Travel to El Salvador — Unbiased reviews and
great deals from TripAdvisorEl Salvador
| Republic of El Salvador National
name: República de El Salvador President: Antonio Saca (2004)
Current government officials
Land area: 8,000 sq mi (20,720 sq km);
total area: 8,124 sq mi (21,040 sq km) Population (2007 est.): 6,939,688 (growth
rate: 1.7%); birth rate: 26.2/1000; infant mortality rate: 23.7/1000;
life expectancy: 71.8; density per sq mi: 867
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
San Salvador, 1,791,700 (metro. area), 504,700
(city proper) Other large cities:
Santa Ana, 167,200; San Miguel, 145,100; Zacatecoluca, 36,700 Monetary units: Colón; U.S. dollar
Languages:
Spanish, Nahua (among some Amerindians)
Ethnicity/race:
mestizo 90%, white 9%, Amerindian 1%
Religions:
Catholics 83%; growing population of evangelical
Protestants (1992) Literacy rate:
80% (2003 est.) Economic summary:
GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $35.97 billion; per capita $5,200. Real
growth rate: 4.7%. Inflation: 17%. Unemployment:
6.6%—but the economy has much underemployment. Arable land:
32%. Agriculture: coffee, sugar, corn, rice, beans, oilseed,
cotton, sorghum; beef, dairy products; shrimp. Labor force:
2.87 million; agriculture 9.7%, industry 29.6%, services 60.7% (2007
est.). Industries: food processing, beverages, petroleum,
chemicals, fertilizer, textiles, furniture, light metals. Natural
resources: hydropower, geothermal power, petroleum, arable
land. Exports: $3.98 billion (2007 est.): offshore assembly
exports, coffee, sugar, shrimp, textiles, chemicals, electricity.
Imports: $8.667 billion (2007 est.): raw materials, consumer
goods, capital goods, fuels, foodstuffs, petroleum, electricity.
Major trading partners: U.S., Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua,
Mexico, Germany, China (2006). Communications: Telephones: main lines in
use: 1.037 million (2006); mobile cellular: 3.852 million (2006).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 52, FM 144, shortwave 0 (2005).
Television broadcast stations: 5 (1997). Internet
hosts: 12,519 (2007). Internet users: 637,100 (2005). Transportation: Railways: total: 562 km;
note: railways not in operation since 2005 because of disuse and lack
of maintenance due to high costs (2007). Highways: total:
10,866 km; paved: 2,827 km (including 327 km of expressways); unpaved:
8,059 km (2000 est.). Waterways: Rio Lempa partially navigable
(2004). Ports and harbors: Acajutla, Puerto Cutuco.
Airports: 65 (2007). International
disputes: in 1992, the ICJ ruled on the delimitation of "bolsones"
(disputed areas) along the El Salvador-Honduras boundary, but despite
OAS intervention and a further ICJ ruling in 2003, full demarcation of
the border remains stalled; the 1992 ICJ ruling advised a tripartite
resolution to a maritime boundary in the Gulf of Fonseca advocating
Honduran access to the Pacific; El Salvador continues to claim tiny
Conejo Island, not identified in the ICJ decision, off Honduras in the
Gulf of Fonseca.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Situated on the Pacific coast of Central America, El Salvador has
Guatemala to the west and Honduras to the north and east. It is the
smallest of the Central American countries, with an area equal to that of
Massachusetts, and it is the only one without an Atlantic coastline. Most
of the country is on a fertile volcanic plateau about 2,000 ft (607 m)
high.
Government
Republic.
History
The Pipil Indians, descendants of the Aztecs, likely migrated to the
region in the 11th century. In 1525, Pedro de Alvarado, a lieutenant of
Cortés's, conquered El Salvador.
El Salvador, with the other countries of Central America, declared its
independence from Spain on Sept. 15, 1821, and was part of a federation of
Central American states until that union dissolved in 1838. For decades
after its independence, El Salvador experienced numerous revolutions and
wars against other Central American republics. From 1931 to 1979 El
Salvador was ruled by a series of military dictatorships.
In 1969, El Salvador invaded Honduras after Honduran landowners
deported several thousand Salvadorans. The four-day war became known as
the “football war” because it broke out during a soccer game between the
two countries.
In the 1970s discontent with societal inequalities, a poor economy, and
the repressive measures of dictatorship led to civil war between the
government, ruled since 1961 by the right-wing National Conciliation Party
(PCN), and leftist antigovernment guerrilla units, whose leading group was
the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). The U.S. intervened
on the side of the military dictatorship, despite its scores of human
rights violations. Between 1979 and 1981, about 30,000 people were killed
by right-wing death squads backed by the military. José Napoleón Duarte—a
moderate civilian who was president from 1984 to 1989—offered an
alternative to the political extremes of right and left, but Duarte was
unable to end the war. In 1989, Alfredo Cristiani of the right-wing
Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) was elected. On Jan. 16, 1992, the
government signed a peace treaty with the guerrilla forces, formally
ending the 12-year civil war that had killed 75,000.
In 1998, Hurricane Mitch devastated the country, leaving 200 dead and
over 30,000 homeless. In Jan. and Feb. 2001, major earthquakes struck El
Salvador, damaging about 20% of the nation's housing. An even worse
disaster beset the country in the summer when a severe drought destroyed
80% of the country's crops, causing famine in the countryside.
In 2004, Antonio Saca of ARENA was elected president. The nation
implemented a free-trade agreement (CAFTA) with the U.S. in March 2006,
the first Central American country to do so.
See also Encyclopedia: El Salvador
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
El Salvador
Statistical Data Index (In Spanish Only) www.minec.gob.sv/presenta.htm .
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education,
Inc. All rights reserved.
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