Lempira (Lenca ruler) in 1537. Historical accounts of Lempira differ. Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, whose account was published in "Historia general de los hechos de los castellanos ..." (1626), in Seville, Spain, identifies Lempira as a war captain appointed by Entipica, leader of the Cares, a named subgroup of the Lenca. Herrera reports that Lempira, whose name means something like "Lord of the Mountains" in Lenca, commanded over 30,000 soldiers from over 200 different Lenca towns. In 1537, there were widespread indigenous uprisings in Honduras, and the Cares were one group that revolted against Spanish rule. The Spaniards, on instruction from their
Honduran lempira the United States dollar (the 20-centavos coin is called a "daime" as it was worth the same as a U.S. dime). As of June 20, 2017, the lempira was quoted at 23.44 HNL to 1 USD. In 1931, coins were introduced in denominations of 5, 20 & 50 centavos, and 1 lempira. One-, 2- and 10-centavos coins were added in 1935, 1939 and 1932, respectively. The silver 1-lempira coins ceased production in 1937, with the other silver coins (20 & 50 centavos) replaced by cupro-nickel in 1967. The 1- and 2-centavos coins were discontinued in 1974 and 1998, respectively. Coins