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About Roatan |
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| English is the primary language of the island. We speak Spanish, too, but most islanders are descendants from immigrants from the Cayman Islands and Belize and still speak an easily understandable Creole English. The Garifunas have their own unique language. |
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| The archipelago of the Bay Islands were visited by Christopher Columbus on his fourth voyage to the New World. Columbus and his crew recorded visiting the "Island of Pines" on July 30, 1502. Today we know this island is Roatan's sister island, Guanaja. Upon arriving in Guanaja, he found an island populated by peaceful people who called themselves the Payas and who made use of copper tools. The island had excellent quality water and many pine trees.
"...by good fortune there arrived at that time a canoe long as a galley and eight feet wide, made of a single tree trunk like the other Indian canoes; it was freighted with merchandise from the western regions around New Spain. Amidships it had a palm-leaf awning like that on Venetian gondolas; this gave complete protection against the rain and waves. Underneath were women and children, and all the baggage and merchandise. There were twenty-five paddlers aboard, but they offered no resistance when our boats drew up to them."
There is very little record of fate of the Payas after this initial report. It can be assumed that that much of the indigenous population succumbed to European diseases and/or were taken as slaves to work on sugar plantations elsewhere in the Caribbean. |
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| During the colonial period, Roatan was caught between the struggle of the two major world empires of the time: the English and the Spanish crowns. Possession of the island alternated between these two powers, which established colonies only to later have the colonizers driven from the island by the other's military forces. However, for long periods of time the island was, in fact, under possession of English pirates who used it as a base to conduct raids on the new Spanish colonies in mainland Central America. It is estimated that as many as 5,000 pirates populated the island during this time. These included famous swashbucklers like Henry Morgan and Captain John Coxen.
In 1650, under the command of Don Francisco Villalba Toledo, the Spanish attacked the English settlement and garrison at Port Royal, Roatan. Heavily outnumbered, the pirates fought heroically, sinking many Spanish galleons in the deep water harbour. However, they suffered heavy losses and ultimately surrendered to the Spanish military. In 1742, under the command of Mayor Caufield, the English resettled the island and rebult the fort at Port Royal. Following another legendary battle in 1782, the Spanish again reclaimed the island for the Spanish Crown. The Spanish military drove all English settlers from the island and the island remained largely uninhabited for the next fifteen years. |
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| In 1797, the English forcibly removed over 5,000 Caribbean black people from the island of St. Vincent and marooned them on Roatan at Punta Gorda. The fascinating history and traditions of the Garifuna people had begun over 150 years earlier when their African ancestors were captured and shipped to the New World. The slave ship wrecked, however, on the reefs of the St. Vincent, and the survivors escaped and mixed with the local Carib Indians, creating a new language and culture. While many Garifunas abandoned Roatan to settle on the Honduras mainland and other places in Central America, some made the island their home. Today the Garifunas are part of the rich quilt of Roatan's cultural heritage. |
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| English immigration and becoming Honduran |
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| Starting 1827, English-speaking people from the nearby English colonies of British Honduras (now Belize) and, especially, Grand Cayman started immigrating to Roatan and the other Bay Islands. In 1852, English islanders requested her majesty Queen Victoria to declare the Bay Islands an English colony. The United States, however, under its Monroe Doctrine ("America for the Americans") opposed the establishement of this new colony and pressured Great Britain to recognize Honduras' sovereignty claim on the islands. In 1859 the English Crown officially ceded the islands to the new Central American republic. Resigned to their fate, the English-speaking islanders reluctantly and grudgingly started the identify themselves with their new country. To this day, if you speak to an English-speaking islander in confidence, you'll very likely detect a hint of resentment passed down over the generations toward the "Spaniards" on the mainland. Overall, however, Roatanians have accepted their "Honduran-ness" and, today, proudly see themselves as one of the major engines of the Honduran economy. |
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| Truly a great place to visit!Wonderful staff, superb food, truly exquisite setting, beautiful beaches, and stunning diving. |
- Dr. Dangerous & Stunner, aka Patti and Dana
Colorado, USA |
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global warming
we are working to make Paya Bay
carbon neutral | |
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