Republic of El Salvador
Republica de El Salvador
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Motto:
"Dios, Union, Libertad"
(in Spanish)
"God, Unity, Freedom"
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Anthem:
Himno Nacional de El Salvador
National anthem of El Salvador
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Capital
and largest city
| San Salvador
13°40′N
89°10′W
/
13.667°N 89.167°W
/
13.667; -89.167
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Official languages
| Spanish
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Recognised regional languages
| Nahuatl
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Ethnic groups
| Mestizo: 80%
White: 17%
Black: 0%
Native American: 1%
Other: 2%
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Demonym(s)
| Salvadoran or Salvadorian
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Government
| Federal
presidential
constitutional republic
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|
| Claudia Rodriguez de Guevara
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| Norman Quijano
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| Jose Salomon Padilla
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Legislature
| Legislative Assembly
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| September 15, 1821
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| June 24, 1865
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| November 13, 1898
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? Total
| 21,040 km
2
(8,120 sq mi) (
153rd
)
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? Water (%)
| 1.4
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? 2009 census
| 5,744,113
[1]
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? Density
| 341.5/km
2
(884.5/sq mi) (
47th
)
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GDP
(
PPP
)
| 2010 estimate
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? Total
| $43.567 billion
[2]
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? Per capita
| $7,429
[2]
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GDP
(nominal)
| 2010 estimate
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? Total
| $21.700 billion
[2]
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? Per capita
| $3,700
[2]
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Gini
(2002)
| 52.4
high
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HDI
(2015)
| 0.704
[3]
high
·
90th
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Currency
| United States dollar
(
USD
)
Bitcoin
(
BTC, XBT
)
[4]
(
USD, BTC
)
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Time zone
| UTC
?6
(
CST
)
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Driving side
| right
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Calling code
| +503
1
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ISO 3166 code
| SV
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Internet TLD
| .sv
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- Telephone companies (market share): Tigo (45%), Claro (25%), Movistar (24%), Digicel (5.5%), Red (0.5%).
- Bitcoin
and the
United States dollar
are the currencies in use. Financial information can be expressed in U.S. Dollars, Bitcoin and in
Salvadoran colon
, but the colon is out of circulation.
[5]
- On the
Coat of Arms of El Salvador
, the country's name is written "Republica de El Salvador en la America Central", Meaning "Republic of El Salvador in Central America"
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El Salvador
(
Spanish
:
Republica de El Salvador
) is the smallest and most densely populated country in
Central America
. The country's
capital
and largest city is
San Salvador
. Other important cities are:
Santa Ana
and
Sonsonate
. El Salvador borders the
Pacific Ocean
on the south,
Guatemala
to the west and
Honduras
to the north and east.
In 2010 El Salvador ranked in the top 10 Latin American countries in terms of
Human Development Index
. It was in the top 3 in Central America (behind
Costa Rica
and
Panama
). Also,
tropical
forests and overall forests have expanded by nearly 20% from the year 1992 to 2010, making it one of the few countries experiencing
reforestation
.
[6]
In El Salvador there are only two
seasons
. The dry season starts in mid-October and it lasts until mid May. During the dry season, it hardly ever rains. The wet season starts in mid-May and ends in mid-October. It rains every day. The dry season is called summer and the rainy season is called winter.
Most of the population is
mestizo
, a mixture of European and American people.
In June 2021, it became the first country in the world to make
Bitcoin
legal tender
.
[4]
In September 2021, the country began accepting
Bitcoin
as an official
currency
, making it the first country to do so.
[7]
The
civilizatio
n of El Salvador began around 1500 B.C., leaving an evidence that would be the
Tazumal
Ruins and
Chalchuapa
Ruins. The first
inhabitants
were
Pocomanes
,
Lencas
and
Pipiles
. They stayed in the middle and east zone of El Salvador until about the eleventh century. The
Spaniard
Andres Nino
led an expedition from Central America and arrived in
Meanguera Island
in the
Gulf of Fonseca
on May 31, 1522. That was the first Salvadoran territory visited by Spaniard men.
In June 1524,
Pedro de Alvarado
began a war of conquest against
Cuzcatlan
(Land of beautiful things) that was populated by the native tribes of the country. During 17 days of bloody battles many natives and Spaniard men died, including the native
Atlacatl
. Pedro de Alvarado, deterred and injured, left the battle and set off to
Guatemala
, leaving his brother,
Gonzalo de Alvarado
, to continue the conquest of Cuzcatlan. After this, their cousin, Diego de Alvardo established the San Salvador Ville on April 1525 in a site named La Bermuda, near
Suchitoto City
. In 1546,
Carlos I
from Spain named San Salvador a city.
During the following years, the country grew under Spaniard control. In 1810 a feeling of freedom formed in the countries of Central America. On the morning of November 5th, 1811, the priest
Jose Matias Delgado
rang the bells of La Merced Church in San Salvador, calling for an uprising. After many internal conflicts, the Declaration of Independence of Central America was signed in Guatemala on September 15th, 1821. That day is the Independence day all around Central America.
El Salvador has a total area of 21,041 km
2
(8,124 sq mi). As the smallest country in continental America, El Salvador is sometimes called
Pulgarcito de America
(the "
Tom Thumb
of the Americas"). The highest point in El Salvador is
Cerro El Pital
, at 2,730 metres (8,957 ft), on the border with
Honduras
.
El Salvador has a long history of destructive
earthquakes
and
volcanic eruptions
. The capital San Salvador was destroyed in 1756 and 1854, and suffered heavy damage in the 1919, 1982, and 1986 tremors. El Salvador has over twenty volcanoes. Two of them,
San Miguel
and
Izalco
, have been active in recent years.
El Salvador has over 300 rivers. The most important is the
Rio Lempa
. Important lakes are
Lake Ilopango
(70 km²) and
Lake Coatepeque
(26 km²).
There are eight species of
sea turtles
in the world. Of these six nest on the coasts of Central America, and four make their home on the Salvadoran coast: the
leatherback turtle
, the
hawksbill
, the
Galapagos green turtle
and the
olive ridley sea turtle
.
It is estimated that there are 500 species of birds, 1,000 species of
butterflies
, 400 species of
orchids
, 800 species of trees, and 800 species of marine fish in El Salvador.
There are 4
national parks
in El Salvador:
El Imposible
,
Los Volcanes
,
Montecristo
, and
San Diego y San Felipe Las Barras
.
El Salvador is divided into 14
departments
(
departamentos
). These are divided into 262
municipalities
(
municipios
).
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Independent
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Governed by other countries
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International
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National
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Geographic
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People
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Other
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