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Life on Roatan with Roatan Life Real
Estate
 History
of Roatan
The Bay Island's rich cultural diversity
stems from the variety of peoples that have inhabited them
over the ages. Today's inhabitants are the descendents of
native Indians, Africans, and Europeans -including pirates-,
and mainland Hondurans, accompanied by an ever-growing expatriate
community.
The Islands original inhabitants were Paya Indians.
The Paya were a nomadic group of hunter-gathers and fisherman,
who traveled in canoes between the islands and to the mainland
to trade amongst themselves and the Maya and other tribes
from the mainland. Although the Paya weren't as numerous as
the Maya and left no written history, archaeological sites
have been found throughout the islands containing simple pottery
and tools. Today, Bay Islanders refer to these findings as
"yaba ding dings".
In 1502, on his 4th voyage to the new world,
Christopher Columbus discovered the Bay Islands and claimed
them for Spain. Over the following centuries Roatan would
be caught between Spanish and British rule. During these years'
famous pirates such as Henry Morgan and Edward Mansfield also
used the Island to restock their ships and as a base for raiding
passing ships. At one time, there was believed to be over
5000 pirates in Roatan in a settlement near Port Royal. This
situation caused the Spanish Governor of Honduras to order
the abandonment of the Bay Islands in 1641. The Spaniards
weren't able to drive the pirates out until 1650. At this
time, most of the island's original inhabitants were also
forced into slavery or relocated and it wasn't until 1797,
when English soldiers relocated 3,000 black Carib-African
Indians from St. Vincent to Roatan, that the Bay Islands received
the first permanent settlers. These people today are known
as the Garífuna, and while most of the original Garífuna
resettled in Trujillo on the mainland, Roatan's town of Punta
Gorda, has remained the first home of the Garifuna.
In 1830, immigrants from the Cayman Islands
and freed black slaves, first arrived in Utila and eventually
spread to the other Bay Islands. Today, the descendents of
these immigrants consider themselves the original "Islanders"
and speak a unique version of Caribbean English, which is
still predominately spoken. While the British reclaimed the
islands in 1852, they were forced to turn them over to newly
formed Republic of Honduras in 1859. This caused for a strained
relationship between the Bay Islands and mainland Honduras
as many of islanders considered themselves "English"
rather than Hondurans due to the centuries old conflict between
Spain and England. It wasn't until the 1980s that the cultural
gap between the Bay Islands and mainland Honduras began to
close. Spanish was established as the official language taught
in the schools and the Bay Island's popularity as a world
class diving destination caught the attention of the central
government, which began promoting tourism to the islands.
In the 1990s, the Honduran government also legalized the sale
of coastal properties to foreigners, which has attracted a
burgeoning expat community and an influx of mainlanders in
search of work -usually related to tourism and construction-
to the Bay Islands.
Geography, Topography and Weather
Roatan forms part the Bay Islands of Honduras,
a small nation located in the middle of the Central American
isthmus bordering Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador; and
flanked by both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
The Bay Islands are an archipelago of three
large islands -Roatan, Utila and Guanaja-, three small islands
-Morat, Barbareta, and St. Elena-, and over 60 cays located
a mere 10 to 40 miles from the Honduran mainland in the in
the azure waters of the Caribbean Sea.
Roatan is the largest island at 32 miles long
and from one to three miles wide. A small mountain ridge runs
along the spine of the island offering expansive ocean vistas
with the highest point at about 900 feet above sea level.
The island has varying topography from white sandy beaches,
iron shoreline, mangroves, tropical hilltops, lush valleys
to reef surrounded waters.
Roatan is surrounded by a reef system, which
forms part of the second largest reef system in the world
and is home to most of the marine life found in the Caribbean.
The reef surrounding the island creates calm lagoons between
the coastline and the reef crest that allow snorkeling from
nearly every shore. And sometimes, from very close to shore!
A large part of the Roatan reef has been protected by the
Honduran government and is known as the West End and Sandy
Bay Marine Reserve. This Marine Reserve is home to 38 world-class
dive sites and some of the most species rich waters in the
Caribbean.
This diversity of the landscape on Roatan makes
it one of the most visually impressive locations in the Caribbean.
In the 18th century Captain James Wright referred to Roatan
as the "Garden of the West Indies". Today, Roatan
still retains its true tropical beauty.
The yearly average temperature in Roatan is
80 degrees Fahrenheit. The island receives constant trade
winds keeping the climate cool and a reasonable rainfall,
with the heaviest rains from December to February. This rainfall
keeps the island lush and green.
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