Christopher Columbus landed at Cape Honduras in 1502 and claimed Central America for Spain. Honduras was made part of the Captaincy-General of Guatemala within the Vice-Royalty of New Spain in 1539 and remained part of the Captaincy-General until gaining its independence on September 21, 1821. Guatemala was part of Mexico from 1821 until 1823 when it became a constituent state of the Central American Federation. Honduras was originally divided into the Provinces of Comayagua and Tegucigalpa, which were joined to create Honduras on September 18, 1824. Honduras became a separate country on October 26, 1838.
Spanish Escudo (XESE) silver coins were used in Honduras while it was part of the Vice-Royalty of New Spain. Some crudely stuck 8 reales coins were minted in Tegucigalpa in 1813. The Central American Escudo/Peso (XCAE) was used while El Salvador was part of the Central American Federation. The Escudo was divisible into 2 Pesos or 16 Reales. Some coins were minted for the Federation in Tegucigalpa between 1830 and 1832. After gaining its independence, Honduras issued the Peso de Plata (HNP), at par with the Central American Peso, later linking the Peso to the French Franc in 1870 with 1 Peso equal to 5 French Francs. The first Honduran coins were minted in 1832. Honduras introduced decimalization in 1881 with 1 Peso = 100 Centavos. In 1918, the exchange rate was adjusted to 2 Pesos to the US Dollar. The Lempira (HNL) was chosen as the name for the new currency (Morazon had also been considered) by Decree 102 on April 3, 1926. The Lempira replaced the Peso de Plata at par with 1 US Dollar equal to 2 Lempiras. Lempira coins were introduced in 1931.
The Lempira and Peso are divisible into 100 Centavos. Several private banks issued banknotes. The Banco Central de Honduras was founded on February 3, 1950, and on July 1, 1950, the Banco Central de Honduras took over the right of banknote issue from the Banco de Honduras and the Banco Atlantida. |
