Information about Roatan

Roatan is in Honduras. It is an island in the middle of the Caribbean, 36 miles long and only 5 wide, and it is the largest of the Bay Islands, one of the eighteen departments of the Republic of Honduras.

Roatan's coral reefs are part of the Mesoamerican Reef, the second largest reef system in the world. On the southwestern side of the island, Cordelia Banks Important Wildlife Site is home to one of the last healthy patches of staghorn coral, a keystone coral species, in the Mesoamerican region.

The Bay Islands have a pleasant tropical climate, with a maritime influence and a temperature of 27 °C, although in winter it can drop to 12 °C when cold fronts arrive. The humidity is 25%, although it is surrounded by a lot of humidity due to the evaporation of water from the ocean, the rains can be moderate or from time to time be strong storms, it can rain five to ten times each month, hurricanes they are not frequent, it can happen one every ten years, which are not really harmful, since the island is surrounded by water, and the water that falls on the island immediately returns to the ocean.

History of Roatan

In general, the Bay Islands refer to the archipelago comprised of the islands of Roatán, Utila, Guanaja, and Cayos Cochinos, which were inhabited at first by the Mayans, then by the Payas, in the 16th century the Spanish conquerors arrived who they brought African slaves as part of the crew. Later in the seventeenth century the island was invaded by the English, on March 2, 1782 the Spanish recovered Roatán, by 1788 many English left Roatán, in 1796 they took over the islands again and between 1827 and 1834 the English began to return to Roatán, who governed them until April 21, 1861, when the government of Honduras and the government of the United Kingdom signed a treaty to return the Bay Islands to Honduras because they were in their territorial waters.

The English settlers brought the Black Caribs (Garifuna) from the island of Saint Vincent in 1770, the White Islanders came from Grand Cayman and European countries such as Ireland, Denmark, Italy and other countries. The language in the Bay Islands, once they were occupied by the United Kingdom, was English but after the return to Honduras, the only official language was again Spanish, although they are bilingual. Currently, Roatan speaks mainly English and Spanish. People over 80 speak English and understand Spanish, while those 60 and under speak both languages ??because teaching was taught in Spanish in primary schools since 1861, even so, many families speak only English and receive private education in English.

Currently, the island of Roatán is populated by 10%, the remaining 90% is jungle area. There are channels between the mangroves, which link the different populations.