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For other uses, see Puerto Cortés, Baja California Sur.  Puerto Cortés is a city in the Cortés department of Honduras.
[edit] GeographyIt is on the Caribbean Sea coast, north of San Pedro Sula and east of Omoa, at 15.85° N, 87.94° W. It has a natural bay. It is Honduras's main sea port and it is considered the most important seaport in Central America.[1] As of 2003, Puerto Cortés has a population of some 81,000. [edit] HistoryHernán Cortés founded the town of La Natividad in 1524, roughly where Puerto Cortés is today, and populated it with about 20 Spaniards who had been previously been living in Nito and Naco. By 1533, a local native leader, called Çiçumba (or Çoçumba, or Socremba, or Joamba...we don't really know since the Spanish recorded so many variants of his name) had destroyed the town, reportedly taking a woman from Sevilla, Spain captive. After Çiçumba's defeat in 1536 by Pedro de Alvarado, a new town, Puerto de Caballos was founded on the southern shore of the body of water known as the Laguna de Alvarado. Because it was vulnerable to pirates until the building of the Spanish fort at Omoa in the 18th century, it had few permanent residents in the 16th and 17th centuries. People preferred to come out to the coast from San Pedro when a ship came into port. The name Puerto de Caballos (Port of horses) is because when Hernán Cortés arrived on Honduras' coast from Mexico and started unloading horses and cargo from the ships, several horses were drowned. In 1869 Puerto Caballos changed its name to Puerto Cortés in honour of Hernán Cortés. [edit] The cityPuerto Cortés is home of a Soccer team known as Club Deportivo Platense, which in 1966 was the first Honduran National Football Soccer Champion. In 2001 the team won its second national soccer championship.   In the month of August, Puerto Cortés celebrates its local or patronal festivities during two weeks. The last day (a Saturday) is known as Noche Veneciana (Venice's night). August 15th is a local holiday in honour of Virgen de la Asunción (Puerto Cortés local patroness or saint). In September 2001, the Bridge La Laguna (The lagoon) was rebuilt and inaugurated, the old bridge (a 50 years old structure) was badly damaged in 1998 by Hurricane Mitch and was demolished. A concrete wall that surrounds and protects a portion of the coastline in the bay area, was built close to the north end of Bridge La Laguna, this wall is known as El Malecón, the Spanish word for 'jetty' or 'pier'. The first four-lane highway in Honduras was inaugurated in 1996, connecting Puerto Cortés and the city of San Pedro Sula. [edit] The seaportIn 1966 the Empresa Nacional Portuaria (Honduras National Port Authority) [2]was created. A Free Trade Zone was created in 1976. Among all worldwide seaports that export containers with goods with destination to U.S.A., Puerto Cortés is the 36th in terms of volume. Because of its proximity to U.S. seaports in the Gulf of Mexico and on the East Cost and its outstanding seaport infrastructure, Puerto Cortés was included in the U.S. Container Security Initiative (CSI), the first such port in Central America. In December 2005 the U.S. government signed an agreement with Honduras's government and opened a U.S. Customs Office in Puerto Cortés [3]. Under this agreement, all containers exported from Puerto Cortés that are destined for any U.S. seaport are checked by U.S. Customs officials in Honduras. On December 7, 2006 the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Energy (DOE) announced the first phase of the Secure Freight Initiative, an unprecedented effort to build upon existing port security measures by enhancing the US federal government’s ability to scan containers for nuclear and radiological materials overseas and to better assess the risk of inbound containers. The initial phase of Secure Freight involves the deployment of a combination of existing technology and proven nuclear detection devices to six foreign ports: Port Qasim in Pakistan; Puerto Cortés in Honduras; Southampton in the United Kingdom; Port Salalah in Oman; Port of Singapore; and the Gamman Terminal at Port Busan in Korea. Beginning in early 2007, containers from these ports will be scanned for radiation and information risk factors before they are allowed to depart for the United States. [4] On March 2007, under the Megaport initiative, 3 RPMs (Radiation Portal Monitors) were already installed in Puerto Cortés by U.S. DOE in order to inspect all containers with destination to USA, checking for possible dangerous radioactive threats. On April 2, 2007 the RPMs became operative [5]. [edit] Notable people and natives of Puerto Cortés
[edit] Elected Mayors of Puerto CortésIn 1982 a new constitution was approved, before that year mayors were designated "by finger" by Tegucigalpa top government officials.
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Coordinates: 15°53′N 87°57′W / 15.883°N 87.95°W
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