JUTICALPA

city, eastern Honduras. It lies at 2,700 feet (823 m) above sea level along the Juticalpa River, which is a tributary of the Guayape. Founded about 1620 and given city status in 1835, it was a prosperous commercial centre during the colonial era, trading with Caribbean ports and serving placer mining in the Guayape. Juticalpa is an agricultural and trade centre for the hinterland, in which there is lumbering, livestock raising, dairying, and the cultivation of coffee, tobacco, rice, and sugarcane. The city has sawmills and a meat-packing plant and also produces cement, shoes, and clothing. Juticalpa is linked by highway with Tegucigalpa, the national capital, and with Puerto Castilla on the north coast, and it has an airfield. Pop. (1989 est.) urban area, 20,600.