Cortés is one of the 18 departments of Honduras. The department covers an area of 3,954 km2 and, in 2015, had an estimated population of 1,612,762, making it the most populous in Honduras. The Merendón Mountains rise in western Cortés, but the department is mostly a tropical lowland, the Sula Valley, crossed by the Ulúa and Chamelecon rivers. It was created in 1893 from parts of the departments of Santa Bárbara and Yoro. The departmental capital is San Pedro Sula.