When it comes to El Salvador, there is no mystery with regards to where it got its name, with the Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado naming the land after the ‘Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’. 

El Salvador’s flag is a tripartite flag featuring two horizontal cobalt blue stripes and a white one in the middle, with the coat of arms at its centre. And the coat of arms? If it ain’t over the top, I don’t know what is… It features the words “REPÚBLICA DE EL SALVADOR EN LA AMÉRICA CENTRAL” in gold arranged concentrically around a laurel wreath. At the centre is a golden triangle surrounded by five blue flags representing those of the Federal Republic of Central America, with the country’s motto underneath. Inside the triangle is a scene depicting a rainbow and the sun shining over five volcanoes covered by tropical rainforests over the Pacific Ocean, with a red Phrygian hat in the centre signifying liberty, with the date of independence from Spain around it. Yes, all that in just one flag.

El Salvador is a democratic republic with a President serving as the head of state and government that is elected by direct vote for a term of five years.

The country’s economy has been stagnant over long years, with natural disasters, crime and corruption hampering its growth. Whilst historically the economy was dominated by agriculture, nowadays it’s the services and manufacturing sectors that provide much of the country’s GDP. In the present, there has been an improvement especially when it comes to income inequality and decreased crime rates, with the current president introducing Bitcoin as one of the country’s main currencies and inciting a state of emergency, leading to a crackdown on gangs resulting in mass-arrests, with some 68,000 members being imprisoned. Whilst El Salvador was known as ‘the murder capital of the world’, the situation now looks brighter, with safety being one of the government’s driving forces.