El Salvador Departments

El Salvador is the smallest country on the Central American mainland, about the size of Wales, and the only one without a Caribbean coast. Its departments run as bands from the Pacific up to the Honduran border, so in a round the question is usually how far along the country you are, and which side of the capital.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: Zone: western, central, paracentral and eastern
In the game: 14 departments

Start

What you are looking at

The departments (departamentos) of El Salvador, the first tier of the country. Most are named for their capital city, and the capital of the country, San Salvador, sits in the department of the same name, so the two answers can be confused.

The map is a strip about 270 km long and at most 140 km deep. The Pacific coast is the whole southern edge, and the northern border with Honduras is where the hills rise. Only seven departments reach the sea: Ahuachapán, Sonsonate, La Libertad, La Paz, Usulután, San Miguel and La Unión. The rest, among them Chalatenango, Cuscatlán, Cabañas, San Vicente, Santa Ana and Morazán, are inland. Chalatenango is the biggest of the northern ones, and La Unión holds the Gulf of Fonseca on the east.

The groups are the four zones the country is usually described in. They are a way to drill the map a piece at a time rather than a legal classification. The departments are the El Salvador Municipalities grouped, so the borders of the two maps match exactly. The reservoir and the lakes inside the country are water on both, not part of any department.

How to place one

Find the capital first. San Salvador is the small department at the centre, with La Libertad between it and the western coast and Cuscatlán and La Paz on its east.
Read the west as a block. Ahuachapán, Sonsonate and Santa Ana share the Guatemalan border and the volcanoes of the west.
Follow the north as a line. Chalatenango, then Cabañas, then Morazán run along the Honduran border from west to east.
Treat the east as two rows. San Miguel and Usulután sit on the coast side, with La Unión and Morazán behind them on the Honduran frontier.

Every department, by zone

Western3 departments: Ahuachapán, Santa Ana, Sonsonate
Paracentral4 departments: Cabañas, Cuscatlán, La Paz, San Vicente
Central3 departments: Chalatenango, La Libertad, San Salvador
Eastern4 departments: La Unión, Morazán, San Miguel, Usulután

Worked examples

San Salvador

The one with the capital

San Salvador is the most populous department, a small one around the capital and its suburbs. It sits in a valley under the San Salvador volcano.

La Unión

The corner on the Gulf of Fonseca

La Unión is the easternmost department, on the Honduran border and the Gulf of Fonseca. The Salvadoran islands in the gulf, Meanguera and Conchagüita among them, belong to it.

Frequently asked questions

How many departments does El Salvador have?

14.

Which department is San Salvador in?

San Salvador, the department of the same name, at the centre of the country.

What is below the department?

The municipalities, of which there are 44 since the 2024 reform. They are their own quiz.

The tier below this one is El Salvador Municipalities. For another country at this level, see Guatemala Departments.

Sources

OCHA COD-AB, El Salvador administrative boundaries, the boundaries (2024 release); the departments are the municipalities dissolved, so the two maps share every border
Departments of El Salvador, the 14 departments

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