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Friday 26 December 2014

El Salvador

El Salvador was inhabited by numerous sophisticated Mesoamerican civilizations prior to European discovery and exploration. By 1525 the Spanish Empire had conquered the territory, incorporating it into the colony of New Spain.

In 1821 El Salvador declared independence from Spain jointly with Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Honduras and Nicaragua.


The devastating Salvadoran Civil War (1979–1992), was fought between the military-led government and a coalition of left-wing guerrilla groups claiming at least 75,000 lives.

Oscar Romero, the Bishop of El Salvador, spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations, and torture in his country. He was murdered by unidentified gunmen while celebrating Mass on March 24, 1980. He was later declared a saint by Pope Francis.

ERP combatants Perquín 1990

The conflict ended on January 16, 1992 with a negotiated settlement that established a multiparty constitutional republic, which remains in place to this day.

El Salvador borders the Pacific Ocean on the south, and the countries of Guatemala to the west and Honduras to the north and east. It is the only Central American country without a coastline on the Caribbean.

El Salvador is the only Central American country that has no visible African population today, which is the result of racial intermixing during colonial times. In part this is because of El Salvador's isolation from the Atlantic Central American coastline, where the slave trade occurred for centuries.

Most of the population is mestizo,  a term traditionally used in Spain and Spanish-speaking America to mean a person of combined European and Native American descent.

Spanish is the official language and is spoken by virtually all inhabitants. The local Spanish vernacular is called Caliche.

El Salvador is the most densely populated country in Central America with an estimated population (2013) of  6,290,420. The capital city, San Salvador, has a  population of about 2.1 million people.


El Salvador has a long history of destructive earthquakes. San Salvador was destroyed in 1756 and 1854, and it suffered heavy damage in the 1919, 1982, and 1986 tremors.

From the early 19th century to the mid-1950s, the Izalco volcano erupted with a regularity that earned it the name "Lighthouse of the Pacific." Its brilliant flares were clearly visible for great distances at sea, and at night its glowing lava turned it into a brilliant luminous cone.

El Salvador's qualification for the 1970 World Cup tournament was marred by the Football War, a conflict against Honduras, whose team El Salvador had defeated.

Source Wikipedia

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