El Salvador is a rocking Central American destination in every sense of the word. If the paramount natural beauty and rich heritage of the country falls short of sweeping the ground beneath your feet, the seismic unrest of El Salvador will definitely compensate for that. Due to its strategic positioning over a geographical default line and frequent volcanic eruptions, El Salvador remains an earthquake-prone zone, hence, acquired the tag of the “Valley of the Hammocks”. However, all these natural odds failed to depress the enthusiasm and bubbling spirit of people of this country and presently, it is the richest and the most industrialised nation of Central America. San Salvador is the capital of El Salvador.
El Salvador is bounded by North Pacific Ocean to the south and southwest, Guatemala in the north-northwest and Honduras to the north-northeast. Nicaragua is situated in the southeast, off the costs of Golfo de Fonseca. It is the only country of Latin America that is bereft of the Caribbean waters. Spread over an area of 8,124 sq miles (21,040 sq km), El Salvador is the smallest country in its mother continent and also the most densely populated nation with strength of more than 6.7 million people. The topographical feature of El Salvador is basically rugged and largely comprises of volcanic mountains and highlands or plateaus. The Pacific coastlines are the only exceptions with lowlands that are situated by the parallel mountain ranges running east to west of the country. A plateau with an average elevation of 600 meters is situated in between the mountains and is home to most of the population. The highest point in El Salvador is Izalco and Santa Ana at 2,365 meters and hilly areas are dotted with numerous lakes. The Rio Lempa is the largest and most important river of El Salvador, which is complemented by fertile basins of more than 300 rivers. El Salvador has a tropical climate throughout the year.
El Salvador is one of those American nations where the indigenous population gave the toughest fight to the invading Spaniard. After centuries of brutal oppression, on September 15, 1821, El Salvador declared its independence from Spain. The freedom struggle was taking shape right from the day in 1525, when Spanish Captain Pedro de Alvarado defeated the native tribes of Aztecs and the Toltecs and conquered Cuzcatlán, the former name of El Salvador. It became part of a federation of Central American states until that union dissolved in 1838. In the succeeding decades, El Salvador experienced numerous external and internal revolutions and wars and was ruled by a series of military dictatorships.
In 1969, El Salvador went in with the famous “football war” with Honduras and a decade later, faced the worst civil war of all time with thousands of casualties. At the end of twentieth century, a peace treaty between the ARENA government and the guerrillas brought the situation under control. From this time on, El Salvador sincerely embarked on a path to economic revitalisation that involved free and export oriented markets, large-scale foreign investment, privatisation of banking system and disciplined the tax structure. These moves were complemented by a registration with the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement and O.S. dollar as currency. The result was welcoming with an envious fiscal condition but unequal distribution of income remains a bugging issue in economy of El Salvador.
El Salvador adheres to a fairly simple political system that conforms to a president-led democratic republic and possesses a constitution. Even the legislative organ is a unicameral Asamblea Legislativa, the 84 members of which are elected for three years through nationwide votes. The president is popularly elected for a five-year term and cannot serve two consecutive terms, except under certain circumstances. The country has an independent judiciary that is led by the Supreme Court or Corte Suprema.