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| El Salvador |
Sonsonate
San Miguel
| Puerto El Triunfo |
Local date and time Population 6,948,073 (July 2007) Capital San Salvador Area 21,041 sq km language Spanish Currency US$ Time GMT -6 hours. Budget US$ 25 to 30 a day Electricity 110 volts US plugs. Climate Tropical. Hot and humid in the lowlands, cooler in highlands. Safety Follow this link |
El Salvador, meaning "The Saviour", is the smallest of the Central American countries and is also the most densely populated country in the whole of the Americas. When the Spanish first arrived in the area in the 16th century there was strong resistance from the native populations. They succeeded in driving out the Spanish on two occasions before finally coming under their control in 1528. El Salvador became an independent republic in 1838, along with the other countries that briefly formed the United Provinces of Central America. During the second half of the 19th century a huge amount of the country economy was based on coffee. Most of the land was owned by a rich elite who also had a lot of influence over the government. This inequality lead to a number of rebellions during the first years of independence. From 1900 to 1930 there was relative stability until a coup in 1931 brought General Martez to power. He strongly suppressed the rebellions and in 1932 30,000 indigenous people were killed during an uprising that came to be known as "the massacre". Martez was deposed in 1944 but the political unrest continued, eventually leading to the Salvadoran Civil War which lasted from 1979 to 1991. Nowadays El Salvador is less dependent on the coffee trade and is investigating other sources of income such as tourism. It is still one of the less visited countries in Central America, with only one airport in the country running international flights, but in recent years has become increasingly developed for tourism. There are plenty of laid-back colonial towns and its beaches are very popular with surfers. |
