San Salvador

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the capital of El Salvador. For San Salvador Island and other places that share the name, see San Salvador (disambiguation).

San Salvador (Valle de las Hamacas)
Boulevard de los Próceres (Autopista Sur), San Salvador; one of Central America's widest boulevards
Nickname: San Sivar
Coordinates: 13°41′24.00″N, 89°11′24.01″W
Country	El Salvador
Department	San Salvador
Municipality	San Salvador
Foundation	1525
Seat of the Government	1525
Capital of the Nation	1839
Government
- Mayor	Violeta Menjívar
Area
- City	610 km²  (235.5 sq mi)
- Metro	575 km² (222 sq mi)
Population (2006)
- City	2,224,223
- Density	7,037.5/km² (18,227/sq mi)
Website: http://www.amss.gob.sv/

San Salvador is the capital city of the nation of El Salvador. The valley where it is located was earlier known as "El Valle de las Hamacas" (The Valley of the Hammocks in English) because of its high seismic activity. San Salvador is the second largest city in Central America. It covers an area of 601 km² (232 sq. mi.) and is home to nearly 2.2 million people. It is home to one-third of El Salvador's population and one-half of the country's wealth.

Contents 1 History 2 Today's San Salvador 3 Social issues 3.1 Crime 3.2 Pollution 4 Transportation 5 Demographics 6 Disasters 7 Landmarks 8 External links

[edit] History

The origins of the city can be traced to before the Spanish Conquest. It is near the present location of San Salvador that the Pipil tribes, established their capital, Cuscatlán. Not very much is known about this city, since it was abandoned by its inhabitants in an effort to avoid Spanish rule.

Although the city was founded in the sixteenth century, it was rebuilt and changed locations twice afterwards. Originally founded in what is now the colonial town of Suchitoto, north of the present-day city, it was moved to the Valle de Las Hamacas (literally Valley of the Hammocks due to the intense seismic activity that characterizes it), which boasted more space and more fertile land, thanks to the pristine Acelhuate River. (Sadly, it is now extremely polluted.) As the population of the country remained relatively small up until the early twentieth century, the city grew slowly. It became somewhat of a tourist attraction during the early twentieth century, as it was considered a beautiful city: with a population of approximately 30,000 it was small, spacious, and clean.

[edit] Today's San Salvador

Today, San Salvador is a modern city and is the second biggest city in Central America right after Guatemala City. While the city proper has a population of about half a million, and covers an area of approximately 75 square kilometers, the explosive growth during and after the war created a metropolitan area (the AMSS, Area Metropolitana de San Salvador) that is often administered as a whole. The AMSS covers an area of approximately 610 square kilometers and has a population of about 2.2 million.

The Pan-American Highway runs through the city, connecting it with other urban areas in Central America and the United States. San Salvador is also the overall transportation and economic hub of the nation, since it is home to one third of the population and one half of the country's wealth.

The city's modern downtown area has many high-rise buildings, but very few of the historic landmarks remain, due to the earthquakes that have hit the city since its founding in 1525 by Spanish Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado. Today, the city produces beer, tobacco products, textiles, and soaps.

The disparity between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' is prevalent in San Salvador. The city's most affluent suburbs are located in the western areas of the city, which include Escalon, San Benito, Maquilishuat, San Francisco and the newly established Santa Elena. Several modern housing estates are continuously springing up in the surrounding areas. A number of upscale shopping centres stocking the latest in international fashions include La Gran Via [1], Plaza Mundo [2]Multiplaza [3], Galerias [4] and Plaza Merliot [5].

New gated communities such as Bosques De Lourdes complete with high tech security, parks, bike tracks, fitness clubs, shops and swimming pools are popular with the city's middle class families, attracted to the freedoms comparable to those enjoyed in the suburbs of developed nations.

While San Salvador's more affluent enjoy all the comforts found in any 'first world' nation, including exclusive private clubs such as Club Campestre Cuscatlán y Club Deportivo Internacional, private beaches such as La Costa del Sol, the finest of restaurants, and fancy Discos such as Code, these luxuries remain out of reach for many. Slums and shanty towns grow just as fast as the city itself, as it struggles to accommodate migrants from the countryside in search of work. In the poorer areas such as Apopa & Soyapango, gang related violence remains a headache for the authorities.

While the city is relatively wealthy compared to the rest of the country (per capita GDP - PPP is approximately USD $10,000, compared to a national average of approximately $4,700), poverty is one of its major problems.

[edit] Social issues

[edit] Crime

In the past 15 years El Salvador has experienced a huge rise in gang related crimes, and gangs in general. Some say that this was a result of the deportation of thousands of Salvadorans from the U.S, (mainly California and Texas) in the mid-90s. The gangs that Salvadorans had been involved in the United States began to show up in El Salvador. Today El Salvador experiences some of the highest rates of gang related crimes in the world. In response to this, the government has set up countless programs to try to guide the youth away from gang membership, but so far their efforts have not rendered any quick results.

[edit] Pollution

Pollution remains one of the city's biggest problems. Located in a valley, San Salvador is a perfect pollution trap. Fueling this, the city struggles with an increasing traffic problem. New highways and arterial roads offer some relief.

[edit] Transportation

The City of San Salvador is one of the few Central American cities served by 2 international airports: Comalapa International Airport and Ilopango International Airport. Ilopango has suspended airline services currently but there are plans to modernize it and start using both. Ground transportation: San Salvador offers the widest boulevards in Central America and also served by a railroad that connects to other cities such as Soyapango, and Apopa.

[edit] Demographics

San Salvador is a large city whose population is starkly divided between the wealthy and impoverished. The wealthier neighborhoods of Santa Elena, Antiguo Cuscatlan, San Benito, Escalon and Ciudad Merliot boast luxury shops, fine restaurants, five-star hotels, tree lined avenues and beautiful, well-guarded mansions. However, most of the other neighborhoods in Apopa and Soyapango, among others, are hot, dusty and overcrowded, and are plagued by skyrocketing crime rates and gang related violence.

San Salvador is home to the world's second largest congregation, Iglesia Elím Central, a Pentecostal/Evangelical megachurch with 220,000 members.

Historical populations
of San Salvador Area

Year Population 1900 138,200 1910 178,200 1920 205,000 1930 191,100 1940 222,500

Year Population 1950 296,900 1960 475,300 1970 731,000 1980 979,700 1990 1,500,000

Approximately 89% of the population are mestizo (mix of Indigenous and European ancenstry), 9% European followed by Indigenous and other small ethnic groups including Chinese and Palestinians who have increasingly played a key economic role in the country's development. Many prominent figures in the political, such as Shafik Handal and Antonio Saca (current President), and economical scene are of Palestinian descent.

[edit] Disasters

The city has suffered from severe earthquakes over the years, the most disastrous of which occurred in 1854. Also worthy of mentioning is the 1917 eruption of the San Salvador volcano, which resulted in three major earthquakes and damaged the city so extensively that the government was forced to move the capital to the present-day city of Santa Tecla, then named Nueva San Salvador. The most recent Earthquake, in 2001, resulted in considerable damage, especially in Las Colinas suburb where a landslide destroyed homes and killed many people. During the 1980s, conflicts in El Salvador erupted into a civil war, and many people fled to the city since most of the fighting occurred outside of it (San Salvador itself was not directly affected by the war until the final offensive of 1989).

[edit] Landmarks

• Catedral Metropolitana, Metropolitan Cathedral
• Teatro Nacional de El Salvador, The National Theatre of El Salvador
• Palacio Nacional, The National Palace
• Monumento a Salvador del Mundo, Monument to the Savior of the World
• Casa Presidencial, the Presidential Mansion
• Monumento a La Libertad, Monument to Liberty
• Torre Cuscatlán, the tallest building in the city - though only around 260ft tall - owned by Banco Cuscatlán.

[edit] External links

• Municipality of the city of San Salvador
• San Salvador travel guide from Wikitravel
• San Salvador city tour. El Salvador en Imágenes
• Medical and health information in San Salvador Médicos de El Salvador