In the Mesoamerican Classic period, the indigenous Cholutecas were engaged in trade in a vast territory encompassing the south of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, parts of El Salvador and Nicaragua.

In the exercise of this industry they reached the South Coast of Honduras, and founded the settlement of what is now the city of Choluteca hundreds of years before the Spanish conquest.

Upon independence from Spain, the department of Choluteca was created on June 28, 1825, as one of the seven original departments in which Honduras was divided after independence during the government of the first head of state of Honduras, Dionisio de Herrera.

[citation needed] Choluteca is the southernmost department of Honduras with an area of 4360 km2.

[3] Chuleteca has many lands that are used for agriculture, fishing, sugar production, and shrimp farms.