Tela
Encyclopedia
Tela is a town in Honduras
on the northern Caribbean
coast. It is located in the department of Atlantida.
Tela was founded by the Spanish conquistador Cristóbal de Olid
on 3 May 1524 near an indigenous town named Tehuacán, ruled by a cacique named Cucumba which had a very good source of clean water, food and medicinal plants. Olid named his town Triunfo de la Cruz (Triumph of the Cross) as it was founded on this Catholic holy day. The name Triunfo de la Cruz continues to be used to day to refer to a small promontory in the bay. There are historians who say that the origin of the name is a contraction of Tetela, which in the Nahua language means "land of hills and craggy mountains."
Tela, like other towns on the northern Honduras (Atlantic) coast was part of the Western Caribbean Zone
and although there was a light Spanish presence was connected powerfully to the world of that zone. Thus, English privateers and later pirates frequently operated in the area, and independent or nearly independent indigenous groups also frequented the area. At the end of sixteenth century Tela Bay was frequented by buccaneers
who roamed the Caribbean Sea
, looking for ways to attack the Spanish schooners that hauled fortunes in precious metals and stones, from Trujillo
, Puerto Cortés
, Havana
, and other Atlantic ports.
In 1797, the English exiled the Garifuna
, a group of Afro-Carib origin from St Vincent
to the island of Roatan
. Later they were moved to Trujillo and from there they are migrated along the coast. In 1808 they settled in Tela where they founded their own community. One of these communities was east of the El Triunfo hills, which they named Triunfo de la Cruz and another west of town named San Juan.
In the political division of 1825 Tela was part of the department of Yoro
, and in 1876 was classified as a municipality. With the creation of the department of Cortés, June 4, 1893, Textile became part of Cortés. Subsequently, on July 17, 1894, it was reassigned to the department of Yoro, but in 1902, it was incorporated in the department of Atlántida. The port of Tela was given city status in March 1927.
Between 1880 and the mid-twentieth century the economy was based on the cultivation and production of bananas and by 1912, the government started giving grants to nationals and foreigners who wanted to promote the local economy, thus beginning the golden age of banana production in Honduras
.
Tela became an important port in 1914 as headquarters of the Tela Railroad Company, a subsidiary of the United Fruit Company
whose Honduran headquarters were there until 1970. The company brought in many laborers for the railroad and then for the banana industry as it expanded its production in Honduras. Many of these workers were African-descended people from the English-speaking Caribbean, especially Jamaica
and Belize
, and introduced the English language and Protestant
(especially Methodist
and Anglican
) churches to the town.
The United Fruit Company built a new town, called Tela Nueva, outside the older town for its employees. The town, which was carefully planned was segregated by race, and the best housing (single family homes of varying size) was in the "White Zone" (later called the "American Zone") in which only Euro-American employees lived. The remaining workers lived in barracks type houses outside the zone. The town included an excellent hospital, good schools, and a golf course. Some of these units remain today as part of a hotel complex.
Local mestizo and Spanish speaking workers in the town resented the presence of West Indians, who often held the best jobs, and because they spoke English were more able to get even service jobs in the US controlled company. In time the government of Honduras took up an anti-West Indian line, which was accompanied in many cases, by racist literature and cartoons that contrasted the African descended Caribbean workers with the mestizo Hondurans. In 1929 and again in 1934 immigration laws were hardened, making it difficult for English speakers or non-Hondurans to enter the country or remain there, and between 1930 and 1939, hundreds of Caribbean people were deported, greatly decreasing the English speaking and African descended population of the town.
In 1930 floods ruined the banana industry, broke bridges and closed railroads, causing whole plantations to cease operations. Tela declined somewhat after this disaster, but gradually recovered.
Tela was the epicenter of the 1954 General Strike
, which began as a wildcat action among the poorer workers, and soon spread through the north of Honduras, but the English speaking Caribbean workers, occupying higher positions in the company were lukewarm in their support or even openly hostile to the workers. In the aftermath of the strike, which led to major concessions to workers, the English speaking community was subject to retaliation and many left the region, often immigrating to the United States or Canada, or to the Caribbean countries from which they or their ancestors had originated.
The town's long dock burned in 1994. A hasty replacement, opened in January 1995, collapsed due to high winds, and the remnant is now used for fishing.
The town had an extensive railyard in which trains were used to run all the way out to the dock. Passenger trains still run twice a week from Tela to Puerto Cortés
, the only routes in the country still served by trains.
, with parades and parties throughout the week.
Tela is one of the most popular beach destinations for Honduran beachgoers. It draws especially well in Holy Week
, the week between Palm Sunday and Easter, when many tens of thousands of Hondurans crowd into town to party, drink, lie on the beach and swim in the Caribbean.
Most Teleños are Catholic
; the town's main Catholic church is Iglesia San Antonio, just across the river from downtown Tela. There are other smaller Catholic churches throughout town. There are many other denominations represented in town, however, including the Holy Spirit Episcopal Church, a LDS Church and a large Evangelical
church just off the beach downtown, colloquially known in Tela as the "Jumping Church".
Virtually all buildings in and around the aldea of Tela have running water, flush toilets and electricity. Many farther aldeas and caserios have no running water or electricity; some are made up entirely of bamboo or thatch huts.
Downtown Tela's main street is a busy business district. There is a well stocked grocery store, several small department stores, a number of hardware stores, many restaurants, internet cafes, bars, banks, pool halls and hotels, a laundry, a bakery, and a coffin maker's workshop. The town is well served by doctors, dentists, lawyers and veterinarians. The town also has its own small lumberyard. Two blocks off the town park, there is a block-square market--half open and half enclosed--selling fresh vegetables, fruit and meat, brought in daily from farms in the surrounding countryside; fisherman bring in fresh fish daily to the market as well to many restaurants.
In addition to the downtown grocery store and the town market, in the barrios, nearly every street corner has its own "pulpería"--a small shop in the front of a family house, which sells milk, eggs, juice, beans and other everyday needs to the neighborhood.
There is a public school in Tela, and at least six smaller private schools, three of which are bilingual, teaching English along with Spanish.
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
on the northern Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
coast. It is located in the department of Atlantida.
History
Cristóbal de Olid
Cristóbal de Olid was a Spanish adventurer, conquistador and rebel who played a part in the conquest of Mexico and Honduras.Born in Zaragoza, Olid grew up in the household of the governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar. In 1518 Velázquez sent Olid to relieve Juan de Grijalva, but en route a...
on 3 May 1524 near an indigenous town named Tehuacán, ruled by a cacique named Cucumba which had a very good source of clean water, food and medicinal plants. Olid named his town Triunfo de la Cruz (Triumph of the Cross) as it was founded on this Catholic holy day. The name Triunfo de la Cruz continues to be used to day to refer to a small promontory in the bay. There are historians who say that the origin of the name is a contraction of Tetela, which in the Nahua language means "land of hills and craggy mountains."
Tela, like other towns on the northern Honduras (Atlantic) coast was part of the Western Caribbean Zone
Western Caribbean Zone
The Western Caribbean Zone is a historic region that formed in the late sixteenth century and includes the Caribbean coasts of Central America, from Yucatán in Mexico to northern Colombia, and also the islands west of Jamaica...
and although there was a light Spanish presence was connected powerfully to the world of that zone. Thus, English privateers and later pirates frequently operated in the area, and independent or nearly independent indigenous groups also frequented the area. At the end of sixteenth century Tela Bay was frequented by buccaneers
Buccaneer
The buccaneers were privateers who attacked Spanish shipping in the Caribbean Sea during the late 17th century.The term buccaneer is now used generally as a synonym for pirate...
who roamed the Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
, looking for ways to attack the Spanish schooners that hauled fortunes in precious metals and stones, from Trujillo
Trujillo, Colón
Trujillo is a city and a municipality on the northern Caribbean coast of the Honduran department of Colón, of which the city is the capital. The municipality has a population of about 30,000 . The city is located on a bluff overlooking the Bay of Trujillo. Behind the city rise two prominent...
, Puerto Cortés
Puerto Cortés
-Geography:It is on the Caribbean Sea coast, north of San Pedro Sula and east of Omoa, at 15.85° N, 87.94° W. It has a natural bay.It is Honduras's main sea port and it is considered the most important seaport in Central America...
, Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, and other Atlantic ports.
In 1797, the English exiled the Garifuna
Garifuna
The Garinagu are descendants of Carib, Arawak and West African people. The British colonial administration used the term Black Carib and Garinagu to distinguish them from Yellow and Red Carib, the Amerindian population that did not intermarry with Africans...
, a group of Afro-Carib origin from St Vincent
Saint Vincent (island)
Saint Vincent is a volcanic island in the Caribbean. It is the largest island of the chain called Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, between Saint Lucia and Grenada. It is composed of partially submerged volcanic mountains...
to the island of Roatan
Roatán
Roatán, located between the islands of Útila and Guanaja, is the largest of Honduras' Bay Islands. The island was formerly known as Ruatan and Rattan...
. Later they were moved to Trujillo and from there they are migrated along the coast. In 1808 they settled in Tela where they founded their own community. One of these communities was east of the El Triunfo hills, which they named Triunfo de la Cruz and another west of town named San Juan.
In the political division of 1825 Tela was part of the department of Yoro
Yoro
Yoro is the capital city of the Yoro department of Honduras....
, and in 1876 was classified as a municipality. With the creation of the department of Cortés, June 4, 1893, Textile became part of Cortés. Subsequently, on July 17, 1894, it was reassigned to the department of Yoro, but in 1902, it was incorporated in the department of Atlántida. The port of Tela was given city status in March 1927.
Between 1880 and the mid-twentieth century the economy was based on the cultivation and production of bananas and by 1912, the government started giving grants to nationals and foreigners who wanted to promote the local economy, thus beginning the golden age of banana production in Honduras
Banana production in Honduras
Banana production in Honduras plays an important role in the Economy of Honduras. In 1992, the revenue generated from banana sales that year accounted to US$287 million and along with the coffee industry accounted for some 50% of exports. Honduras produced 861,000 tons of bananas in 1999...
.
Tela became an important port in 1914 as headquarters of the Tela Railroad Company, a subsidiary of the United Fruit Company
United Fruit Company
It had a deep and long-lasting impact on the economic and political development of several Latin American countries. Critics often accused it of exploitative neocolonialism and described it as the archetypal example of the influence of a multinational corporation on the internal politics of the...
whose Honduran headquarters were there until 1970. The company brought in many laborers for the railroad and then for the banana industry as it expanded its production in Honduras. Many of these workers were African-descended people from the English-speaking Caribbean, especially Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
and Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
, and introduced the English language and Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
(especially Methodist
Methodism
Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
and Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
) churches to the town.
The United Fruit Company built a new town, called Tela Nueva, outside the older town for its employees. The town, which was carefully planned was segregated by race, and the best housing (single family homes of varying size) was in the "White Zone" (later called the "American Zone") in which only Euro-American employees lived. The remaining workers lived in barracks type houses outside the zone. The town included an excellent hospital, good schools, and a golf course. Some of these units remain today as part of a hotel complex.
Local mestizo and Spanish speaking workers in the town resented the presence of West Indians, who often held the best jobs, and because they spoke English were more able to get even service jobs in the US controlled company. In time the government of Honduras took up an anti-West Indian line, which was accompanied in many cases, by racist literature and cartoons that contrasted the African descended Caribbean workers with the mestizo Hondurans. In 1929 and again in 1934 immigration laws were hardened, making it difficult for English speakers or non-Hondurans to enter the country or remain there, and between 1930 and 1939, hundreds of Caribbean people were deported, greatly decreasing the English speaking and African descended population of the town.
In 1930 floods ruined the banana industry, broke bridges and closed railroads, causing whole plantations to cease operations. Tela declined somewhat after this disaster, but gradually recovered.
Tela was the epicenter of the 1954 General Strike
General strike of 1954 (Honduras)
The General Strike of 1954 was a watershed political and economic event in the history of Honduras that ushered in widespread change.When former United Fruit Company lawyer Juan Manuel Gálvez became president in 1954, following the contested election of 1953, he surprised everyone by adopting a...
, which began as a wildcat action among the poorer workers, and soon spread through the north of Honduras, but the English speaking Caribbean workers, occupying higher positions in the company were lukewarm in their support or even openly hostile to the workers. In the aftermath of the strike, which led to major concessions to workers, the English speaking community was subject to retaliation and many left the region, often immigrating to the United States or Canada, or to the Caribbean countries from which they or their ancestors had originated.
The town's long dock burned in 1994. A hasty replacement, opened in January 1995, collapsed due to high winds, and the remnant is now used for fishing.
The town had an extensive railyard in which trains were used to run all the way out to the dock. Passenger trains still run twice a week from Tela to Puerto Cortés
Puerto Cortés
-Geography:It is on the Caribbean Sea coast, north of San Pedro Sula and east of Omoa, at 15.85° N, 87.94° W. It has a natural bay.It is Honduras's main sea port and it is considered the most important seaport in Central America...
, the only routes in the country still served by trains.
Garifuna villages nearby
Tela is one of various towns on the Caribbean Coast of Central America with many Garifuna communities nearby. Heading east along the beach from Tela, one first comes to Ensenada aldea, and then, beyond Punta del Triunfo de la Cruz, to the aldea of Triunfo de la Cruz; to the west along the beach, are San Juan aldea, which bleeds into Tela's western edge, then Tornabé aldea, and 10 miles (16.1 km) or so beyond Tornabé, the tiny caserio of Miami.Culture
Tela's patron saint is San Antonio. Every June, the town holds its festival in honor of San AntonioAnthony of Padua
Anthony of Padua or Anthony of Lisbon, O.F.M., was a Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order. Though he died in Padua, Italy, he was born to a wealthy family in Lisbon, Portugal, which is where he was raised...
, with parades and parties throughout the week.
Tela is one of the most popular beach destinations for Honduran beachgoers. It draws especially well in Holy Week
Holy Week
Holy Week in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter...
, the week between Palm Sunday and Easter, when many tens of thousands of Hondurans crowd into town to party, drink, lie on the beach and swim in the Caribbean.
Most Teleños are Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
; the town's main Catholic church is Iglesia San Antonio, just across the river from downtown Tela. There are other smaller Catholic churches throughout town. There are many other denominations represented in town, however, including the Holy Spirit Episcopal Church, a LDS Church and a large Evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
church just off the beach downtown, colloquially known in Tela as the "Jumping Church".
Infrastructure
Tela has paved roads throughout the downtown area. Many of the outlying areas have paved main thoroughfares; smaller side streets are generally dirt roads.Virtually all buildings in and around the aldea of Tela have running water, flush toilets and electricity. Many farther aldeas and caserios have no running water or electricity; some are made up entirely of bamboo or thatch huts.
Downtown Tela's main street is a busy business district. There is a well stocked grocery store, several small department stores, a number of hardware stores, many restaurants, internet cafes, bars, banks, pool halls and hotels, a laundry, a bakery, and a coffin maker's workshop. The town is well served by doctors, dentists, lawyers and veterinarians. The town also has its own small lumberyard. Two blocks off the town park, there is a block-square market--half open and half enclosed--selling fresh vegetables, fruit and meat, brought in daily from farms in the surrounding countryside; fisherman bring in fresh fish daily to the market as well to many restaurants.
In addition to the downtown grocery store and the town market, in the barrios, nearly every street corner has its own "pulpería"--a small shop in the front of a family house, which sells milk, eggs, juice, beans and other everyday needs to the neighborhood.
There is a public school in Tela, and at least six smaller private schools, three of which are bilingual, teaching English along with Spanish.
