Gulf of Fonseca

Gulf of Fonseca from space, July 1997

The Gulf of Fonseca (Spanish: Golfo de Fonseca), part of the Pacific Ocean, is a gulf in Central America, bordering El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.

In 1849, Ephraim Squier negotiated a treaty for the United States to build a canal across Honduras from the Caribbean Sea to the Gulf. Frederick Chatfield, the British commander in Central America, was afraid that American presence in Honduras would destabilize the British Mosquito Coast, and sent his fleet to occupy the island. Shortly thereafter, however, Squier demanded the English to leave, since he had anticipated the occupation and negotiated the islands temporarily cession to the United States. Chatfield could only comply.

All three countries - Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua - with coastline along the gulf have been involved in a lengthly dispute over the rights to the gulf and the islands located there within. In 1992, a chamber of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decided the Land, Island and Maritime Frontier Dispute, of which the gulf dispute was a part. The ICJ determined that El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua were to share control of the Gulf of Fonseca. El Salvador was awarded the islands of Meanguera and Meanguerita, and Honduras was awarded the island of El Tigre.

Sources

* Footnotes to history