PUERTO CORTES (Cortez or Caballos), a seaport on the Atlantic coast of Honduras; in 15° 51' N. and 87° 56' W., at the northern terminus of the transcontinental railway from Fonseca Bay, and near the mouth of the river Chamalecon. Pop. (1905), about 2500. The harbour, an inlet of the Gulf of Honduras, is deep, spacious and secure, and there is a railway pier at which vessels can load and discharge. The exports include bananas, coffee, cabinet woods, rubber, sarsaparilla, livestock, deer skins and gold. The harbour was discovered in 1527 by Gonzalo d'Avila, and the town was founded a few years later by order of Hernando Cortes, from whom it derives its name.