Located in Central America on the Pacific coast El Salvador Located in Central America on the Pacific coast Capital: San Salvador Population as of 2008: 6,133,910

El Salvador’s Flag This flag design was adopted by El Salvador on September 27th, 1972 The color white represents peace and honesty, while the color blue represents the sea and the sky. The emblem in the center (the national coat of arms) shows: Five flags representing the five countries of Central America 14 laurel leaves representing the number of states Five volcanoes representing the five countries in the Central American isthmus The two oceans, the Pacific and Atlantic An equilateral triangle representing equality A rainbow representing hope A knot representing unity

Independence Day In the year 1821, El Salvador and the rest of the Central American countries declared independence from Spain. In 1823, the United Provinces of Central America was formed by the five countries under General Manuel Jose Arce. When this federation dissolved in 1838 El Salvador became and independent republic. In it’s early years of independence there were many frequent revolutions and it wasn’t until around 1900-1930 that there was any form of relative stability. The country was mainly ruled by the highly wealthy citizens. Regular presidential elections were barely ever free or fair.

12-Year Civil War In the 1970s, a civil war had broken out between the government (ruled by the right-wing National Conciliation party) and leftist antigovernment guerrilla groups. This civil war broke out because of unhappiness with social inequalities, a bad economy, and repressive measures of dictatorship. The US sided with the military dictatorship, despite its scores of human rights violations. Between 1979 and 1981 around 30,000 people were killed by right-wing death squads. Jose Napoleon Duarte (president from 1984-89) offered an alternative to the political extremes, but he couldn’t stop the war. In 1989 Alfredo Cristiani of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance was elected. On January 16th, 1992 the government signed a peace treaty with the guerrilla forces, finally ending the civil war which had killed about 75,000.

Soldiers’ Day Every year on May 7th, people in El Salvador celebrate “Soldiers’ Day” or “Armed Forces Day”. This day is celebrated by having a parade of the Armed Forces members They also commemorate by having Air Force demonstrations followed up by ceremonies and parties at each of the military bases. All relatives and friends are invited to celebrate along with the Armed Forces.

Joya de Cerén In English, this means “Jewel of Cerén” Joya de Cerén is an archeological site that presents a pre-Columbian farming village called Cerén The village was first inhabited as early as 900 BC, but was completely evacuated around 590 AD due to a volcanic eruption from Loma Caldera nearby (much like the story of Pompeii, Italy). When this village was discovered in 1976, no bodies were found. However, due to the 14 layers of ash that had fallen, everything else was substantially preserved. Since the excavation started, about 70 buildings have been uncovered.

Izalco Volcano Located about 28 miles North West of San Salvador, El Salvador, and about 2 miles South from its closest neighbor volcano, the Santa Ana volcano. It is about 6,398 feet above sea level. It’s crater is about 656 feet wide and about 131 feet deep. This volcano was in regular eruption periods from 1770 to 1966. This is one of El Salvador’s 22 volcanoes.

José Matías Delgado Delgado was the center figure for planning the liberty movement for the Central American countries. Born in San Salvador on February 24th, 1767. He later grew up to get a pre-doctoral degree in Theology in Guatemala. Due to his passionate patriotism, he was persecuted by many political figures. On November 12th, 1832 he died, and he is buried at El Rosario Church.

Alicia Garcia Alicia had experience many horrors during the El Salvador Civil War, such as the death squads, kidnappings, and other victimizations. She co-founded the organization called “Comadres”, which helped the families dealing with loss because of the Civil War to fins justice and peace for their loved ones. The organization created the Monument to Truth and Memory to honor those who were captured, tortured, or killed during the war. She died recently on August 11th, 2010.

Fun Facts El Salvador is the smallest as well as the most densely populated country in Central America. El Salvador translated into English means “The Savior”. El Salvador is the only country to start a war over soccer (a dispute with their neighbor, Honduras) Since 2001, El Salvador has adopted the US Dollar as its main form of currency. It used to be only the colón. El Salvador is one of the world’s most popular destination for surfing.

Bibliography http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/675/ (Info about Joya de Ceren http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joya_de_Cer%C3%A9n (more info about Joya de Ceren) http://www.volcanolive.com/izalco.html (info about Izalco Volcano) http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/facts-about-el-salvador-10286.html (fun facts) http://www.botschaft-elsalvador.de/engl/HolidaysandFeasts.html (info about holidays like “Soldiers’ Day”) http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107489.html?pageno=2#axzz0wDcShm9A (info on 12-year civil war) http://www.elsalvador.org/embajadas/eeuu/home.nsf/0/f5e161395982260d85256b0a005d2dee?OpenDocument (bio on Jose Matias Delgado) http://luterano.blogspot.com/2010/08/mother-and-advocate-for-justice-alicia.html (info on Alicia Garcia) Images I used were from Google Images