El Salvador

Where the name comes from

El Salvador is Spanish for “the Saviour”, meaning Jesus Christ; the name grew out of colonial San Salvador.

First people

Nahua-speaking Pipil, Lenca and other Indigenous societies lived here, and Joya de Cerén, a Maya village buried by volcanic ash, is called the Pompeii of the Americas.^1,2

Known for

El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America and is known for pupusas and its many volcanoes.³

Outside contact

The Spanish invasion came in 1524, and San Salvador was founded in 1528.¹

The modern country

Independence from Spain in 1821 led to the Central American federation in 1823 and a separate republic in 1841; UN-brokered peace accords in January 1992 ended twelve years of civil war.⁴