Puerto Cortes, originally known as
Puerto de Caballos, is a city on the north
Caribbean coast of
Honduras, right on the Laguna de Alvarado, north of
San Pedro Sula and east of
Omoa, with a natural bay. The present city was founded in the early colonial period. It grew rapidly in the twentieth century, thanks to the railroad, which exists no longer, and
banana production. In terms of volume of traffic the
seaport is the largest in
Central America and the 36th largest in the world. As of 2014, Puerto Cortés has a population of some 200,000.