TEGUCIGALPA

city and capital of the Republic of Honduras. It is located on hilly terrain hemmed in by mountains, at an elevation of 3,200 feet (975 m) above sea level. Tegucigalpa, founded in 1578 on the slopes of Mount Picacho as a gold- and silver-mining centre, alternated with Comayagua, 35 miles (56 km) to the northwest, as capital from 1824 to 1880, when Tegucigalpa was made the permanent capital of the republic. In 1938 it was combined with the city of Comayagela, which is located just across the Choluteca River to the south, to form the distrito central (central district). The city's principal buildings include the presidential and legislative palaces, the National University of Honduras (1847), and an 18th-century cathedral. Industrial production, formerly small and mostly for local consumption, increased in the 1970s with the improvement of road connections. Products include textiles, clothing, sugar, cigarettes, lumber, plywood, paper, ceramics, cement, glass, metalware, plastics, chemicals, tires, electrical appliances, and farm machinery. In 1977 plans were implemented to expand the textile industry, and a wood drying plant and a fish redistribution centre were added. Silver, lead, and zinc are mined in the area around the city. Tegucigalpa also has an industrial park. One of the few capitals in the world without a railroad, Tegucigalpa depends largely on the international airport at Toncontn. Freight can be trucked in over the all-weather Inter-Oceanic Highway from Puerto Corts on the Caribbean coast or San Lorenzo on the Pacific coast. From El Salvador and Nicaragua the Inter-American Highway intersects the Inter-Oceanic Highway, which leads to the city. Roads to other departments also fan out from Tegucigalpa. Pop. (1989 est.) 608,100.