Musica tropical or tropical music (Spanish: Música tropical) is a broad term for vocal and instrumental music with "tropical" flavor usually associated with the Afro-Caribbean music. It is part of an even broader category of Latin music. Usually it is an upbeat dance music, but also includes ballads. It features complex, syncopated rhythms and draws from traditional music forms. Its sound is based on traditional percussion and string musical instruments, such as timbales, congas, bongo, the tres, but can also incorporate other instruments and advanced machinery, such as synthesizers and drum machines.
The term "tropical" is commonly used as a music format by Latin music radio stations. Among the most popular tropical styles are salsa, merengue, cumbia, and bachata.
Tegucigalpa was founded by Spanish settlers as Real Villa de San Miguel de Heredia de Tegucigalpa on September 29, 1578 on the site of an existing native settlement. Before and after independence, the city was a mining center for silver and gold. The capital of the independent Republic of Honduras switched back and forth between Tegucigalpa and Comayagua until it was permanently settled in Tegucigalpa in 1880.
A popular myth claims that the society of Comayagua, the long-time colonial capital of Honduras, publicly disliked the wife of President Marco Aurelio Soto, who took revenge by moving the capital to Tegucigalpa. A more likely theory is that the change took place because President Soto was an important partner of the Rosario Mining Company, an American silver mining company, whose operations were based in San Juancito, close to Tegucigalpa, and he needed to be close to his personal interests.
Tegucigalpa remained relatively small and provincial until the 1970s, when immigration from the rural areas began in earnest. During the 1980s, several avenues, traffic overpasses, and large buildings were erected, a relative novelty to a city characterized until then by two-story buildings. Tegucigalpa continues to sprawl far beyond its former colonial core, towards the east, south and west, creating a large but disorganized metropolis.
The city's main buildings include the former Presidential Palace, which is now a national museum, a 20th-century Legislative Palace, the headquarters of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, the campus of the National University of Honduras founded in 1847, an 18th-century cathedral, and the Basilica of the Virgin of Suyapa.
Industrial production, small and mostly for local consumption, has increased since the 1970s with improved roadways. Products include textiles, clothing, sugar, cigarettes, lumber, plywood, paper, ceramics, cement, glass, metalwork, plastics, chemicals, tires, electrical appliances, and farm machinery. Some maquiladora duty-free assembly plants have been established since the 1990s in an industrial park in the Amarateca valley, on the northern highway. Silver, lead and zinc are still mined in the outskirts of the city.Tegucigalpa is located on a chain of mountains at 14°5′N 87°13′W, at an elevation of 990 metres (3,200 ft). The Choluteca river, which crosses the city from south to north, physically separates Tegucigalpa and its sister city Comayagüela. El Picacho hill, a rugged mountain of moderate height convert rises above the downtown area; several neighborhoods, both residential and shantytowns, 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.
Of the major Central American cities, Tegucigalpa's climate is among the most pleasant due to its high altitude. Like much of central Honduras, the city has a tropical climate, though tempered by the altitude—meaning less humid than the lower valleys and the coastal regions—with even temperatures averaging between 19 °C (66 °F) and 23 °C (73 °F) degrees. The months of December and January are coolest, whereas March and April—popularly associated with Holy Week’s holidays—are hottest and driest. Precipitation is spread unevenly through the year; during the Caribbean hurricane season June to November, it may reach 920 millimetres (36 in) at the end of a normal day.
Two capitals in one
For all practical purposes the capital of Honduras is Tegucigalpa, but some sources note that two “cities” share that designation. Chapter 1, Article 8, of the Honduran constitution states translated, "The cities of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela, jointly, constitute the Capital of the Republic." Chapter 11, Article 295, translates, "The Central District consists of a single municipality made up of the former municipalities of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela"; however, municipalities are defined in Honduras as political entities similar to counties, and they may contain one or more cities.
In a decree of October 30, 1880, President Marco Aurelio Soto established a permanent seat of government in Tegucigalpa, and in 1907 the episcopal now archiepiscopal see was translated there. On March 15, 1938, General Tiburcio Carías Andino and the National Congress declared that Comayagüela was a barrio neighbourhood of Tegucigalpa, the national capital. Today some government offices are listed with Comayagüela addresses, but the area is considered a part of Tegucigalpa,
Hurricane Mitch
On October 30, 1998, the city was significantly damaged by Hurricane Mitch. It destroyed part of the Comayagüela section of the city, as well as other places along the banks of the Choluteca river. The storm remained over Honduran territory for five days, dumping heavy rainfall late in the rainy season. The ground was already saturated and could not absorb the heavy precipitation, while deforestation and debris left by the hurricane led to catastrophic flooding throughout widespread regions of the country, especially in Tegucigalpa.
The heavy rain caused flash floods of Choluteca's tributaries, and the swollen river overflowed its banks, tearing down entire neighborhoods and bridges across the ravaged city. The rainfall also triggered massive landslides around El Berrinche hill, close to the downtown area. These landslides destroyed most of the Soto neighborhood, and debris flowed into the river, forming a dam. The dam clogged the waters of the river and many of the low-lying areas of Comayagüela were submerged; historic buildings located along Calle Real were either completely destroyed or so badly damaged that repair was futile.
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