Many cultures have come and gone from Roatan.  Even though Roatan still remains a symbol of idealism you can only imagine what it may have looked like two or three thousand years ago when the first civilization of the Payan (Paleo) Indian arrived from the Yucatan.

Luckily there are records dating back to 1502 when Christopher Columbus first set his sights on Guanaja, one of eight islands to make up the Bay Islands - Roatan, Guanaja, Utila, Barberet, Helene, Big Hog, Little Hog and Morat.  Pirates, slaves and British settlers who farmed to supply the ships are all part of Roatan’s culture. Many of their descendants remain on the islands today which gives Roatan’s people their quirky charismatic nature.

The Spanish enjoyed complete control of Roatan and the remaining islands until 1536 when the Dutch became significant in the Caribbean . By 1564 the British buccaneers began using Roatan and the Bay Islands as bases for raiding the Spanish armada of their precious and exquisite goods.

1578 was a particularly good year for the Dutch: their exploration efforts paid off when the discovery of silver in the new developed city of Tegucigalpa was made. This was the beginning of many years to come of solid trading back and forth to Europe , but soon everything would change. In the 1630’s the Dutch captured around five hundred Spanish galleons that were carrying many tons of gold, silver and precious stones.

During this unstable time in the bay islands, keeping out the way was a small but significant British settlement that would change the British influence on Roatan and the bay islands. In 1641 this settlement was completely destroyed by the remaining Spanish armada from nearby Trujillo and as revenge the Puritan party sent Capt. William Jackson who arrived in 1642 with sixteen British galleons and bombarded the Spanish colonial city of Trujillo for several days.

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