El Salvador--Geography

CIA FactbookThe World Factbook 1993: El Salvador Geography

Location: Central America, bordering the North Pacific Ocean between Guatemala and Honduras

Area: total area: 21,040 km2 land area: 20,720 km2 comparative area: slightly smaller than Massachusetts

Land boundaries: total 545 km, Guatemala 203 km, Honduras 342 km

Coastline: 307 km

Maritime claims: territorial sea: 200 nm; overflight and navigation permitted beyond 12 nm

International disputes: land boundary dispute with Honduras mostly resolved by 11 September 1992 International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision; ICJ referred the maritime boundary in the Golfo de Fonseca to an earlier agreement in this century and advised that some tripartite resolution among El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua likely would be required

Climate: tropical; rainy season (May to October); dry season (November to April)

Terrain: mostly mountains with narrow coastal belt and central plateau

Natural resources: hydropower, geothermal power, petroleum

Land use: arable land: 27% permanent crops: 8% meadows and pastures: 29% forest and woodland: 6% other: 30%

Irrigated land: 1,200 km2 (1989)

Environment: the Land of Volcanoes; subject to frequent and sometimes very destructive earthquakes; deforestation; soil erosion; water pollution

Note: smallest Central American country and only one without a coastline on Caribbean Sea