Editing Honduras (section)

===20th century and the role of American companies===
{{See also|Banana Wars}}
In the late nineteenth century, Honduras granted land and substantial exemptions to several US-based fruit and infrastructure companies in return for developing the country's northern regions. Thousands of workers came to the north coast as a result to work in [[Banana production in Honduras|banana plantations]] and other businesses that grew up around the export industry. Banana-exporting companies, dominated until 1930 by the [[Cuyamel Fruit Company]], as well as the [[United Fruit Company]], and [[Standard Fruit Company]], built an [[enclave economy]] in northern Honduras, controlling [[infrastructure]] and creating self-sufficient, tax-exempt sectors that contributed relatively little to economic growth. American troops landed in Honduras in 1903, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1924 and 1925.<ref name=Becker>{{cite web
|first=Marc
|last=Becker
|url=https://www.yachana.org/teaching/resources/interventions.html
|title=History of U.S. Interventions in Latin America
|publisher=Marc Becker
|year=2011
|access-date=9 February 2016
|archive-date=7 November 2019
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107010937/https://www.yachana.org/teaching/resources/interventions.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref>

In 1904, the writer [[O. Henry]] coined the term "[[banana republic]]" to describe Honduras,<ref name=BananaRep>{{Cite news
|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/11/economist-explains-16
|title=Where did banana republics get their name?
|newspaper=The Economist
|date= 2013-11-21
|access-date= 2016-02-16
|archive-date= 2020-11-14
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114011541/https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2013/11/21/where-did-banana-republics-get-their-name
|url-status=live
}}</ref> publishing a book called ''[[Cabbages and Kings (novel)|Cabbages and Kings]]'', about a fictional country, [[Anchuria]], inspired by his experiences in Honduras, where he had lived for six months.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Malcolm D. MacLean |date=Summer 1968 |title=O. Henry in Honduras |journal=American Literary Realism, 1870–1910 |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=36–46 |jstor=27747601 }}</ref> In ''The Admiral'', O. Henry refers to the nation as a "small maritime banana republic"; naturally, the fruit was the entire basis of its economy.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/01/is-the-us-on-the-verge-of-becoming-a-banana-republic/267048/b |title=Is the U.S. on the Verge of Becoming a Banana Republic? |first1=David A. |last1=Graham |date=10 January 2013 |journal=[[The Atlantic]] |access-date=10 January 2018 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308143408/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/01/is-the-us-on-the-verge-of-becoming-a-banana-republic/267048/b/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=[[O. Henry]]|title=Cabbages and Kings|publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday, Page & Company]]|location=New York City|year=1904|url=https://archive.org/details/cabbagesandking04henrgoog |quote=banana republic Anchuria.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cabbagesandking04henrgoog/page/n160 132], 296}}</ref> According to a literary analyst writing for ''[[The Economist]]'', "his phrase neatly conjures up the image of a tropical, agrarian country. But its real meaning is sharper: it refers to the fruit companies from the United States that came to exert extraordinary influence over the politics of Honduras and its neighbors."<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/where-we-got-term-banana-republic-180961813/#geHDsKSeDYOltxOK.99 |title=Smartnews 'Where We Got the Term' "Banana Republic" Hint: it's not a great moment in American history |first1=Kat |last1=Eschner |date=18 January 2017 |journal=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] |access-date=10 January 2018 |archive-date=2 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102231017/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/where-we-got-term-banana-republic-180961813/#geHDsKSeDYOltxOK.99 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=BananaRep/> In addition to drawing Central American workers north, the fruit companies encouraged immigration of workers from the [[English-speaking Caribbean]], notably [[Jamaica]] and [[Belize]], which introduced an African-descended, English-speaking and largely Protestant population into the country, although many of these workers left following changes to immigration law in 1939.<ref name=Chambers>
{{cite book
|first=Glen
|last=Chambers
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d1Zlr9m3eTwC
|title=Race Nation and West Indian Immigration to Honduras, 1890–1940
|location=Baton Rouge
|publisher=Louisiana State University Press
|date=2010
|isbn=978-0807135570
}}</ref>
Honduras joined the [[Allies of World War II|Allied Nations]] after [[attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]], on 8 December 1941, and signed the [[Declaration by United Nations]] on 1 January 1942, along with twenty-five other governments.

Constitutional crises in the 1940s led to reforms in the 1950s. One reform gave workers permission to organize, and a 1954 [[General strike of 1954 (Honduras)|general strike]] paralyzed the northern part of the country for more than two months, but led to reforms. In 1963 a [[1963 Honduran coup d'état|military coup]] unseated democratically elected President [[Ramón Villeda Morales]]. In 1960, the northern part of what was the [[Mosquito Coast]] was transferred from Nicaragua to Honduras by the [[International Court of Justice]].<ref name="auto"/>