San Pedro Sula is Honduras's second-largest city, in the Sula Valley in the country's northwest about 50 kilometers south of Puerto Cortes, with a metropolitan population of 1,445,598 as of 2023, the largest city in Central America that is not a national capital. Founded on June 27, 1536, by the conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, it declined for much of the colonial period before reviving in the late 1800s through banana cultivation and railroad building, which turned it into Honduras's industrial center. As of 2011 it generated about two-thirds of the country's gross domestic product, driven mainly by apparel manufacturing and trade.
Facts
PopulationInfobox city-proper projection; distinct from the 1,445,598 metropolitan-area figure already carried in the entity description. Area (sq km) Founding Year Population Estimate Year Elevation (m) Sources
1. San Pedro Sula (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationInfobox: population_total
834883
Lead section
With a population of 701,200 in the central urban area (2023 calculation) and a population of 1,445,598 in its metropolitan area in 2023, it is the nation's primary industrial center and second largest city after the capital Tegucigalpa, and the largest city in Central America that is not a capital city.
Infobox: area_total_km2
856
Infobox, elevation
83
Lead section
On 27 June 1536, Don Pedro de Alvarado founded a Spanish town beside the Indian settlement of Choloma, with the name of Villa de Señor San Pedro de Puerto Caballos (modern San Pedro Sula).
Infobox, coordinates
15.5 N 88.0333 W
- In Group: Cities of Central America (World), Wikipedia; part-of country and UN M49 subregion
View the Source Wikidata: San Pedro Sula
Wikidata Q274584, class allow-list match verified against P17/real-world identity (w-geo-qidcite-0926).View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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