El Salvador Essay, Research Paper
About the size of Massachusetts, El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America and most densely populated of the Central American countries. El Salvador, the smallest Central American nation, is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the north and east by Honduras and to the south by the Pacific Ocean. The Capital city of El Salvador is San Salvador, which means Holy Savior. San Salvador is the largest city in El Salvador and is the home of 1/5 of the country’s population. The population of the country is about 5.3 million people. El Salvador is expected to double in population in the next 27 years if it continues to grow as it does. El Salvador is a democratic republic government under a new constitution that was ratified in December 1983. The government of El Salvador is divided into Executive, Legislative branches and the Supreme Court. El Salvador had elected Alfredo Critiani as their president in 1990. Spanish is the official language of El Salvador, English is widely understood in business, academic, and political areas only, and Nahua, the native Indian language of the Pipil tribe is only spoken in a few Indian villages. As a tradition, a handshake is always offered as a greeting. Man and women who already know each other or who would like to become aquatinted will usually greet each other with a kiss on the cheek. 86 percent of the population is Roman Catholic and the other 14 percent consists of Protestant faiths such as Lutheran, Baptist, and Methodist. Major exports consist of coffee, textiles, and sugar. El Salvador receives one third of its imports from the U.S. Major imports would include items such as machinery, vehicles, and pharmaceuticals. The daily diet of the people of El Salvador would consist of coffee, bread rolls, and fruit for breakfast, for lunch, which is the main meal, would consist of rice, corn, and beans. The dinners are much lighter and would consist of a variety of vegetables. Some similarities between the United States and El Salvador would be how the government works, and that both countries rely on each other for imports and exports. Some of the differences between the two countries would be that the United States is much more economically stable and is also very diverse in its population. I would like to visit El Salvador to see its most famous waves and the beautiful site of volcanoes. But I would be sure to stay away from the intensely populated, poverty struck, metropolitan areas.