page_title: Tegucigalpa
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Tegucigalpa / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Satellite image showing the metropolitan area of Tegucigalpa—Comayagüela, the capital of Honduras — outlining the Choluteca River.
context_page_description: Tegucigalpa, formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District, and colloquially referred to as Tegus or Teguz, is the capital and largest city of Honduras along with its twin sister, Comayagüela.
  Claimed on 29 September 1578 by the Spaniards, Tegucigalpa became the country's capital on October 30, 1880, under President Marco Aurelio Soto, when he moved the capital from Comayagua. The Constitution of Honduras, enacted in 1982, names the sister cities of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela as a Central District to serve as the permanent national capital, under articles 8 and 295.
  After the dissolution of the Federal Republic of Central America in 1841, Honduras became an individual sovereign nation with Comayagua as its capital. The capital was moved to Tegucigalpa in 1880. On January 30, 1937, Article 179 of the 1936 Honduran Constitution was changed under Decree 53 to establish Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela as a Central District.
  Tegucigalpa is located in the southern-central highland region known as the department of Francisco Morazán of which it is also the departmental capital. It is situated in a valley, surrounded by mountains.
context_section_description: Tegucigalpa is located on a chain of mountains with elevations of 975 metres (3,199 ft) at its lowest points and 1,463 metres (4,800 ft) at its highest suburban areas.  Like most of the interior highlands of Honduras, the majority of Tegucigalpa's current area was occupied by open woodland.  The area surrounding the city continues to be open woodland supporting pine forest interspersed with some oak, scrub, and grassy clearings as well as needle leaf evergreen and broadleaf deciduous forest.
  The metropolitan area of both Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela covers a total area of 201 square kilometers (77.6 sq mi) while the entire Municipality of the Central District covers a total area of 1,396 square kilometers (539.1 sq mi).  Geological faults that are a threat to the neighborhoods on and below the hill have been identified in the District's high regions surrounding the capital.
  The Choluteca River, which crosses the city from south to north, physically separates Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela.  El Picacho Hill, a rugged mountain of moderate height, rises above the downtown area; several neighborhoods, both upscale residential and lower income, are located on its slopes. The city consists of gentle hills, and the ring of mountains surrounding the city tends to trap pollution. During the dry season, a dense cloud of smog lingers in the basin until the first rains fall.
  Tucked into a valley and bisected by a river, Tegucigalpa is prone to flooding during the rainy season, as experienced to the fullest during Hurricane Mitch and to a lesser degree every year during the rainy season.  Despite being several thousand feet above sea level, the city lacks an efficient flood control system, including canals and sewerage powerful enough to channel rainwater back into the river to flow down to the ocean.  The river itself is a threat since it isn't deep enough below the streets, nor are there levees high enough to prevent it from breaking out.  There are more than 100 neighborhoods deemed zones of high risk, several of them ruled out as uninhabitable in their entirety.
  There is a reservoir, known as Embalse Los Laureles, west of the city providing 30 percent of the city's water supply as well as a water treatment plant south of the city about 7.3 kilometres (4.5 mi) from the airport; part of the Concepción Reservoir just 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) southwest of the water plant.
  
  The Central District shares borders with 13 other municipalities of Francisco Morazán: (to the north) Cedros and Talanga; (south) Ojojona, Santa Ana, San Buenaventura and Maraita; (east) San Juan de Flores, Villa de San Francisco, Santa Lucía, Valle de Ángeles, San Antonio de Oriente, and Tatumbla; (and to the west) Lepaterique.  It is also bordered on the west by two municipalities of the Comayagua Department, Villa de San Antonio and Lamaní, with the latter exactly at the quadripoint where the Central District, Lepaterique, Villa de San Antonio and Lamaní all meet.
caption: NASA satellite image showing the Choluteca River separating Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela
exif: {}