page_title: Bay Islands Department
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Bay Islands Department / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: The Bay Islands and Atlantic coast of Honduras. Cropped from a Nicolas Bellin map titled Carte Des Provinces De Verapaz, Guatimala, Honduras Et Yucatan. Published in 1754.
context_page_description: The Bay Islands is a group of islands off the coast of Honduras. Collectively, the islands form one of the 18 Departments of Honduras. The departmental capital is Roatan, on the island of Roatán.
  The total surface area of the islands is 250 km². In 2013, they had an estimated population of 71,500 people. The islands comprise three separate groups:
  Swan Islands, the most northerly
  Islas de la Bahía 120 km to the south
  Cayos Cochinos, further south
context_section_description: "The first non-Spanish attempt at settling the Bay Islands was apparently under the leadership of William Claibourne of Virginia. Claibourne was granted a formal patent in 1638 by the Providence Company to establish a colony on the island of Roatán.  This colony, although very short-lived,"  "marked the beginning of English interest in the Bay Islands of Honduras, which continued for more than two hundred years."
  "During this time, however, a number of freebooters of Dutch, English, and French nationality had begun raids on Spanish shipping and settlements in the Bay of Honduras. In 1639 the Dutch buccaneer Van Horne led raids against the Spanish-Indian settlements in the islands.  He appears to have overlooked, or perhaps he simply spared, Claibourne's small English settlement which, it is believed, was in the vicinity of Port Royal."
  "In 1642, Port Royal on Roatán was occupied by English logwood cutters and settlers from what became British Honduras and now is known as Belize. These invaders conducted a number of successful piratical raids against the Spanish, and in 1650 four Spanish war ships, under one Francisco Villalva y Toledo, attempted to drive the buccaneers from Roatán. The latter, however, were so well fortified at Port Royal that the Spanish invaders were forced to withdraw to the mainland for reinforcements."
  "Outnumbering the defenders by more than 10 to one, the Spanish returned on March of 1650, and finally, after days of extremely hard fighting on the island, the Spanish succeeded in taking the heavy fortifications at Port Royal."  After driving out the buccaneers, the Spanish removed the few remaining Indians to the Central American mainland.
caption: 18th-century map of the Bay Islands
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