officially Republic of El Salvador
Country, Central America .
Area: 8,124 sq mi (21,041 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 6,354,000. Capital: San Salvador . The majority of the people are mestizo (mixed European and Indian), with small numbers of Indians (mostly Pipil) and people of European descent. Language: Spanish (official). Religion: Roman Catholicism. Currency: U.S. dollar. The smallest but most densely populated Central American country, it is crossed by two volcanic mountain ranges and has a narrow coastal region and a high central plain in the south. The climate ranges from hot and wet in the lowlands to cooler and wetter in the highlands. Cloud forests predominate at the highest elevations. El Salvador has a developing economy based on trade, manufacturing, and agriculture, with coffee, sugarcane, and cotton the major export crops. It is a republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the president. The Spanish arrived in the area in 1524 and subjugated the Pipil Indian kingdom of Cuzcatlán by 1539. The country was divided into two districts, San Salvador and Sonsonate, both attached to Guatemala. With the end of Spanish rule in 1821, San Salvador was incorporated into the Mexican Empire; when the empire collapsed in 1823, Sonsonate and San Salvador combined to form the new state of El Salvador within the United Provinces of Central America. The country attained independence in 1841. From its founding, it experienced a high degree of political turmoil; powerful economic interests controlled the country through most of the 19th and early 20th centuries but were replaced by a military dictatorship that lasted from 1931 to 1979. Elections held in 1982 set up a new government, and, though a new constitution was adopted in 1983, civil war continued throughout the 1980s. An accord in 1992 brought peace, but violent crime became a major problem. Despite attempts at economic reform, the country was plagued by inflation and unemployment into the 21st century.