 Through these two railroad companies, United Fruit dominated the banana trade in Honduras.An 1899 census showed that northern Honduras had been exporting bananas for several years and that over 1,000 people in the region between Puerto Cortes and La Ceiba (and inland as far as San Pedro Sula) were tending bananas, most of them small holders.The fruit companies received very large concessions of land, often forcing small holders who had been growing and exporting bananas on their land out of business.