El Salvador is a Spanish-speaking republic on the Pacific Ocean. All information about the history, demography, geography, politics and economy of the country.
San Salvador – El Salvador is a presidential republic administered from the capital El Salvador. The state covers 21,000 square kilometers with 6.5 million inhabitants, the majority of whom speak Spanish. This also applies to the head of state and government, Nayib Bukele. The president has presided over El Salvador since 2019. He commands a country bordering Guatemala to the northwest and Honduras to the northeast. As the only state in the Central America region, El Salvador has no access to the Caribbean Sea or the Atlantic.
El Salvador: The History of the State
The history of the state of El Salvador began with the settlement of the area by various Indian cultures who took possession of the land up to the beginning of the 16th century. Then Spanish sailors came to El Salvador and colonized the area. Over the course of the next 300 years, the country remained under the leadership of the Iberian occupiers, who ensured that the indigenous people were gradually robbed of their land and their lives. From 1823 to 1838 El Salvador was a member of the Central American Confederation. The independence of El Salvador, which became official on April 13, 1838, followed the emancipation from the Confederates. In order to enable the economically important coffee plantations to expand, the last indigenous areas were expropriated in 1882.
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer
Two decades later, El Salvador was considered one of the most powerful coffee exporters in the world, from which, however, not the general public, but only the rich plantation owners benefited. Although numerically clearly in the minority, they owned 90 percent of the goods. The farmers, on the other hand, became impoverished. This led to a rift between the rural population and big businessmen, between workers and landlords – a crisis that burned deeply into the conscience of the country. The conflicts between rich and poor are still noticeable today and regularly receive new food. Most recently at the beginning of the 1980s, when El Salvador was economically respectable, but the growth rates did not reach the common people due to the mechanization of agriculture and the construction of hydroelectric reservoirs.
Civil war with 70,000 victims
A government agency then restricted private land ownership and wanted to pass on the money generated from excess land to selected cooperatives in the form of compensation payments. However, the land reform was boycotted and violently suppressed by the wealthy founding families. The so-called death squads murdered numerous resistance members from politics, business and the church on behalf of the families. The result was an eleven-year civil war that killed around 70,000 people. With a peace agreement drawn up in 1992, a gradual democratization process began that continues to this day.
The State of El Salvador: The Demographics
The demography of the state of El Salvador shows the majority of the population as mestizo. Thus nine out of ten Salvadorans are descendants of Europeans or indigenous peoples. 100 years ago the group of indigenous people made up around 20 percent of the total population. Around 40,000 indigenous people were killed by government troops as a result of a peasant uprising. Thereafter, indigenous people were at considerable risk from wearing traditional clothing or speaking indigenous languages in public. For reasons of self-support, the culture has been denied by their own relatives.
Rigorous abortion law
Almost half of the people in El Salvador live below the poverty line, which is why the United States is the primary destination for emigration. More than one million people from El Salvador now live permanently in the United States, where the sixth largest minority is represented. With two children per woman, the birth rate in El Salvador is relatively low. This could be related to one of the most rigorous abortion laws in the world: it declares any abortion a crime. As a result, abortions are not even allowed in cases of rape, ectopic pregnancies or deformed infants.
Educational gap between town and country
Most people in El Salvador are under 30 years of age. Their average life expectancy is 69 years. On average, schoolchildren attend an educational establishment for seven years. Some of the student body is enrolled in secondary schools or at one of the eight universities in the country. This is particularly true for people from metropolitan areas. In rural areas, the education rate is significantly lower and illiteracy is not uncommon.
El Salvador: The Geography of the State
The geography of the state of El Salvador shows the republic to be comparatively small. The total area is only 21,000 square kilometers and thus corresponds to the size of Hesse. El Salvador has no access to the Caribbean, as the country’s own coast only touches the Pacific terrain. The coastline covers a length of 300 kilometers. El Salvador has a volcanic character, and the region is highly prone to earthquakes because it lies tectonically on a fracture zone.
Tripartite topography
Topographically, one recognizes a three-way division: a low coastal strip, a central high-low plain and mountains to the north. The highest mountain, El Pital, rises to 2,700 meters and is located on the border with Honduras. The Santa Ana, the highest volcano in the region, measures almost 2,400 meters. The Rio Lempa acts as the most distinctive river. Its 420-kilometer run cuts through the country over a length of 320 kilometers.
El Salvador is divided into 14 provinces. The ten largest are:
- San Salvador: 1,786,400 inhabitants
- La Libertad: 803,800 inhabitants
- San Vicente: 589,300 inhabitants
- Sonsonate: 506,500 inhabitants
- San Miguel: 499,900 inhabitants
- Usulutan: 374,900 inhabitants
- Ahuachapan: 363,500 inhabitants
- La Paz: 362,600 inhabitants
- La Union: 268,400 inhabitants
- Cuscatlan: 266.200 (as of March 2018)
Other provinces are Cabanas, Chalatenango, Morazan and Santa Ana.
El Salvador: Politics in the State
Politics in the state of El Salvador is characterized by a two-party system. Although the influence of the right-wing conservatives is waning in favor of the Democratic Party, the country is far from pacification. There is still a significant social gradient. This in turn fuels the crime rate. Mention should be made in this regard of the gang wars, which claim around 5,000 deaths every year. Another problem is the rampant corruption that infiltrates many institutions. In terms of foreign policy, El Salvador feels strongly drawn to the USA, as it wants to expand free trade with the United States. Other partners are the neighboring states of Guatemala and Honduras, with whom El Salvador has established a political alliance. It is called the “Northern Triangle” and focuses on the areas of justice, economics and politics. The European Union, whose work is being followed with interest, is a great example in this context.
The State of El Salvador: The Economy
The economy of the state of El Salvador is heavily dependent on exports. More than 60 percent of the exported goods (coffee, sugar, shrimp, cotton, textiles) end up in the United States of America, which in return supplies El Salvador with machines, vehicles, food and crude oil. Remittances from Salvadorans living abroad make a significant contribution to the gross domestic product. More than three billion US dollars enter the country each year in this way. Not least because of this, El Salvador introduced the US dollar as its official currency two decades ago.
Bitcoin as the official currency
The crypto currency Bitcoin has recently been used as an alternative to the dollar. There is officially no obligation to use or deploy bitcoins. However, all traders in El Salvador are required by the state to accept the crypto currency, provided the technical requirements are met. The law comes into force on January 1, 2022. It will enable taxpayers to settle their debts using Bitcoin in the future. The regulation is unique in the world and gives El Salvador a special position in terms of finance.
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