El Salvador

 
Pronunciation: /ɛl ˈsalvədɔː, el salβaˈðor/
  • a country in Central America, on the Pacific coast; population 7,185,200 (est. 2009); official language, Spanish; capital, San Salvador.

The territory was conquered by the Spanish in 1524 and gained its independence in 1821. Between 1979 and 1992 the country was devastated by a civil war marked by the activities of right-wing death squads and resistance by left-wing guerrillas; a UN-brokered peace accord was agreed in 1992