El Salvador

El Salvador officially the Republic of El Salvador, is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. El Salvador's capital and largest city is San Salvador. As of 2013, El Salvador had a population of approximately 6.29 million, making it the most densely populated country in the region. Its population consists largely of Mestizos of European and Indigenous American descent. Present-day El Salvador was inhabited by numerous sophisticated Mesoamerican nations, predominantly the Cuzcatlecs but also the Lenca and Maya prior to the European exploration and subsequent colonization of the Americas. By 1525, the Spanish Empire had conquered the territory, incorporating it into the Viceroyalty of New Spain ruled by the Viceroy from Mexico City until 1821, when it achieved independence from Spain as part of the First Mexican Empire, only to further secede as part of the Federal Republic of Central America in 1823. Upon the republic's dissolution in 1841, El Salvador became sovereign until forming a short-lived union with Honduras and Nicaragua called the Greater Republic of Central America, which lasted from 1895 to 1898.