Gracias a Dios ( Spanish pronunciation: [ˈɡɾasjas a ˈðjos] ; "Thanks to God" or "Thank God") is one of the 18 departments ( departamentos ) into which Honduras is divided. The departmental capital is Puerto Lempira ; until 1975 it was Brus Laguna .
7-619: Puerto Lempira or Auhya Yari is the Miskito capital of the Gracias a Dios department in northeastern Honduras , located on the shores of the Caratasca Lagoon . Though it does not have paved roads, it is the largest town in the La Mosquitia region. The town is named for the 16th century leader of the indigenous Lenca peoples, Lempira , who directed an ultimately unsuccessful resistance against
14-469: A Honduran building or structure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Gracias a Dios department Once a part of the Mosquito Coast , it was formed in 1957 from all of Mosquitia territory and parts of Colón and Olancho departments, with the boundary running along 85° W from Cape Camarón south. The department is rather remote and inaccessible by land, although local airlines fly to
21-399: A population of 47,528. Of these, 82.41% were Indigenous (81.98% Miskito ), 14.86% Mestizo , 1.34% Afro-Honduran or Black , 1.27% White and 0.13% others. Miskito culture is dominant, though not exclusive. Miskito language is dominant and official in the region, followed by Mayangna and Spanish. The city is served by Puerto Lempira Airport , which operates several flights a week on
28-519: A regular schedule. Like most of the Caribbean side of Central America, Puerto Lempira has a warm, humid and rainy tropical rainforest climate ( Köppen Af ). Its driest month of March, when the relentlessly wet trade winds are weakest, is only marginally rainy enough to avoid a tropical monsoon classification; however, between June and December monthly rainfall consistently averages above or near 300 millimetres or 12 inches. This article about
35-546: The Spanish conquistador forces in the 1530s. Puerto Lempira became the departmental capital in 1975, prior to which it was Brus Laguna . In the 1980s, the town became a centre for CIA operations against the Sandinistas . Its population is 22,860 (2023 calculation). Puerto Lempira is sister city to Plattsburgh, New York , US, and has been since 2011. At the time of the 2013 Honduras census, Puerto Lempira municipality had
42-495: The department. The department contains the Caratasca Lagoon , the largest lagoon in Honduras. At the time of the 2013 Honduras census, Gracias a Dios Department had a population of 90,795. Of these, 81.15% were Indigenous (79.70% Miskito , 0.95% Mayangna ), 16.30% Mestizo , 1.58% Black or Afro-Honduran , 0.82% White and 0.15% others. Gracias a Dios is known to be a place of relatively high crime. Due to its remoteness and
49-400: The main cities. Gracias a Dios department covers a total surface area of 16,997 km and, in 2015, had an estimated population of 94,450. Although it is the second largest department in the country, it is sparsely populated, and contains extensive pine savannas, swamps, and rainforests . However, the expansion of the agricultural frontier is a perennial threat to the natural bounty of
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