Honduras is a small Central American country known for the production of bananas, which are grown in the lowlands along the Caribbean Sea. Tegucigalpa is the capital and is the largest city in Honduras. More than ninety percent of the people are mestizos, people of white and Indian ancestry; they speak Spanish and are mainly Roman Catholic. Honduras is broken up in four main land regions: (1) The Mountainous Interior, which covers more than sixty percent of its surface and reaches the highest point at 9,347 feet above sea level; it has no active volcanoes, though some of its neighboring countries do; (2) The Northern Coast which is the banana- producing region; it also has the only railroad in the country; (3) The Northeastern Plain is thinly populated and consists mostly of small Indian communities and very few towns. Tropical rain forest covers most of this region; (4) The Southern Coast is the only outlet to the Pacific Coast. Mangrove trees grow along the shoreline, while the largest plain, that of the Choluteca River has rich soil that support farms and cattle ranches. Christopher Columbus landed at Cabo de Honduras in 1502 and claimed this land for the Spaniards. Independence was obtained in 1821 along with four other Central American countries. They became part of the Mexican empire, but eventually broke away in 1823 and formed the United Province of Central America. Honduras left the union in 1838. Honduras began printing stamps in 1865, but we find few stamps of Mary.