Today we will put under our lenses the tiny Republic of El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America.

Together, we will discover in this article seven incredible fun facts that will help you to build up your knowledge about this lovely corner of Earth, help you to see it with new different eyes, and ultimately to appreciate its incredible cultural richness.

With over 6 million inhabitants, a bunch of volcanoes, a passion for tasty food, and an extravagant taste for creative currencies, El Salvador hides much more than meets the eye.

Let’s dive right in, and start to get amazed!

7 Fun Facts about El Salvador

1. El Salvador is affectionately nicknamed

the “Tom Thumb of America” because of its Size

El Salvador, located between Honduras (north), Guatemala (West), and the Pacific Ocean (South-East), is a relatively tiny country that spans about 21k square kilometers (8 square miles) — to help you make sense of this number let’s say it is roughly half of Switzerland, or about 32 times smaller than Texas!

This small area makes it the smallest country in mainland Central America, yet given the high population of 6.2M people, it also the one with the highest population density in Latin America (about 310 people per km²).

In the early 20th century, the Salvador writer and poet Alberto Masferrer nicknamed his country the “Pulgarcito de America” (in English literally “the Tom Thumb of America), to highlight the strength and cultural richness of his country despite its tiny size.

People loved his definition, and the nickname stuck to this day, becoming a common and endearing way for Salvadorans to refer to their country! 🙂

 2. El Salvador is a Volcano Wonderland,

with 23 Peaks of Fire and 6 Active ones!

El Salvador has a landscape shaped by volcanic activity, with 23 volcanoes in total, six of which are considered still active.

Together with surfing on the Pacific waves, and visiting the black-sand Salvadoran beaches, Volcanoes hiking is surely one of the hottest tourist activities in the country!

One of the most iconic Volcanoes to visit is surely the Izalco Volcano, which erupted almost uninterruptedly between 1770 and 1958, earning its nickname “El Faro del Pacífico” (Lighthouse of the Pacific) because its glowing lava could be seen from ships far out at sea (and yes… if you’re wondering, El Salvador likes nicknaming things 😉 ).

Other Vulcanoes worth mentioning are the San Salvador Volcano, which towers at 1,960 meters (6,430 ft), and the Santa Ana Volcano, the highest peak in the country, which reaches awhoppingg 2,381 meters (7,812 ft)!

3. Dollar & Digital Gold: Currency Evolution

The history of El Salvador with national currencies is quite extravagant.

From 1982 to 2001, the country had its own currency, the “colon” (named after Christopher Columbus – “Cristobal Colon” in Spanish).

In 2001, El Salvador decided to retire its currency from circulation and push for the adoption of the American Dollar, to combat inflation, facilitate trade, and overall, stabilize its economy.

Twenty years later, in 2021, another bold move (and worldwide sensation!) came from El Salvador, which voted to become the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin (the most famous cryptocurrency) as a legal tender alongside the dollar.

The government launched a Crypto wallet app to help people manage their bitcoins and 200+ Bitcoins ATMs all around the country.

How much Bitcoin as a currency has been adopted and is used today you might wonder?

According to statistics, only about 10-20% of people in the country use Bitcoin regularly (mostly tourists, tech-savvy youngsters, and digital nomads).

In some particular areas, such for example El Zonte (also known as Bitcoin Beach), it’s possible to pay with Bitcoin even for a single pupusa (don’t know what is a “pupusa”? Read further and you’ll find it out! ;), while in most everyday-life transactions the dollar is still preferred for its ease of use.

Scaling up, larger Salvadoran companies utilize more the Bitcoin for investments and B2B transactions, while premium real estate companies such as Vivo Latam started to accept Bitcoin even for buying properties 🙂

4. El Salvador offers a special Visa for Digital Nomads

In the same year of the introduction of Bitcoin, El Salvador also introduced the possibility for digital nomads to obtain a very favorable Digital Nomad Visa, to live and work in the country for up to two years.

The requirements are the standard ones: a clean criminal record, a valid passport, and proof of revenues (with a minimum of 1460 USD/month).

If you’re a digital nomad too and you’re thinking about it, do you wanna know which is the best part?

No taxes!

El Salvador doesn’t ask nomads to pay any income tax on foreign earnings (of course, you still need to pay what is due in your own country!).

While the number of digital nomads coming to El Salvador is not enormous at the moment (given the small size of the country), unofficial statistics estimate about 500-1000 digital nomad visas are released every year (and growing!).

5. Pupusa is El Salvador’s National Obsession!

6. The Country name “El Salvador” means “The Saviour”

While many might guess the translation in English, few people know actually why this tiny country is named so.

The origin of El Salvador’s country name dates back to the Spanish conquistadores in 1528, guided by the explorer Pedro de Alvarado.

At the time the Spanish arrived in the country, Spain was an extremely catholic country, and names were given almost exclusively following the church credo and the Christian faith.

For this reason, Pedro named the piece of land that today we call “El Salvador” “Provincia De Nuestro Señor Jesucristo, El Salvador Del Mundo” (or in English, – Province of our lord Jesus Christ, The Saviour of the World”.

Of course, with time people got tired of having to say the long-form name of the country times and times again, and so they simply decided to make it shorter into “El Salvador :)

7.  The Flag of El Salvador is a Tribute to Peace

(yet a Vexillology Design Crime! )

The national flag of El Salvador is composed of three horizontal stripes (blue, white, blue) and something that might look confusing at first glance (well, actually a bit it is! 😉 ), right in the middle of the flag.

The blue stripes represent the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea (even if the country doesn’t directly border with the Caribbean! – I’ll tell you why in a second!), and the white stripe represents the peace and unity between the two oceans.

Back to the question, why there’s a second blue stripe if El Salvador doesn’t border with the Caribbean Sea?

It’s rather simple: the current national flag was introduced in 1912, deriving it from the design of the flag of the “Federal Republic of Central America” – a larger country that in today’s maps would include Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. It was a copy-paste design! 😉

Given the explanation for the stripes’ colors, now buckle up and get ready for all there is in the central symbol!

What makes the current Salvadoran flag different from others indeed, is its central coat of arm which includes a triangle symbolizing equality, five volcanoes representing the five member states of the old federation, a red Phrygian cap for liberty, and rays of light and a rainbow for hope and peace.

And it’s not over, there’s more! Encircling the emblem is the phrase “REPÚBLICA DE EL SALVADOR EN LA AMÉRICA CENTRAL,” a sentence to emphasize the regional identity of the country.

What can I say?

I love the creativity and the meaningfulness, but when I see so many things on a flag, my mind goes directly back to that famous tragicomic TED talk about the basics of vexillology: no coat of arms on flags, no names on flags, a child should be able to draw it in 10 seconds… the list goes on! 😂😂

Said that, as locals love it, who am I to say no? 🙂

Conclusions 🙂

And here we are at the end of our curiosity article about El Salvador! 🙂

I hope the read was of your liking!!

Which fact surprised you the most?

Do you have other curiosities about El Salvador that you would like to share with us?

Let us know in the comments below! 😀

Hereafter I will leave you a few articles that you might be also interested in checking out:

•  7 World-Class Museums You Never Heard Of
• Destinations of the World: Discover More Cool Destinations!
• Travel Italy: All you Need to Discover the Bel Paese!

Thank you for reading, and see you in the next article!