The Central American nation of Honduras is officially known as the Republic of Honduras. Honduras, a republic in Central America, is bounded to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, and to the north by the Gulf of Honduras, a substantial Caribbean Sea inlet. Tegucigalpa is the largest and capital of the country.

Prior to the arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century, Honduras was home to a number of important Mesoamerican cultures, the Maya being the most notable of these. The Spanish introduced Catholicism and the Spanish language, which is now widely spoken, in addition to numerous indigenous customs. Honduras became a republic in 1821, but it has always been plagued by social unrest and political unrest, and it is still one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. The International Court of Justice transferred Nicaragua's northern portion of the Mosquito Coast to Honduras in 1960.

Because the majority of the country's economy is agricultural, it is particularly susceptible to natural disasters like Hurricane Mitch in 1998. The country's wealth is concentrated in its urban centers, while the lower class is primarily agricultural. Honduras is categorized as a nation of medium development with a Human Development Index of 0.625. Its Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index is 0.443 when it is adjusted for income inequality.