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El Salvador
El Salvador is divided into 14 departments , which, in turn, are subdivided into 262 municipalities .
1.AH Ahuachapan 2.CA Cabanas
3.CH Chalatenango 4.CU Cuscatlan
5.LI La Libertad 6.PA La Paz
7.UN La Union 8. MO Morazan
9. SM San Miguel 10. SS San Salvador
11. SV San Vicente 12. SA Santa Ana
13. SO Sonsonate 14. US Usulutan
Intro
El Salvador is a country in Central America. The area was originally called "Cuzhcatl", in Spanish or "Cuzcatlan"in english, which in Nahuatl (a group of related languages and dialects of the Aztecan) which means "the land of precious things."
El salvador had three boreders on being the Pacific Ocean and the other to being Guatemala and Honduras. With a population of around 5.8 million people, it is the most densely populated nation in Central America and is undergoing rapid industrialization ( a process of social and economic change).
History
-A basic history
During the early 1500’s, the Spanish army ventured into American countries to extend their rule to the area that would soon be called El salvador. They were strongly resisted by the Pipil and the remaining Mayan-speaking ‘neighbors’. The first effort to capture El salvador was by Spanish forces in June 1524.The Pipil and Mayan’s defeated the Spanish and forced them to withdraw to Guatemala (which borders El salvador). Two other attempts to take over El salvador -the first in 1525, followed by a smaller attempt in 1528 this finally brought the Pipil and Mayan’s to be ruled by the spanish.
During 1823, the United Provinces of Central America was created by the five Central American states controlled by General Manuel José Arce. When this federation was dissolved in 1838, El Salvador became an independent republic. El Salvador's early history as a now independent state was scared with frequent revolutions.
Surprisingly El Salvador made a lot of money through the coffee industry. The coffee industry grew rapidly in El Salvador, and because of this, the elite provided the main percentage of the government's money or financial support through importduties on goods imported with the foreign currencies that coffee sales earned. Unfortunately the coffee market in mid 19th century began to wither up and soon made no more money for El salvador.
The Salvadoran Civil War was ultimately fought between the government of El Salvador challenged by a peasant uprising and it was fought mainly between 1980 and 1992. A violent rebellion had already taken place in the 1970s. The United States supported the right-wing Salvadoran government. In total, around 180,000 people died during the civil war many priests, nuns, American missionaries, and other relief workers died during this Civil war.
Politics
The political system of El Salvador is a presidentialrepresentative democraticrepublic with a multiply group system. The current President of El Salvador is Antonio Saca who is both head of state and head of government.
Geography
El Salvador is located in Central America. It has a total area of 8,123 square miles making it is the smallest country in continental America. El salvador has 123.6 square miles of water within its borders. A few small rivers flow through El Salvador into the Pacific Ocean. The largest river, the Lempa River, flows from Guatemala and Honduras across El Salvador to the ocean. El Salvador is the only Central American country that does not have a Caribbean coastline. The highest point in the country is Cerro El Pital standing at an amazing 8,957 feet.
Climate
El Salvador has a tropical climate with obvious wet and dry seasons. The Pacific lowlands are constantly hot while the central plateau and mountain areas are slightly cooler. The rain season goes on from May to October, almost all the estimated annual rainfall happens during this time. Particularly on southern-facing mountain slopes, can be as high as 217 centimeters of rain per year. Hurricanes occasionally form in the Pacific but are not a big threat to El Salvador. From November through April air flowing from the Caribbean has had most of the precipitation (rainfall) finished while passing over the mountains in Honduras. By the time this air reaches El Salvador it becomes dry, hot, and hazy.
Problems El Salvador face
El Salvador unfortunately lies along the Pacific ring of fire, meaning it is affected frequently earthquakes and volcanic activity. Some old examples include the earthquake on January 13, 2001 that measured 7.7 on the Richter scale and caused a landslide that killed more than 800 people and another earthquake only a month after that happened on February 13, 2001, killing 255 people and damaging a destructive 20% of the nation's housing. Luckily, many families were able to find safety from the landslides caused by the earthquake or there would have been many many more deaths’. El Salvador's most recent volcanic eruption took place on October 1, 2005, when the Santa Ana Volcano spewed up a cloud of ash and rocks, which destroyed nearby villages but luckily only two deaths occurred. El Salvador's position on the Pacific Ocean also makes it open to dangerous weather conditions, including heavy rainstorms and long droughts. In the summer of 2001, a disastrous drought destroyed 80% of the country's crops, causing famine through-out the countryside. On October 4, 2005, heavy rains resulted in dangerous flooding and several landslides, which caused around fifty deaths. El Salvador's location in Central America also makes it subject to hurricanes coming from the Caribbean, however this risk is much less El Salvador than for other Central American countries.
In the past years El Salvador has experienced high crime rates mainly gang-related crimes. Some say that this was a result of the incoming of thousands of Salvadorans from the U.S. According to statistics in 1996, San Salvador was considered the second most dangerous city in the western hemisphere. Today El Salvador has some of the highest murder rates in the world and because of this the government have set up many programs to try to guide youth’s away from gang membership or relationship but so far its efforts have not produced any good results.
Basic Economy
El Salvador's GDP per capita (how much a country makes per head) stands at US$5,800. This newly developing country still faces many issues and is among the 10 poorest countries in Latin America. Approximately 2.25 million (30%) people live below the poverty line. Most of El Salvador's economy has struggled because of natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes but El Salvador has a slowly increasing economy.
Culture
The Roman Catholic Church plays an extremely important role in the Salvadoran culture- Archbishop Oscar Romero is a national hero of the Roman Catholic Church for his role in speaking out against human rights being broken. Painting, ceramics and textile goods are the main manual artistic expressions. Spanish is the main and official language of El Salvador.
By Max Johnston
Narration part 1 of el salvador | |
File Size: | 3605 kb |
File Type: | wma |
Narration part 2 of el salvador | |
File Size: | 3583 kb |
File Type: | wma |
Narration part 2 of el sa | |
File Size: | 983 kb |
File Type: | wma |