In 1797, the British exported between 2,000 and 4,000 Black Caribs – a mixture of Indigenous Caribs and Africans – to the island of Roatán in Honduras, because they rebelled against them on the island St. Vincent. While the British ships that carried to Black Caribes to the island addressed her, the Spanish captured one of the British ships, bringing it to Trujillo, Honduras where the Garifunas were released. In addition, the Spanish captured 1,700 Garifunas on the island of Roatan and they took them to Trujillo where they lacked manpower, the Garifuna people were regarded as skillful for crops, so they went to work and prospered enough in Trujillo, some of these were recruited by the Spanish army where they served with distinction. 

Many Garifunas of Trujillo, especially due to the persecutions to which they were subjected by the Spanish authorities, emigrated and scattered were them along the coasts of all the Central American mainland until Costa Rica (without reaching this place), Later, because of great resentment against the Spanish, others many Garifuna fled to the coast of Belize where already lived other Garifunas. It is this migration that is celebrated annually on November 19 as Garifuna Settlement Day, and is the largest celebration of this community. Some of them were involved in the civil wars of the time.

During the twentieth century, some Garifuna worked on American and British boats during World War II and traveled around the world. As a result of these trips, there are now Garifuna small communities in Los Angeles, New Orleans, and New York City who send monthly remittances to Honduras worth $360,000.

The Garifuna culture is very strong, with great emphasis on music, dance, and history. They have their own religion, the Dugu, consisting of a mixture of Catholicism and African and Caribbean beliefs.

Today the Garifuna in Honduras are struggling not to be deprived of their lands on the coast for tourism enterprises and try to keep their customs and culture at all costs. Garifuna music, Punta (tip), is a very rhythmic music, accompanied by a fast-paced sensual dance with a lot of hip movement. This music has been released recently by bands mostly Hondurans, including the most famous: Kazabe, Garifuna Kids, Banda Blanca, Silver Star, and Los Roland. The song Sopa de Caracol, of Kazabe has popularized this music internationally. Is difficult to determine the exact number of English-speaking black Garifunas because, in the last decades, the ethnic category has not been considered in national population censuses. The Garifunas have formed 47 communities in the departments of Cortes, Atlantida, Bay Islands Colon and Gracias a Dios. April 12 of each year marks the day of Garifuna ethnic recalling his arrival in Honduras.

Garifuna naming controversy

In March 2014, members of the Garifuna community made a formal complaint to the public prosecutor’s office concerning the use of the term Afro when relating to members of the Garifuna community by the state of Honduras, claiming the term “afrohondureño” (Afro-Honduran in English) is incorrect because black people in Honduras were born there and are citizens of the country as much as members of other races. They claim such a term is being used to end the ethnic identity of the 46 communities which live along the Atlantic north coast.

Racism against Afro-Hondurans has been a well-documented issue, even receiving international attention in several high-profile cases.