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Honduras West Bay at the Western Tip of Roatan, Largest of the Bay Islands, Honduras, Caribbean Photographic Print Francis, Robert 12 in. x 9 in. Buy at AllPosters.com Framed   Mounted Honduras, the only European possession on the mainland of Central America, has an area of about 8598 square miles, including 159 square miles in offshore islands and cays. The northern half of the colony, north of the Sibun River, is a level country with many large lagoons, swamps, and sluggish rivers. The last are navigable for long distances by craft of shallow draft and provide the chief means of communication. The prevailing rock is limestone, but there are also large areas of so-called "pine ridges," composed of almost pure sand overlying sandstones and covered with a species of red pine. Although the best agricultural lands in this section are the alluvial soils along the rivers, tracts of good soil are found away from the rivers. Southward from the headwaters of the Sibun and Belize Rivers the terrain back of the coastal lowlands is hilly. The main range, known as Maya Mountains, parallels the coast, rising to elevations of more than 2800 feet. The hills are mostly of metamorphosed sandstone, although marbles, schists, and gneisses have been reported in the Cockscomb Mountains, a short east-running outlier of the Maya range, in which Victoria Peak (3700 feet) is the highest crest in the colony. The Belize River rises in pine-forested hills, immediately south of which are areas of oak and mahogany. In the extreme south, beyond the Deep River, there is a fertile rolling country underlain by folded calcareous sandstones. Extending from Belize south to Deep River, a low coastal plain of recent alluvial deposits averages about 8 or 10 miles in width and is much broken by lagoons and surmounted in places by sandy pine ridges similar to those farther north. For a distance of 20 to 30 miles out to sea islands, cays, and coral reefs border the shore and shield it from the waves. They provide a number of safe harbors and roadsteads, but only south of Belize are these practicable for deep-draft steamers, and entrance to them is everywhere by narrow channels. Climate Climatic conditions differ considerably in various parts of the colony because of differences in position and topography. Easterly winds prevail during the greater part of the year. The mean annual temperature at Belize is about 81° F., with the mean temperature of the hottest month (August) 83° F. and of the coolest month (January) 76° F. In the interior temperatures as high as 100° F. occur toward the end of the dry season (middle of February to the middle of May). The average monthly rainfall in the dry season is about two inches. October, November, and December are the rainiest months. The average annual fall increases from north to south -50 inches at Corozal, 55 at El Cayo, 60 at Belize, 90 at Stann Creek, 100 at Middlesex, and 150 at Punta Gorda.

Caribbean History Caribbean Until 1900 1900s Caribbean  Caribbean Area Bahama Islands Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Morant and Pedro Cays Leeward Islands Windward Islands Grenada, The Grenadines Cultural Futures of Grenada The Long Grenada Bank Barbados Trinidad and Tobago Guiana Dominica Dominica Bank Honduras Martinique Guadeloupe and Dependencies St. Lucia Island Normal and Plunging Sea Cliffs Contrast of St. Lucia and St. Helena An Alternative Explanation for the St. Lucia Cliffs Minor Futures of St. Lucia St. Lucia, Degradation in the Presence of Forests Cultural Futures of St. Lucia The Mountainous Island of St. Vincent  Economy The International Importance of the Banana Trade United States Trade with the Caribbean Oil on the Caribbean More