From undocumented pre-conquest polities, through three centuries as a peripheral province of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, a brief annexation to the First Mexican Empire, a Central American federation that produced its most famous unionist statesman, and on to a sovereign republic whose flag still carries five stars — one for each state of a federation that dissolved in 1838–41 but whose hoped-for reunification Honduras has never stopped signaling on its own banner.
Honduras shares its blue-white-blue with Guatemala and El Salvador for the same reason: all three inherited it from the 1823–1841 Federal Republic of Central America. General Francisco Morazán, the federation's most determined defender and its last president, was Honduran-born — and the five stars added to the flag in 1866 are a direct, explicit tribute to the union he died trying to hold together.
Scope of this page: the lands of present-day Honduras, from the pre-conquest era to the present, seven political entities. Honduras was a peripheral province of the Captaincy General of Guatemala and later a founding member of the Central American federation, so its early chapters are shared history with Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica — each covered on its own page in this atlas. The map below traces Honduras's own real border whole; its modern territory was never internally split in the way some other countries in this atlas were. Part of a larger atlas — see the linked pages at the bottom.
One border, seven rulers
Honduras's own real border, traced whole — there's no genuine internal split to show here. Press play, or drag the slider, to watch who held all of it, era to era.
This is a single-region page, not a split one. Honduras spent three centuries as one peripheral province of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, then passed as a whole through Mexican annexation, the Central American federation, and independence — it was never partitioned into rival zones of its own territory the way, say, Hungary's Habsburg and Ottoman-held lands were. What changes here is only who ruled all of it at once.
to 1524
Lenca, Maya, and other pre-conquest polities
Real traced coastal boundary (simplified from public GeoJSON), no internal partition — see the rule box above for why.
How we know this. 6 of 7 eras on this page carry an evidence panel (4 attested, 2 not yet checked). Only the ones marked attested are confirmed by the sources named under them; where sources disagree or a claim could not be confirmed, the panel says so. Eras without a panel have not been looked at yet.
blue-white-blue with five stars, proportions and shade codified in 1949
1949 – present
Republic of Honduras (modern)
Republic, independentJuan Manuel GálvezSecular (no state religion)
Migration & conquest:Emigration: to the United States (1990s–)
Who & why: President Juan Manuel Gálvez's 26 January 1949 decree fixes the exact positions of the five stars and specifies the flag's official proportions and shade of blue in law, formalizing a design already in wide use. Honduras briefly flew an official turquoise shade from January 2022 — following a university-committee recommendation — before reverting to the traditional navy blue on 27 January 2026, restoring the shade shown here.
What it represents: the blue-white-blue with five stars, updated by Legislative Decree No. 29 of 18 January 1949 (26 January in Wikipedia's infobox), which set the stars farther apart in an X arrangement and established turquoise as the blue. Turquoise flags began flying in January 2022 and the flag officially returned to navy blue on 27 January 2026 per Wikipedia. The stars stand for the five original provinces of the Federal Republic of Central America and express hope of reunion.
Attestedhow we know this
Wikipedia: Decree 29 of 18 January 1949 (26 January per infobox) with turquoise; January 2022 turquoise; 27 January 2026 navy again. FOTW: 1949 decree sets the stars farther apart in an X; 2022 turquoise.
Honduras — Flags of the World (CRW Flags) compiled
Not established: The January 1949 day differs inside Wikipedia.
Paint guide
Proportions1:2, codified 1949.
LayoutHorizontal blue-white-blue, five blue five-pointed stars arranged in an X across the white stripe (simplified here as plain circles).
Honduras blue (navy)#0073CF
White#F4EFE1
five stars added to the white stripe, one for each federation state
1866 – 1949
Republic of Honduras (five-star flag)
Republic, independentJosé María MedinaSecular (no state religion)
Migration & conquest:Immigration: West Indian banana-industry laborers
Who & why: President José María Medina modifies the national flag on 16 February 1866, adding five blue five-pointed stars to the white stripe. The gesture is explicitly unionist: it honors the five member states of the defunct Central American federation and expresses hope for their eventual reunification — a cause Francisco Morazán, Honduran-born and the federation's last president, had died for in 1842 after a failed attempt to reunite the isthmus by force.
What it represents: President José María Medina added five stars under Legislative Decree No. 7 on 16 February 1866 (7 March in another place in Wikipedia; FOTW lists 9 January, 16 February and 19 January). A regulation of 27 September 1933 set the stars closer together, and the X-shaped arrangement came only with the 1949 decree.
Attestedhow we know this
Wikipedia: Medina, Decree 7, 16 February 1866 (or 7 March) adds five stars. FOTW: 1866 stars added (9 January, 16 February or 19 January); 1933 regulation 194 of 27 September closer stars.
Who & why: Honduras formally secedes from the crumbling Federal Republic of Central America in November 1838, one of the first states to leave; the rest of the federation limps on for a few more years before fully dissolving by 1841. Honduras spends its early decades as a sovereign state entangled in near-constant regional wars, including repeated attempts by Francisco Morazán and others to force the federation's reunification by arms.
What it represents: Wikipedia says Honduras adopted the blue-white-blue flag in 1823 on joining the United Provinces of Central America, based on Argentina's flag; it carried on without stars until 1866.
Attestedhow we know this
Wikipedia: 1823 flag adopted in the United Provinces, based on Argentina's. FOTW: stars added in 1866.
Honduras — Flags of the World (CRW Flags) compiled
Not established: FOTW does not cover the 1823 flag.
Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded; shown at 3:2.
LayoutPlain horizontal blue-white-blue, no emblem.
Blue#0073CF
White#F4EFE1
the federation's blue-white-blue with five-volcano arms and cap of liberty
1823 – 1838
Federal Republic of Central America
Federation memberManuel José ArceRoman Catholic (constitutionally established)
Who & why: after Mexican annexation collapses with Iturbide's 1823 abdication, Honduras joins the other four former provinces of the Captaincy General in forming the United Provinces (soon the Federal Republic) of Central America. The federation produces its single most consequential figure here: Francisco Morazán, born in Tegucigalpa in 1792, rises to become the union's dominant general and, from 1830, its president — fighting to the end to hold the federation together against localist revolt.
What it represents: blue-white-blue horizontal stripes with five volcanoes and a Phrygian cap of liberty, adopted 21 August 1823 — the direct ancestor of Honduras's own post-federation flag.
Attestedhow we know this
Wikipedia's «Flag of Central America» gives adoption in 1823, 2000 and relinquishment in 1839, within a year of this era's 1823 and 1838. The Flags of the World page that article links also carries 1838, and has 1823 next to a word about adopting.
Not established: Only the dates were compared. The Flags of the World page was matched on the two years appearing in its text and on one of them sitting beside the word adopt, introduce, establish or the like; it was not read for what it says about this flag. The design and the swatch colours were not checked against a specification.
Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded; shown at 3:2.
LayoutHorizontal blue-white-blue, five volcanoes and a cap of liberty on the white stripe (simplified here as triangular peaks).
Federal blue#4997D0
White#F4EFE1
Arms gold#A9762F
the First Mexican Empire's green-white-red, briefly flown over Honduras
1821 – 1823
Independence, then annexation to Mexico
Empire, annexedAgustín de IturbideRoman Catholic (exclusive, per the Plan de Iguala)
Who & why: the Captaincy General of Guatemala, including the province of Honduras, declares independence from Spain on 15 September 1821. As in the rest of the isthmus, conservative elites vote to annex the new nation to Agustín de Iturbide's First Mexican Empire in early 1822, an arrangement that collapses when Iturbide abdicates in March 1823.
What it represents: the Mexican Empire's green-white-red tricolor with its eagle emblem flies briefly over Honduran territory during this short, contested union, before the Central American provinces break away to form their own federation later in 1823. The sources read (Wikipedia and Flags of the World) do not cover the 1822-23 annexation to the Mexican Empire or any flag flown then; Wikipedia says only that Honduras joined the United Provinces of Central America in 1823 and Flags of the World dates independence to 1821 as part of the Central American federation.
Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this
Wikipedia (First Mexican Empire): lands of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala were annexed to the empire in 1822-1823 (map caption includes modern Honduras); Wikipedia (Captaincy General of Guatemala): the elite 'joined the First Mexican Empire by annexation' after the 15 September 1821 independence. Flags of the World (Central America unions): incorporation into Mexico on 5 January 1822 (vdiest.nl timeline), and the federal blue-white-blue flag adopted 21 August 1823; it names no flag flown under Mexican rule. Flags of the World (Honduras historical flags): Honduras used the federal flag from 1823.
Not established: The Mexican annexation of 1822-23 is attested by two publishers, but no source says the Mexican Empire's green-white-red flag with an eagle flew over Honduras; Wikipedia's First Mexican Empire page is captioned only 'Flag of Mexico' and the eagle is not described.
Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed ratio recorded for this brief period; shown at 3:2.
LayoutVertical green-white-red tricolor, eagle-and-serpent emblem on the white band (simplified here as a gold disc).
Green#006341
White#F4EFE1
Red#A4302A
the Cross of Burgundy, used across the Spanish Empire's colonies
1524 – 1821
Honduras under the Captaincy General of Guatemala
ColonyCristóbal de OlidRoman Catholic (Spanish Crown, exclusive)
Who & why: Spanish conquistador Cristóbal de Olid lands on the Honduran coast in 1524, sent by Hernán Cortés, though effective Spanish control over the interior and its Lenca and other indigenous peoples takes decades longer to establish. Honduras becomes a peripheral province of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, valued chiefly for silver mining around Tegucigalpa and, on its Caribbean coast, contested for centuries by English and Miskito raiders and settlers.
What it represents: the Cross of Burgundy — a red saltire of knotted, ragged branches on a white field — served as a common military and colonial banner across the Spanish Empire, flown here alongside the royal arms of Spain throughout three centuries of colonial rule. The sources read do not cover the Spanish colonial period: neither mentions the Cross of Burgundy or the Captaincy General of Guatemala as flags in Honduras.
Not yet checked against sourceshow we know this
Wikipedia (Captaincy General of Guatemala): the infobox shows the Cross of Burgundy for 1527-1821 and the captaincy included present-day Honduras. Wikipedia (Cross of Burgundy): it served as the flag of the Viceroyalties of the New World, with a footnote that a viceregal banner lasted as a symbol of New Spain to 24 August 1821. The National Park Service calls it the Spanish Colonial Flag flown by ships and over fortresses, with the striped red-and-gold flag replacing it as the naval ensign in 1785 and at forts in 1793. Flags of the World's Honduras pages do not cover the colonial period.
Not established: No source says the Cross of Burgundy was flown in Honduras itself or flown alongside the royal arms; the sources disagree on whether it persisted to 1821 (Wikipedia captaincy and viceroyalty claims) or gave way to the striped flag from 1785-1793 (National Park Service); the 1524 start is not given (Wikipedia: 1527).
Paint guide
ProportionsNo fixed civil ratio; shown at 3:2.
LayoutWhite field, red diagonal saltire (simplified here as plain crossed bars; the historical version used knotted, ragged branch-like arms).
White#F4EFE1
Saltire red#9C3B28
placeholder field — pre-conquest era, no flag survives
to 1524
Lenca, Maya, and other pre-conquest polities
No flag documentedNo single ruler documentedIndigenous polytheism (no unified state)
Ruling house:Yax K'uk' Mo' Dynasty of Copán
Who & why: before European contact, the territory of present-day Honduras is home to a mix of peoples — Maya settlement in the west, around the great Classic-era site of Copán, and Lenca, Pech, Tolupan, and other indigenous groups across the central highlands and Caribbean lowlands. No single state ever unifies this territory before Spanish arrival; it remains a patchwork of chiefdoms and small kingdoms.
What it represents: no securely documented flag or banner survives for any of these polities; Shown here honestly blank rather than invented, consistent with the same treatment given to this region's other pre-conquest chapters across this atlas.
Paint guide
ProportionsN/A — no attested flag.
Reading the tags
No flag documented — no securely attested banner survives
Colony — governed as Spanish (or Mexican) territory
Federation member — one state within the Central American federation
Republic, independent — sovereign under its own government
Leader — the named ruler most associated with the era's start
State religion — the official/established faith, not the population's
Find the records
Family history research for Honduras lives in a different project, Record Atlas, which maps which archive actually holds the paper for a given place and era.