San Salvador (Spanish pronunciation: [san salβaˈðoɾ]) is the capital and largest city of El Salvador and of its eponymous department. It is the country's largest agglomeration, serving as the country's political, cultural, educational and financial center. The municipality of San Salvador has 525,990 inhabitants (2024). The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador, which comprises the capital itself and 13 of its municipalities, has a population of 2,404,097. The urban area of San Salvador has a population of 1,600,000 inhabitants.
The city is home to the Consejo de Ministros de El Salvador (Council of Ministries of El Salvador), the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador, the Supreme Court of El Salvador, and other governmental institutions, as well as the official residence of the president of El Salvador. San Salvador is located in the Salvadoran highlands, surrounded by volcanoes and prone to earthquakes. The city is also home to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Salvador, as well as many Protestant branches of Christianity, including Evangelicals, Baptists, and Pentecostals, and the restorationist Christian sect the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
San Salvador has been the host city for regional and international sporting, political, and social events. It hosted the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1935, 2002, and in 2023 and the Central American Games in 1977 and 1994, as well as the Miss Universe pageant in 1975 and in 2023. San Salvador was also the host city of the 18th Ibero-American Summit in 2008, the most important sociopolitical event in the Spanish and Portuguese sphere. The Central American Integration System has its headquarters in San Salvador.
Etymology
The conquistador Gonzalo de Alvarado founded a mission he named San Salvador in 1525. The name likely referenced the feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus (also called Divino Salvador in Spanish), celebrated on the 6th of August in the Western Church. On that day in 1456 Pope Callixtus III commemorated the Hungarian victory at the Siege of Belgrade against the Ottomans, specifically referencing the perceived divine intervention that led to the Christian victory. As a result, variations of the name 'holy' or 'divine' savior (san or divino salvador) became a popular inspiration for the names of churches and places, such as when Christopher Columbus named the island of Guanahani, Bahamas San Salvador in 1492. In the same vein, Pedro de Alvarado, when organizing his second expedition into the territory of Cuzcatlan, ordered his brother Gonzalo to name the town he founded San Salvador.
The name San Salvador would inspire the name for the country El Salvador which was a part of the Captaincy General of Guatemala as a province, and later an Intendancy in 1785. After the 19th Century first Independent movement, the Central American Independence Act, and the insurgency against Mexican rule, El Salvador became an independent state in 1824. The new government retained the name San Salvador for the capital city and the Salvadoran department.
History
Before the Spanish conquest, the Pipil people established their capital, Cuzcatlan, near the current location of San Salvador. Not much is known about Cuzcatlan, as it was abandoned by its inhabitants in an effort to avoid Spanish rule. Under the orders of conquistador Pedro de Alvarado, his associates Gonzalo de Alvarado and Diego de Holguín occupied the empty settlement and began to develop it. Diego de Holguín became the first mayor of San Salvador after the town was founded on 1 April 1525. The town changed location twice, in 1528 and 1545. Originally established in what is now the archeological site of Ciudad Vieja, north of the present-day city, it was moved to the Valle de Las Hamacas, so named for the intense seismic activity that characterizes it. The new site was chosen because it had more space and more fertile land, thanks to the Acelhuate River.
The city became the seat of the Intendancy of San Salvador in 1785, however the population remained relatively small until the early 20th century. The War of the Salvadoran Revolution led by José Matías Delgado, Manuel José Arce, and Juan Manuel Rodríguez took place in San Salvador, and in fact started at the Our Lady of Mercy parish church. During the Independence struggle, the city was the political and administrative epicenter of the newly formed, independent Salvadorean state.
In January 1885, during the presidency of Rafael Zaldívar, a group of businessmen and the president's family contributed funds for building the Sara Zaldivar Asylum for Indigents and the Elderly. In 1902, Hospital Rosales was built, named after its benefactor, José Rosales Herrador, a former Salvadoran president who gave his fortune to the hospital and to the orphanage. The hospital's construction was begun by president Carlos Ezeta and finished during the presidency of Tomás Regalado. In 1905, president Pedro José Escalón initiated construction of the National Palace funded by coffee exportation taxes. The Monumento a los Próceres de 1811 (Monument to the Heroes of 1811), located in the Plaza Libertad, and the Teatro Nacional de El Salvador were built in 1911 during Manuel Enrique Araujo's presidency.
In 1917, an earthquake during an eruption of the nearby San Salvador volcano damaged the city, but it escaped additional damage because the lava flowed down the back side of the volcano. On 2 December 1931, president Arturo Araujo was ousted by a military coup d'état and replaced by the military Civic Directory. The directory named vice-president Maximiliano Hernández Martínez as president and Araujo went into exile. The Hernández Martínez regime lasted from 4 December 1931 to 6 May 1944.
In 1964, the Christian Democratic Party candidate, José Napoleón Duarte, an engineer, was elected mayor; he served from 1964 to 1970. During his term he ordered construction of the Pancho Lara park in the Vista Hermosa neighborhood, renewed the electrical grid, and set up a system of schools for adult education. The 1960s to the 1980s were the golden age of San Salvador in all aspects of security, quality of life, and modernization.
With the commencement of the Salvadoran Civil War in the 1980s, many modernization projects were halted. Examples of suspended projects include a 40-story government building approximately 160 meters in height, and the Sheraton Hotel Tower, a 26-story building with a rotating restaurant on top.
In 1969, celebrations in the Estadio Cuscatlán were held in honor of the returning troops from the Football War with Honduras. The Boulevard de los Héroes (Boulevard of the Heroes) was named after the Salvadoran soldiers who fought there. The 1986 San Salvador earthquake destroyed many government buildings and other important structures, injuring and killing hundreds. Thousands of people were displaced by the disaster and many struggled to find shelter in the ruins.
In 1986, Mayor Morales Ehrlich closed streets in the downtown of the city to create a large pedestrian mall, which resulted in chronic traffic congestion.
The Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed on 16 January 1992, ending 12 years of civil war. The signing was celebrated by thousands of people flooding downtown San Salvador in the Plaza Gerardo Barrios and in La Libertad Park.
Starting in 2009, Mayor Norman Quijano worked to redevelop parks and historic buildings in the Rescate del Centro Histórico. His push to remove street vendors led to several riots in the area, but he managed to place the vendors in new markets where they can operate their own stalls.
Municipal government
The cities in El Salvador, by constitutional provision (Article 203), are economically and administratively autonomous. San Salvador is governed by a council consisting of a mayor (elected by direct vote every three years, with an option to be re-elected), a trustee and two or more aldermen whose number varies in proportion to the population of the municipality. The functions and powers of this government are framed within the rules of the Municipal Code.
San Salvador's government is composed of departments, including the departments of festivals, parks, cemeteries, and finance. To safeguard the interests of the municipality, there is a board of metropolitan agents. Each of the six city districts also has a government department. The mayor is a member of the Council of Mayors of the Metropolitan Area of San Salvador (COAMSS), composed of fourteen local councils that make up the area known as Greater San Salvador.
City mayors since 1964
José Napoleón Duarte, PDC (1964–1970)
Carlos Antonio Herrera Rebollo, PDC (1970–1974)
José Antonio Morales Ehrlich, PDC (1974–1976)
José Napoleón Gómez, Independent (1976–1978)
Norman Duarte, Independent (1982–1985)
José Antonio Morales Ehrlich, PDC (1985–1988)
Armando Calderón Sol, ARENA (1988–1994)
Mario Valiente, ARENA (1994–1997)
Héctor Silva Argüello, FMLN (1997–2003)
Carlos Rivas Zamora, FMLN (2003–2006)
Violeta Menjívar, FMLN (2006–2009)
Norman Quijano, ARENA (2009–2015)
Nayib Bukele, FMLN (2015–2018)
Ernesto Muyshondt, ARENA (2018–2021)
Mario Durán, NI (2021–present)
Municipal districts
The municipality is further subdivided into districts governed by the municipal mayor and by a District board. There are seven districts in San Salvador, Districts 1–6 and the Historic Downtown.
The six districts:
District One: Historic Downtown, Colonia Layco, Colonia La Rabida, Colonia Manzano. (Population: 118,325)
District Two: Colonia Centro América, Colonia Miralvalle, Colonia Flor Blanca, Colonia Miramonte. (Population: 110,475)
District Three: Colonia Escalón, Colonia San Benito, Colonia La Mascota, Colonia Maquilishuat. (Population: 51,325)
District Four: Colonia San Francisco, Colonia La Cima (I-IV), Colonia La Floresta. (Population: 68,465)
District Five: Colonia Monserrat, Colonia Modelo, Centro Urbano Candelaria. (Population: 126,290)
District Six: Barrio San Esteban. (Population: 92,908)
Total population in all six districts: 567,788
Geography
The city is located in the Boquerón Volcano Valley, a region of high seismic activity. The city's average elevation is 659 meters (2,162 feet) above sea level, but ranges from a highest point of 1,186 meters (3,891 feet) above sea level to a lowest point of 596 m (1,955 ft) above sea level.
The municipality is surrounded by these natural features of the landscape: the Acelhuate River on the east, the San Jacinto Hill on the south east, El Picacho Mountain and the Bicentennial Park on the West, North by the San Antonio River, southward by the Cordillera del Balsamo (Balsam Mountain Range); westward by the Boquerón Volcano and Cerro El Picacho, the highest point in the municipality at 1,929 m (6,329 ft).
El Boquerón Volcano was dormant since its last eruption in 1917, but has been active recently. East of the municipality lies the San Jacinto Hill and the caldera of Lake Ilopango, the largest natural body of water in the country with an area of 72 square kilometers (28 square miles). The caldera is seismically active, but has not erupted since 1880.
Climate
San Salvador has a tropical wet and dry climate under the Köppen climate classification, and enjoys very warm to hot weather all year round, with daily mean temperatures of 27 °C or 80.6 °F. Its average elevation of 658 meters (2,159 feet) causes the city to experience slightly cooler temperatures in the mornings, higher solar radiation, and greater diurnal air temperature variation (particularly during the dry season) than nearby cities at sea level such as Acajutla. Its weather cools from the months of November through February due to seasonal winds of the dry season. During these months one can expect a daily mean of 22.2 °C (72.0 °F). The hottest months of the year are April and May, during the transition from the dry season (November to April), to the rainy season (May to October). In April and May average maximum temperatures reach 32.2 °C (90.0 °F). The highest reading ever recorded was 38.5 °C (101.3 °F), the lowest was 8.2 °C (46.8 °F). The highest dew point was 27 °C (81 °F) and the lowest −10 °C (14 °F). Thunderstorms occur almost daily during the rainy season, mostly in the afternoon and through the night—by morning the sky clears and the days are usually sunny until the afternoon storms.
Topography
San Salvador has a very hilly terrain; there are few parts of the municipality where the elevation is consistent. The city shares many topographic features with neighboring municipalities in the San Salvador and the La Libertad departments.
The most notable topographical feature visible in San Salvador and its metropolitan area is the Boquerón Volcano, which looms over this region in its foothills at a height of 1,893 meters (6,211 feet) above sea level.
San Salvador shares Cerro El Picacho, 1,931 meters (6,335 feet) above sea level, with the neighboring municipality of Mejicanos.
The portion of the Cordillera del Bálsamo (Balsam Mountain Range) that sits in the Municipality has an average elevation of 1,030 meters (3,379 feet) above sea level. The Cordillera del Bálsamo is named after the Myroxylon balsamum tree, one of two species of Central American and South American trees in the family Fabaceae (Leguminosae). The tree, often called Quina or Bálsamo, is well known in the western world as the source of Balsam of Peru and Tolu balsam. El Salvador is the main exporter of these resins, which are still extracted manually.
El Cerro de San Jacinto (San Jacinto Hill), is located on the eastern border of the municipality and is shared with Soyapango, Santo Tomás and San Marcos. The summit is located at 1,153 meters (3,783 feet) above sea level. The hill was once famous for the San Jacinto Cable Car and Park located at its summit, but the facilities were eventually abandoned. Soil types include regosol, latosol, and andosol, as well as soils derived from andesitic and basaltic rocks.
Bodies of water
The river nearest San Salvador is the Acelhuate, which is 2.2 km (1.4 mi) long. Although not within the municipality, it forms a natural boundary between San Salvador and Soyapango. The Acelhuate served as a water source for San Salvador during the late 1800s and early 1900s, but due to urbanization is now polluted. There are small streams running down from Lake Ilopango, and a few old aqueduct systems, but the municipality itself has no major bodies of water.