Olancho (department)

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Olancho is one of the 18 departments into which the Central American nation of Honduras is divided. It is the largest of all the departments, and Hondurans frequently point out that the department is larger than the neighboring Republic of El Salvador. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Olancho resisted government authority from Tegucigalpa to the point of causing a civil war. To this day, the old independent sentiments persist among Olanchanos, although the department's role as an agricultural producer has made it an integral part of the Honduran economy. The newly-sworn president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, hails from the department, specifically from the city of Catacamas.

The departmental capital is Juticalpa.

Rugged mountains rise in the western and northern portions of the department, notably the Sierra de Agalta, the Montaña de Tembladeros, and the Montaña de Botaderos. Vast pine and hardwood forests cover these mountains. Central Olancho has rolling plains, watered by the Guayape River and its affluents. These plains, sometimes called pampas due to their similarity to the vast Argentinian plains, are famous for their large cattle herds and extensive farming. The main cities, Juticalpa and Catacamas, are located there. The eastern part of the department is covered with rainforests, though the influx of impoverished, landless peasants and intense timber extraction have increased deforestation rates in the area. A portion of the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve, a tropical rainforest with diverse wildlife and declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO, straddles the border of Olancho and the neighboring departments of Gracias a Dios (department) and Colón (department).

The Guayape River is famous for its placer gold. First exploited by the Spaniards during the colonial period, these gold deposits are still productive. Local men and women may be seen panning for gold in riverbanks during the dry season. Extensive gold dredging is also underway during the dry season in much of the river, including deep into the mountainous regions of the Rio Patuca (into which the Guayape feeds).

The Cave of Talgua, also known as "The Cave of the Glowing Skulls," is located near Catacamas. It was used as a burial site by the native peoples, and over time, the bones left there were covered by the calcite dripping from the ceiling, giving them an eerie, sparkling appearance. Radiocarbon testing indicated that the burials were made around 900 B.C., well before the rise of the Mayans and other civilizations. The ossuary chamber was discovered in 1994 by a Peace Corps Volunteer named Timothy Berg, along with two Catacams locals named Desiderio Reyes and Jorge Yánez, and research is still being conducted in the area.

The department covers a total surface area of 24,351 km² and has an estimated 2005 population of 458,365 inhabitants.

[edit] Municipalities

1. Campamento
2. Catacamas
3. Concordia
4. Dulce Nombre de Culmí
5. El Rosario
6. Esquipulas del Norte
7. Gualaco
8. Guarizama
9. Guata
10. Guayape
11. Jano
12. Juticalpa
13. La Unión
14. Mangulile
15. Manto
16. Patuca
17. Salamá
18. San Esteban
19. San Francisco de Becerra
20. San Francisco de la Paz
21. Santa Maria del Real
22. Silca
23. Yocón

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