La Virtud
Encyclopedia
La Virtud is a municipality
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 in the Honduran
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

 department of Lempira.
La Virtud is one of the municipalities of the Lempira department. It is also one of the furthest from the big cities in Honduras but near to El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

 border. It takes up to 4 hours to get there taking either way of Gracias
Gracias
Gracias is a small Honduran town/municipality that was founded in 1536, and has a population of approximately 25,000 people...

 or Santa Rosa de Copán
Santa Rosa de Copán
Santa Rosa de Copán is the departmental capital of the Honduran department of Copán. It is set at an elevation of approximately above mean sea level....

. However, the best way is via Santa Rosa de Copan-San Marcos de Ocotepeque-Cololaca-Valladolid-La Virtud.

History

The very first settlers were Spanish from El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

, seeking fields for sowing the raw material for bluing. It is believed that its founder was a priest called Doroteo Alvarenga in 1775. It was granted a municipality back in 1859.

Geography

The municipality capital is located in a valley and causing to decrease its elevation to sea level and the vegetations corresponds to the dry subtropical forest and the weather is hot throughout the year. Throughout the rest of the municipality there are some mountains and hills but the vegetation and weather are the same.

Boundaries

Its boundaries are:
  • North : Valladolid
    Valladolid, Lempira
    Valladolid is one of the municipalities of the Lempira department of Honduras. It takes about 2.5 hours to travel there and it must be via Santa Rosa de Copán–San Marcos de Ocotepeque–Cololaca–Tambla–Valladolid.- History :...

     municipality.
  • South : El Salvador
    El Salvador
    El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

    .
  • East : El Salvador
    El Salvador
    El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

    .
  • West : Gualcince
    Gualcince
    Gualcince is a municipality in the Honduran department of Lempira.Gualcince is one of the several municipalities of the Lempira department. It is located 78 km from Gracias city. It is necessary to pass by San Juan, Intibuca and through the municipalities of Santa Cruz and San Andrés. It has 2...

     and Mapulaca
    Mapulaca
    Mapulaca is a municipality in the Honduran department of Lempira.Mapulaca is one of the smallest municipalities in the south of Lempira department. It is hard to get there and the traveler can take any road, however, the suggested option is via Santa Rosa de Copán-San Marcos de...

     municipalities.


  • Surface Extents: 83 km²

Resources

The main activity is commerce, especially with El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

, so the US dollar is used as currency as well. The 2nd economical activity is cattle and milk products.There are a few gathering points for coffee grains. Corn and Bean crops can not be absent. There is electricity in the municipality capital and hardware and grocery stores.

Population

The majority of people is a cross-breed of native Indians and Spanish settlers, and there's a small amount of Indian descendants in the surrounding villages.
  • Population: The figure was 6,133 people in 2001. Based on this, an estimate was elaborated for 2008, resulting in 6,244.
  • Villages: 13
  • Settlements: 48

Tourism

It has the typical colonial Spanish distribution in the downtown area. Perhaps the best feature is going swimming in one the rivers nearby, one of those is the "Lempa" river on the border with El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...

. For more information about hobbies and entertainment in this municipality go to the next link: La Virtud
  • Local Holidays: "Virgen del Carmen" day in July and also "Virgen de Santa Barbara" day on December 4..
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