Significant earthquakes of 1539

November 24, 1539 Earthquake: Cabo DE Higueras, Honduras

November 24, 1539

An earthquake struck Cabo DE Higueras, Honduras on November 24, 1539. It caused a tsunami.

Map

Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.

The earthquake

Date
November 24, 1539
Place
Cabo DE Higueras, Honduras
Epicenter
16.200° N, 88.500° W
Country
Honduras
Region
Caribbean

The toll

Damage
Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
Houses destroyed
Few (about 1 to 50)

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

There are conflicting reports as to location. This event likely originated in the northern part of Honduras rather than Belize, as the description references "Higueras" which is an early name for an area Columbus explored in 1502, known to be in present-day Honduras. This would be approximately 16.017 Lat, -86.03 Lon. Lander et al. (2002) reports: "Sailors in three ships 160 km off Cabo de Higueras in Northern Honduras reported a shaking of the sea and headed for shore. Reportedly the sailors described the shock as crashing against the rocks. An earth movement began at the river mouth, and advanced, slowly wiping out massive amounts of land 84 m north to south, and ruining a large house. The shaking reportedly lasted many hours. Earthquake effects were reported in the region of the Gulf of Honduras." Molina (1997) reports a seaquake.

Sources NCEI cites

The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.

  1. #11626 Osiecki, Patricia Sutch (1981). Estimated Intensities and Probable Tectonic Sources of Historic (pre-1898) Honduran Earthquakes. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, vol. 71, no. 3, p. 865-881.
  2. #537 Lander, James F., Lowell W. Whiteside, and Patricia A. Lockridge (2002). A Brief History of Tsunamis in the Caribbean Sea, Science of Tsunami Hazards, the International Journal of the Tsunami Society, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, vol. 20, no. 2, p. 57-94
  3. #273 Molina, Enrique (1997). Tsunami Catalogue for Central America, 1539-1996, for Reduction of Natural Disasters in Central America, Earthquake Preparedness, and Hazard Mitigation, Technical Report no. II 1-04, Institute of Solid Earth Physics, University of Bergen, Bergen Norway, 87 p.
  4. #103 Feldman, Lawrence H. (1993). Mountains of Fire, Lands That Shake: Earthquakes and Volcanic Eruptions in the Historic Past of Central America (1505-1899), Labyrinthos Press, Culver City, CA.

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

More

Significant earthquakes of 1539The 1500sRecent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history

Sources

Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 5952.