Roatan is culturally diverse. The original inhabitants of the island, the Paya Indians, were displaced by Spanish conquistadors in the 1700s. Since then, the island has been used by various foreign entities as a trading post, military stronghold, and even pirate lair. In the 1800s, the island was briefly governed by the British. During this time, the British military relocated the Garifuna, people of African and Arawak Indian descent, from the eastern Caribbean to Roatan. Also, during this time, many English-speaking people of African descent migrated from the British-owned Cayman Islands to form free settlements. Ultimately, in 1859, the island was ceded by the British to the Spanish, and it became part of Spanish Honduras, under whose governance it remains today. In recent decades, thanks to the growing tourism economy, more people have migrated from the mainland to seek opportunity and security on Roatan. These people are Spanish-speaking descendants of indigenous Indians or European Spanish. The official national language of Honduras is Spanish; however, the “islanders” are originally from the Cayman Islands and consider English to be their mother tongue. The Garifuna people have their own language—a mixture of Arawak, French, and West African—but this is slowly dying out, and the younger generation no longer learns it. The Garifuna community mostly speaks English, Spanish, or Garifuna. Increasingly, Spanish-speaking people from the mainland are migrating to Roatan for the relative prosperity and safety engendered by the tourism economy. There are now large communities on the island where only Spanish is spoken. For the international melting pot of residential expats, English is often the only common language. English is widely spoken in tourist areas on the island. At the Roatan Municipalidad, everyone speaks English. However, if you are dealing with a Federal Government entity and/or a business headquartered on the mainland, you may find it difficult to communicate without some basic Spanish.