San Salvador in the context of "Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Salvador"

El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is San Salvador. El Salvador's population in 2024 was estimated to be 6 million.

Among the Mesoamerican nations that historically controlled the region are the Maya and then the Cuzcatlecs. Archaeological monuments also suggest an early Olmec presence around the first millennium BC. In the beginning of the 16th century, the Spanish Empire conquered the Central American territory, incorporating it into the Viceroyalty of New Spain ruled from Mexico City. However, the Viceroyalty of New Spain had little to no influence in the daily affairs of the isthmus, which was colonized in 1524. In 1609, the area was declared the Captaincy General of Guatemala by the Spanish, which included the territory that would become El Salvador until its independence from Spain in 1821. It was forcibly incorporated into the First Mexican Empire, then seceded, joining the Federal Republic of Central America in 1823. When the federation dissolved in 1841, El Salvador became a sovereign state. It then formed a short-lived union with Honduras and Nicaragua, called the Greater Republic of Central America, which lasted from 1896 to 1898.

The Federal Republic of Central America (Spanish: República Federal de Centro América), initially known as the United Provinces of Central America (Provincias Unidas del Centro de América), was a sovereign state in Central America that existed between 1823 and 1839/1841. The republic was composed of five states (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua), and a Federal District from 1835 to 1839. Guatemala City was its capital city until 1834, when the seat of government was relocated to San Salvador. The Federal Republic of Central America was bordered on the north by Mexico, on the south by Gran Colombia and on the east by the Kingdom of Mosquitia and British Honduras, both claimed by the federal republic.

After Central America (then the Captaincy General of Guatemala) declared its independence from the Spanish Empire in September 1821, it was annexed by the First Mexican Empire in January 1822 before regaining its independence and forming a federal republic in 1823. The Federal Republic of Central America adopted its constitution, based on that of the federal government of the United States, in November 1824. It held its first presidential election in April 1825, during which liberal politician Manuel José Arce was elected as the country's first president. Arce subsequently aligned himself with the country's conservatives due to liberal opposition to the concessions he granted conservatives to secure his election as president. The republic was politically unstable, experiencing civil wars, rebellions, and insurrections by liberals and conservatives. From 1827 to 1829, it fell into a civil war between conservatives who supported Arce and liberals who opposed him. Liberal politician Francisco Morazán led the liberals to victory, and was elected president in 1830. The republic descended into a second civil war from 1838 to 1840, by the end of which the states of Central America declared independence and the federal republic ceased to exist.

San Salvador (Spanish pronunciation: [san salβaˈðoɾ]) is a department of El Salvador in the west central part of the country. The capital is San Salvador, which is also the national capital. The department has North of the Rio Lempa Valley, the "Valle de las Hamacas" (Hammock Valley) and a section of Lake Ilopango. Some of the department's cities that are densely populated are: San Salvador, Ciudad Delgado, Mejicanos, Soyapango, Panchimalco and Apopa. The department covers an area of 886.2 square kilometres (342.2 sq mi) and the last census count in 2024 reported 1,563,371 people. It was classified as a department on June 12, 1824. During the time of the colony, the department was the San Salvador Party, from where territory was taken to make the departments of Chalatenago, La Libertad, Cuscatlán and La Paz. This department produces beans, coffee, sugar cane, etc. for agriculture, on the other hand San Salvador Department holds many headquarters for banking companies in El Salvador and Central America, and for many communication services, also the headquarters of the electric companies are located in the San Salvador Department, last years these companies took a step and started exporting electricity to all Central America. The current mayor of the department is Ernesto Muyshondt (2015–2019)

• Largest city: San Salvador
• Smallest city: Rosario de Mora

The Metropolitan Area of San Salvador (Área Metropolitana de San Salvador or AMSS) is a metropolitan area formed by San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, and with a total of seven municipalities which are subdivided into 23 districts. It was instituted in 1993 through Legislative Decree No. 732 of the Law on Territorial Development and the Metropolitan Area of San Salvador and neighbouring municipalities. The Act defines that, based on their urban development, these cities form a single urban unit.

Since 1990, it was felt that urban development in the Municipality of San Salvador and neighbouring municipalities was having a remarkable growth, and even be defined as a big city. This situation required the planning and control of urban development in these municipalities and their conformation as a metropolitan area.

The Supreme Court of Justice of El Salvador (Spanish: Corte Suprema de Justicia de El Salvador) is the highest court of El Salvador. The court sits in San Salvador. The current president is Henry Alexander Mejía.