The Gulf of Fonseca (Spanish: Golfo de Fonseca) is a gulf in Central America, bordering El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. At the entrance of the Gulf, Tiger Island is located.
In 1849, Ephraim Squier negotiated a treaty for the United States to build a canal across Honduras from the Caribbean Sea to the Gulf. Frederick Chatfield , the British commander in Central America, was afraid that American presence in Honduras would destabilize the British Mosquito Coast , and sent his fleet to occupy the island.
Shortly thereafter, however, Squier demanded the English to leave, since he had anticipated the occupation and negotiated the islands temporarily cession to the United States. Chatfield could only comply.
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