article: 1502 - Christopher Columbus lands in Honduras. Hurricane Mitch wiped out homes in Tegucigalpa, killed thousands Mitch: A path of destruction 1525 - Spain begins conquest of Honduras, which is accomplished only in 1539 after bitter struggles with the native population and rivals representing Spanish power centres in Mexico, Panama and Hispaniola. 17th century - Northern coast falls to British buccaneers; British protectorate established over the coast until 1860 while the Spanish concentrate on the inland area. 1821 - Honduras gains independence from Spain but becomes part of Mexico. 1823 - Honduras joins the United Provinces of Central America, which also include Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Independence and US economic control 1840 - Honduras becomes fully independent. Late 19th-early 20th century - US becomes economically involved in Honduras, with the United Fruit Company controlling two-thirds of banana exports by 1913. 1932-49 - Honduras under right-wing National Party of Honduras (PNH) dictatorship led by General Tiburcio Carias Andino. 1963 - Colonel Osvaldo Lopez Arellano takes power after leading a coup. 1969 - Brief but costly war with El Salvador over heavy immigration and disputed border. 1974 - Lopez resigns after allegedly accepting a bribe from a US company. 1975 - Colonel Juan Alberto Melgar Castro take power. 1978 - Melgar ousted in coup led by General Policarpo Paz Garcia. 1980 - General Paz signs peace treaty with El Salvador. Civilian rule, war with Nicaragua 1981 - Roberto Suazo Cordova of the centrist Liberal Party of Honduras (PLH) is elected president, leading the first civilian government in more than a century. But armed forces chief General Gustavo Alvarez retains considerable power and Honduras becomes embroiled in various regional conflicts. US-run camps for training Salvadorans in counterinsurgency are set up on Honduran territory. 1982 - US-backed Nicaraguan counter-revolutionaries, or Contras, launch operations to bring down Nicaragua's Sandinista government from Honduran territory. 1982-83 - General Alvarez responds to increasing political unrest by ordering the detention of trade union activists and left-wing sympathisers. Death squads are allegedly used to eliminate subversive elements. 1984 - General Alvarez is deposed amid anti-American demonstrations in Tegucigalpa. US-run training camps for Salvadoran counter-revolutionaries are shut down, but the government continues to cooperate with the US administration's anti-Sandinista activities in return for substantial economic aid. 1986 - Another Liberal Party man, Jose Azcona del Hoyo, elected president after the law was changed to stipulate a maximum one-term presidency. Human rights abuses 1987 - Amnesty granted both to military and left-wing guerrillas for abuses committed during early 1980s. 1988 February - An Amnesty International report alleges an increase in human rights violations by armed forces and right-wing death squads. 1988 August - Inter-American Court of Human Rights finds Honduran government guilty of "disappearances" of Honduran citizens between 1981 and 1984. 1989 January - General Alvarez is assassinated by left-wing guerrillas in Tegucigalpa. 1989 February - Summit of Central American presidents in El Salvador reaches agreement on demobilisation of Nicaraguan Contras based in Honduras. 1990 January - Rafael Callejas sworn in as president; proceeds to introduce neo-liberal economic reforms and austerity
summary: A chronology of key events: