosa Murina) is also known as the common or murine mouse opossum. Like his bigger cousin, the mouse opossum will play dead as a form of defense behavior.

This tiny mammal is a nocturnal creature that shelters in a mesh of twigs on branches, inside cavities of trees or even old birds’ nests. On Roatan the Cohune Palms are particularly suitable habitat for the mouse opossum. “They go into the coconut tree and eat the cap out,” says Mr. Truman. “In the summer, that little animal, he wants water.”

The mouse opossum feeds on fruits, but also on insects, spiders, lizards, bird’s eggs and small chicks. It reproduces quickly after a 13-day gestation giving life to as many as 10 young.

It has prominent, popping eyes framed by black colored fur reminiscent of a mask. Its large, longer than the body itself, rat-like tail is used to carry leaves to its place of nesting. While it is only four to six inches long, its tail is five to eight inches long.

Deer

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) have been on Roatan since the days of Paya Indians. In 1930s and 1940s deer could be found all over Roatan and were especially plentiful in West End and on the East End. Usually, 60 to 80 pounds, was a typical buck, but there were some larger specimens, as big as 120 pounds.

The white tailed deer has many sub species, but the one spread on Roatan most likely belongs to the smaller variety known as nemoralis, or Nicaraguan white-tailed deer. “My dad shot them by the hundreds,” says Mr. Truman Jones. His father would shoot with a 30-30 rifle from 40 meters aiming almost always for the buck. The deer would be a prized source of meat and islanders would use deer skin to make deer slippers and belts.

Island hunters had worked out a few hunting techniques to score the deer. By burning the grass, some hunters would attract the deer that would come to feed on the newly sprouted grass a few weeks later. Some hunters would take up a shooting position in the trees and waited for the deer to show.

As the deer became scarce the Roatan deer hunters would change their technique. They would hunt at night using carbon lights that were used by miners. While the deer would not always be visible, their eyes would light up. “A cow’s eyes stay more dull, but the deer eyes are sharp.”

The island deer love to graze on Cissampelos Pareira leaves. “The deer eats with the moon and the tide,” explains Mr. Truman. “When the tide is coming up the deer would be sleeping in all of them trees.” His father would hunt the deer two times in the day: as the daylight was breaking and, in the evening, late.

When a family of deer is spotted it is usually a buck with one or two females. Larger herds have also been seen on the island. A heard of 20 deer was once spotted by Mr. Truman’s father near Brick Bay point.

While scarce, the deer survives on Roatan in the wild. The deer sometime venture on Mr. Truman’s property in Brick Bay and there are still some wild deer in West Bay. Hondurans have looked at their deer with much respect and admiration. In 1993 the white-tailed deer was declared with executive decree 36-93 as the national mammal of Honduras.

Dogs

Paya Indians brought dogs (Canis Familiaris) to Roatan when they crossed to the Bay Islands archipelago from the mainland, about 1000 AD. Mayas traded with Payas and Mayas are known to have used domesticated dogs for hunting, as food and in religious ceremonies.

Island dogs hail their origin from dozens of breeds that were brought to the islands over the last 200 years. Some deer hunters brought Rhodesian Ridgebacks to the island. Other islanders brought Rottweilers and pitbulls to protect their households.
Dogs have been used on Roatan to guard property and serve as companions. Island men had used dogs for hunting wild animals such as deer, wild hog and guatuza. While most of the big game hunting has stopped, dogs are still used by islanders to spot and fetch green iguanas. These are mostly mutts with some hound blood running in their veins. “We always had dogs. We call them ‘Roatan hound dogs,” said Mr. Truman.

Jamaican Fruit Bat

Roatan is home to four species of flying mammals. One of these bat species is widely spread over the island pollinator – the Jamaican fruit bat (Artibeus Jamaicensis).This bat is native to Mexico, Central America and Caribbean.

They are most active at midnight. The females give birth twice a year after four to seven months’ gestation. One baby is typically born each time. The baby bats are weaned at around 15 days and gain permanent set of teeth at 40 days. By around 50 days the young bats can fly.

Pallas’s long-tongued

Roatan’s Pallas’s long-tongued bat (Glossophaga Soricina) has the fastest recorded metabolism of any mammal, comparable to that of a hummingbird. It processes half of its stored fat over the course of the day. Then replenishes its supplies by consuming nectar, pollen, flowers, fruits and insects.

Velvety Free-Tailed

Also known as Pallas’s mastiff bat (Molossus Molossus), this bat species forges across Roatan’s open areas and above tree canopies. It is most commonly seen at dusk, where it will fly solo hunting moths, beetles and flying ants. It is four inches long and has a wingspan of 13 inches.

Greater sac-winged

The greater sac-winged bat (Saccopteryx Bilineata) is common to rain forests of Central America and makes Roatan its home as well. It roosts under large trees and under buildings. The sac-winged bat hunts flies, moths and beetles using echolocation. The males store urine in its wing sacks and shake it to mark the territory belonging to its harem.

SEA MAMMALS

Dolphins

The common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus) is a frequent visitor to waters of the Bay Islands. “There are plenty of them here,” said Mr. Truman. “At any [reef] channel boat they would be running, [dolphins would be] chasing in front of her.”

There is also a permanent bottlenose dolphin population at Anthony’s Key Resort off Sandy Bay’s Bailey’s Key. AKR has been keeping and showing dolphins since 1989. These trained dolphins perform acrobatics and exhibit their skills to tourists jumping as high as 20 feet into the air.

The common bottlenose dolphin can live for over 40 years, and females of the species live even longer – around 60 years. The bottlenose dolphin’s weight range form from 330 to 1,400 pounds and the largest specimens can reach 13 feet in length.

These highly intelligent animals don’t only perform for tourists. They have been known to exhibit an extraordinary rescue behavior to humans in need. Common bottlenose dolphin can also cooperate with humans in driving fish into fishermen’s nets. Both US and Russian military train bottlenose dolphins for military tasks such as locating mines and detecting enemy divers.

Orcas

Orca (Orcinus Orca) is an apex predator sometimes found in waters around Roatan. This whale has a distinctive black and white body so large that some islanders have confused it with a submarine at a first glance. The old islanders call orcas “Black fish.” Edison Brown from French Harbour recalls seeing one, single orca in 1980s on a passage between Barbarat and Bonacca. A fellow ship crew member mistook the giant sea mammal for a submarine.

Orcas have a diverse diet and in waters around Bay Islands they pray on fish and likely on bottlenose dolphins. “It looked like a dory turned bottom up,” says Mr. Truman Jones remembering seeing an orca in early 2000s.

Orcas have been spotted off Roatan as recently as July 2022. A pod of four Orcas were spotted. The four orcas were swimming underneath the dive boat and surfacing within half a mile from the island.

Manatees

West Indian manatees, lived on the Caribbean coast of Honduras, it is one of three types of manatees found around the globe. The West Indian manatee has a low metabolic rate and cannot survive in cold water. The mammal moves easily between fresh and saltwater.

These gentle underwater giants can swim at speeds of up to 20 miles an hour for short distances. They are very smart animals capable of task learning just as easily as dolphins, or orcas. The manatees give birth to one calf once every two years. The young gill takes a year to a year-and-a-half before it is weaned.

The manatees are herbivores feeding on both freshwater and saltwater plants. Sea grass and turtle grass. They graze seven hours a day and they consume as much as 120 pounds of nutrients or 15% of their weight a day. They scoop the plants they find with their flippers and then use their lips to move them into their mouth.

Guanaja and Utila are known to have had a bigger population of manatees. “They would get washed out in the rain from Ulua river by Aguan and brought by current to Bonacca,” said Mr. Truman. “The Bonacca guys would kill them and sell the meat. The manatee meat is a delicacy, and one manatee could provide 1,000 pounds of nourishment. The meat has three different colors: very red, light red and almost a color of my skin,” says Mr. Truman. “The old people used to say it had pork, cow and fish.”

In Jonesville, manatees could still be seen in the 1940s. Boats travelling at night had to take care as not to flip over if they ware to hit the large mammal feeding. While the Manatees have not been seen in Roatan waters for the last 80 years, the manatees are migrating creatures and they have recently been seen in waters around Utila. Utopia’s Utopia Village underwater camera has caught glimpses of a manatee a couple years back.

Manatees feed on sea grass that grows at shallow depths all around Roatan. The two main seagrass pastures off Roatan are the Tortoise Grass (Thalassia Testudinum) and Manatee Pastures (Syringodium Filiforme). The Indian Manatee can be found in lagoons and near mangroves. With sandy and muddy bottoms Roatan has the perfect environment for manatees and likely they will one day return to the island.

IMPORTED

Wild Boar

The wild boar (Sus Scrofa), also known as the wild swine comes from Euroasia and North Africa. It was introduced to the Americas by Europeans. “In 1836-1840 my people came to Jonesville, and they came through the mangroves,” says Mr. Truman. “There was so much wild hog out there they had to keep fire in the night to keep them away so they could rest.”

Wild hogs are aggressive, and a powerful rifle had to be used to take one down. His father, Archie Jones, used 30/30 rifle and later a 12 gage shotgun to hunt the wild swine. “He could put a 20 penny nail in this tree,” says Mr. Truman pointing to an enormous mango tree on his property in Brick Bay.

Mr. Truman remembers that there were still a few wild boars around in Port Royal when he was a small boy in 1950s. Eventually they were finally hunted down completely. “The farmers had to kill them because they were destroying the fields,” says Mr. Truman.

Cats

The cat (Felis Catus) had come with the settlers to Roatan from the Cayman Islands. Feral, but castrated Cats can be found in several places on the island. At Parrot Tree Plantation they are taken care of by homeowners who bring daily food and water to the animals.

Horses

Spanish horses (E. caballus) were first introduced to the Caribbean islands in 1493. On the continent, in Mexico, the first horses were brought in 1519 by Hernán Cortés. The man who introduced horses to Honduras was Cristobal de Olid who came to this part of Central America in 1523.

Olid came with around 400 soldiers and colonists to establish a proper colony. He landed on the coast and founded Honduras’ first settlement of Tela, then called Triunfo de la Cruz.

A year later Hernán Cortés came to Honduras to challenge Olid’s ambitions of cessation in Honduras. When Cortés began unloading his horses several horses drowned and thus the spot was given the name of Puerto Caballos later renamed Puerto Cortés.

The Cayman Island settlers to Roatan needed horses capable of work in a tropical climate. By accounts of old islanders, the first horses were shipped to Roatan from the Honduran mainland in 1830 or 1840s.

Donkeys

Donkeys (Equus Africanus Asinus) came to the New World with Christopher Columbus in 1495. The Spanish used donkeys to breed with horses to produce a bigger animal- the mule. Roatan donkeys trace its roots to Cayman Islanders who brought some from the Honduran Mainland.

Mules

The Mules presence in the American mainland date back to 1521. Mules, equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse, were bred for work with males preferred for pack animals and the females preferred for riding. In Honduras the silver mining industry and banana companies used mules extensively.

Probably some of the first mules arriving on Roatan got here in late XIX century. SS Snyg was a cargo boat that carried mules from Cuba to Punta Castilla. It crashed and sunk in a storm on a reef off Crawfish Rock in August of 1899. “She was coming from Cuba to Castilla. These mules had to jump and come onshore,” says Mr. Truman about a steamship that sunk off Crawfish Rock.

The mules were saved and most of them were transported on other, smaller boats to Punta Castilla. However, a few mules stayed behind on Roatan and worked on island farms.

Between 1940 and 1960 a fungus pathogen (Fusarium Oxysporum f. sp. Cubense) commonly called Panama disease devastated the Gros Michel banana plantations on the Honduran coast. Initially Roatan and Utila were isolated by distance and free of the Panama disease. Some blamed a load of mules transported from the coast to the island for bringing the disease from the Honduran coast. “The locals said that the company [Standard Fruit] did it intentionally to kill the bananas over here,” said Mr. Truman. Utila and Roatan were the places where the banana industry began in Honduras.

Cattle

Cattle (Bos Taurus) were imported from the Honduran mainland and provided meat, and sometimes milk for communities throughout Roatan. “I used to milk ten cows every morning. My pay was – one gallon of milk for 50 cents.”

Over time people would bring different cattle breeds to the island. Brahman breed, Texas longhorn, etc. Sidney Griffith, known as Uncle Sid, brought in white faced Hereford cows from Tampa to the island in 1955. “He brought two heifers and a bull,” says Mr. Truman.

The mix of different breeds created a Roatan breed that is recognized locally as “an island cow.” “The meat today is as good as it was originally from the island cow,” says Mr. Truman.

Pigs

Most likely the domesticated pig (Sus Domesticus), or hog was brought to the island by Cayman Island settlers in early 1800s. The pig is considered a subspecies of Sus Scrotfa, the Eurasian boar. The adult pig can weigh from 100 to 800 Lbs. depending on breeding and feeding techniques used.

People would keep pig pens over the French Harbour canal. Some Punta Gorda people would build hog pens right over the salt water. Kitchen scraps and hog coconuts were used as feed for the pigs. “It was not good to export, it was not good to sell,” says about the hog coconut Mr. Truman. The hog coconut was perfect source of feed for the pigs.

Goats

Domestic goat (Capra Hircus) was brought to North America from Europe and on Roatan it most likely was brought from the Honduras mainland. Many Jamaican workers who came to work on banana plantations in early XX century Honduras raised goats. “Anyone from Jamaica loves goat meat,” explains Mr. Truman.

A few Jamaicans came to Roatan via banana companies on the Honduran mainland. “My daddy had plenty of goats,” remembers Edison Brown, whose ancestors came from Jamaica and settled in French Harbour. “We used to drink goat milk.” The goats would not only eat just about anything, but they are also kept for their milk, meat and skins.

Sheep

Roatan is home to several breeds of sheep (Ovis Aries). One of the more popular breeds here is Cubano Rojo also known as Pelibuey sheep. The breed is the larger sheep breed sometimes found grazing on farms throughout Roatan. Pelibüey are raised for meat,

Because it sports a coat of hair, not wool. It shares its roots to West African Dwarf sheep and Barbados Black Belly and Roja Africana of Venezuela. Cubano Rojo easily adapts to tropical environments.

THE INVASIVE

Rats

Americas were rat free before the arrival of the explorer era. The black rat or ship rat (Rattus Rattus) came to the continent 500 years ago as a stowaway and is considered one of world’s worse invasive species. His cousin, the brown rat (Rattus Norvegicus) has also conquered the Americas.

Sailors used to place plywood or metal rat guards on the lines attaching boats to the posts. The rats would run up the line towards the boat but had to turn around when they reached that barrier. Rats are a nuisance pest on the island, but their impact has been limited as the agriculture sector remained on small scale.

Mice

While pre Columbian North America had over 70 native species of rodents, that number did not include the common house mouse (Mus Musculus). The house mouse must have arrived on Roatan with the first explorers. The mouse came aboard ships coming from Europe and found its way to all but the smallest and least inhabited islands in the Caribbean.

While there are islands in the Bay Islands archipelago that are probably mouse free, they are not many. Morat is the one candidate of being an island free of the Mus Musculus.

Tepezcuintle

The recent arrival to Roatan is Tepezcuintle. While Tepezcuintle is the common name for this mammal in Honduras, this lowland paca (Cuniculus Paca) goes by many names. Can be found from Mexico to Argentina and has made its way to Cuba. “The Spanish population brought them here in the last 30-40 years,” says Mr. Truman. The Tepezcuintle can be spotted on the east of the island near Camp Bay and Diamond Rock as far west as Brick Bay.

Tepezcuintles feed on low growing and fallen fruits and are known for their tasty meat. They also feed on leaves, flowers, mushrooms and insects. Unlike agoutis they can use fat to store energy. They do compete with native agoutis for the same resources.

Armadillos

Another invasive species now commonly found all over Roatan is the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus Novemcinctus). Also known as common long-nosed armadillo, it is the most commonly found armadillo.

These armadillos are nocturnal and mostly solitary. They love foraging and feeding on ants, termites and small bugs. They use their scent glands located on their feet, nose and eyelids to mark their territory. A single armadillo maintains as many as a dozen 25 foot deep borrows. They can be occasionally seen sniffing air for signs of danger.

Opossum

The black-eared opossum, or common opossum (Didelphis Marsupialis) is yet another foreign arrival on the island. This marsupial is able to feed on a variety of diets: from insects, earthworms, snakes, birds, small mammals, to fruits, vegetables and even carrion. It is an opportunistic animal and because of its versatility and lack of natural predators on Roatan it has made the opossum very destructive. It can digest almost anything that is eatable, thus it has put itself at a conflict with agoutis, black iguanas and even bird species.