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San Pedro Sula "Usula (Valley of Birds)"
Flag
Nickname: La Capital Industrial
Coordinates: 15°30′00″N 88°01′60″W / 15.50, -88.0333
Country	Honduras
Department	Cortés
Foundation	June 1536
Government
- Alcalde (Mayor)	Rodolfo Padilla Sunseri
Area
- Urban	136 km² (52.5 sq mi)
Population (1999)
- City	900,000
- Density	2,427.7/km² (6,287.7/sq mi)
- Metro	1,200,000

San Pedro Sula is a city in the Central American Republic of Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country, in the Sula Valley, some 60 km south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea. With an estimated population of 900,000 people (2006 estimate) in its metro area, it is the second largest city in the country behind the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, and is considered the economic heartland of Honduras. It is the capital of Honduras's Cortés department.

San Pedro Sula is known as the Industrial Capital of Honduras, due to the many factories, plantations, and businesses concentrated around the city.

The city has a museum of archeology and history, which includes both Pre-Columbian artifacts and expositions detailing the evolution of the city. The cigar making business is important here, as are garment assembly plants, known as maquiladoras. Ramon Villeda Morales International Airport (SAP) is one of the major airports in Honduras. Real C.D. España is their best known football team while Club Deportivo Marathón is the most popular team in this city. There is the Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano, Estadio Francisco Morazan and Estadio Yankel Rosenthal.

Contents 1 History 2 Places of Interest 2.1 Museums 2.2 Malls 2.3 Main city attractions 2.3.1 Central Park 2.3.2 Zona de Armenta 2.3.3 AGAS 2.3.4 Mercado Guamilito 2.3.5 Teatro Jose Francisco Saybe 2.3.6 Water Parks 3 Division 3.1 Neighborhoods 4 Educational Institutions 4.1 Colleges and Universities 4.2 Primary and Secondary Schools 5 Soccer 5.1 Marathon 5.2 Real España 6 Tourism 7 External links

San Pedro Sula was founded on June 27, 1536, by Pedro de Alvarado with the name Villa de San Pedro de Puerto Caballos, close to the town of Choloma. There were around 18 towns populated by indigenous people in the valley at this time. The indigenous people were forced to labor for the Spanish Conquistadors under a system of peonage known as repartimiento. Early descriptions of the landscape indicate abundant swampland and dense tropical forests, with little land good for agriculture or cattle raising. The city's name became San Pedro Sula in the 18th century, after several changes. The "Sula" part of its name comes from the Minas de Sula, gold mines located to the west of the village of Naco.

For the first few years of its history, San Pedro was the colonial mint, where gold, found to the west in the Naco, Sula, and Quimistan valleys, had to be brought to smelt, and where the Spanish Crown collected a fifth of the value of the gold. The mint was moved to Gracias a Dios, and ultimately Comayagua in the 1550s.

French, English, and Dutch pirates raided and sacked the city, prompting the Spaniards to move the city to its current location along the Chamelecon River. San Pedro languished to a neglected backwater, with few Spanish settlers. New settlers were not attracted to the city, preferring the higher, drier valleys inland with more farmland and gold mines. At the same time, lax Spanish control spurred illicit trade in alcohol from the Caribbean islands, such as Cuba.

The city grew slowly from about 800 residents in 1590, to almost 10,000 by the 1890s, but most of this population growth took place in the 19th century. In the mid 1920s, it grew from 10,000 to 100,000 people, following a boom in banana plantations in the region. Today, the city's metropolitan area has almost 1 million habitants and continues to expand. The building of a rail line between San Pedro and the coast, connecting the banana plantations to the ports of Tela and Puerto Cortes, as well as heavy investment from the local Palestinian population, spurred development of San Pedro as an industrial city. San Pedro Sula was officially recognized as a city by the Congress of Honduras on October 8, 1902.

San Pedro Sula has three main museums.

• Museo de Arqueología e Historia
• Museo de la Naturaleza
• Planetario Infantil

The Museo de Antropología e Historia is licensed by the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History to house archaeological and historical collections, which by law belong to the people of Honduras. The ground floor of the museum is devoted to the history of Honduras, and San Pedro Sula in particular. The upper floor exhibits are about the prehistory of the valley where San Pedro is located. The Museum has a research library with information related to the history of Honduras. The museum director is Teresa de Pastor.

The second museum has to do with the flora and fauna surrounding the city. This museum houses several insects species, as well as books about the nature and the animals found in the Merendon mountains. This museum is directed by Gladys Fasquelle de Pastor.

The planetarium is an astronomy museum. It shows the night sky as seen from San Pedro Sula, while also providing information about the solar system, constellations, and a small space exhibit.

• City Mall Circunvalación
• Multiplaza
• Megaplaza
• Metroplaza
• Nova Prisa
• hondutel

In the downtown area; it contains a small Gazebo, marking the spot where the city was founded.

The Zona de Armenta is a cold-water river that comes from Mount Merendon.

The Asociación de Ganaderos y Agricultores de Sula (Agriculture and Livestock Association of Sula) or AGAS, has main offices and a campus for social events.

Venders sell crafts, art, and flowers.

The Francisco Saybe Theatre (FST) is the main theatre in the city.

• Wonderland
• Zizima

San Pedro Sula is divided in neighborhoods and named residential developments or subdivisions.

• Barrio Guamilito
• Barrio El Benque
• Barrio El Centro
• Barrio Paz Barahona
• Barrio Suyapa
• Barrio Medina
• Barrio Barandillas
• Barrio Las Acadias
• Barrio Santa Ana
• Barrio Los Andes
• Barrio Concepcion
• Barrio Las Palmas
• Barrio Cabañas
• Barrio Rio Piedras

Colonia Perfecto Vazques

• Universidad Tecnologica Centroamericana (UNITEC)
• Universidad de San Pedro Sula
• Universidad Tecnológica Hondureña
• Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Honduras del Valle de Sula
• Universidad Cristiana de Honduras
• Universidad Catolica de Honduras

• Academia Americana
• Academia Sagrado Corazón
• Albert Einstein International School of San Pedro Sula [1]
• Agape Christian Academy
• Escuela Bilingue Real Americana
• Escuela Happy Days And Freedom Highschool
• Centro Cultural Sampedrano
• Centro Tecnico Hondureño Aleman
• Escuela Internacional Sampedrana
• Escuela Happy New Dawn
• Escuela Catolica San Vicente De Paul
• New Horizon School
• Escuela Episcopal El Buen Pastor
• Instituto Experimental La Salle
• Infop
• Instituto Departamental 15 De Septiembre
• Instituto Debe Y Haber
• Instituto Educacional Adventista
• Instituto Felipe Zelaya
• Instituto Liceo Sampedrano
• Instituto Tecnologico del Norte I.T.N
• Instituto Tecnológico Sampedrano I.T.S (Nuevas instalaciones)
• Instituto Maria Auxiliadora
• Instituto Oficial 1ro De Mayo De 1954
• Instituto Ovidio Decroly
• Instituto: Jose Trinidad Reyes
• Instituto Bilingue Valle De Sula
• Kiddy Kat-Morazzanni
• Liceo Sampedrano
• Liceo Militar Del Norte
• Maria Auxiliadora
• Saint Peter's Academy
• San Vicente De Paul
• SERAN
• St. Thomas Parroqial
• Instituto Bilingue Valle de Sula

San Pedro Sula has two stadiums and two local teams.

The first stadium is the Francisco Morazan stadium. This stadium is located in the heart of the city and can hold up to 20,000 people. The growing population demanded a greater stadium which lead to the building of the Olympic Stadium. The Olympic stadium is to this date the most widely used stadium. The Olympic stadium can hold up to 50,000 people when full.

Club Deportivo Marathon, as it is officially known, is more commonly known as just Marathon. The team's colors are red, white and green.

The team holds black and yellow as colors. It has won the national championship nine times.

San Pedro Sula is not much of a tourism attraction, but it serves as a destination for those able to travel to nearby Roatan, Utila, Maya ruins of Copan and La Ceiba. The city is served by the modern Ramón Villeda Morales International Airport; airport code SAP. The airport is conveniently located about 15 minutes from the city's centre and serves North-Western Honduras through several domestic and international air companies, such as: Continental, American, Delta, COPA, Spirit Airlines, Aeromexico and TACA which link the city with San Salvador, Mexico City, Panama City, Guatemala City, San José, Managua, Atlanta, Houston, Newark, Miami, and New York City.

• Interactive Map of San Pedro Sula

Coordinates: 15°30′0″N, 88°01′60″W