Comayagua
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Comayagua is a town in Honduras, some 80 km northwest of Tegucigalpa on the highway to San Pedro Sula at 14.46°N, 87.65°W at an elevation of 594 meters above sea level. In 2003 the estimated population was 74,000 people. It is the capital of Honduras's Comayagua department.
[edit] History
Comayagua was founded with the name Santa María de la Nueva Valladolid by Conquistador Alonso de Cáceres under orders from Francisco de Montejo, Governor of Yucatán on December 8, 1537. From 1540 on Comayagua was the capital of the Honduras district of New Spain. After independence from Spain it was the capital of the state of Honduras in the United States of Central America. After Honduras became an independent republic, the capital alternated between Comayagua and Tegucigalpa (Comayagua being preferred by Conservative administrations, and Tegucigalpa by Liberal ones) before being permanently established at Tegucigalpa in 1880.
The town is noted for its wealth of Spanish Colonial architecture. The city is often dusty. There are several buses daily to Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. The central square has a cathedral with the oldest clock in the Americas.
[edit] Soto Cano Air Base
Soto Cano Air Base (formerly Palmerola Air Base) is a Honduran military installation located less than 10 miles from Comayagua. The two miles wide and six miles long airbase is home of the Honduran Air Force Academy. United States maintains a military base in Soto Cano Air Base with approximately 550 US military personnel and more than 650 US and Honduran civilians.
