Sonata Department

Sonata
Location of Sonsonate in El Salvador
Data
Capital	Sonata
population	506,500 (Ber. 2017)
surface	1,226 km²
Population density	294 inhabitants / km²
structure	16
ISO 3166-2	SV-SO
Website	Amss.gob.sv

Sonsonate is one of 14 departments in El Salvador and is located in the west of the country on the Pacific coast .

The capital of the department is the city of the same name, Sonsonate . Founded on June 12, 1824, the department received its constitution on February 8, 1855.

The center of the Pipil culture is in Sonsonate . The name Sonsonate comes from the Pipil language Nawat , which is related to the Nahuatl Mexico , where Centzunat means something like " lots of water" or "400 rivers" . The numeral for 400 is called centzontli in Nahuatl , which corresponds to the word sentzun (centzun) in Nawat ; Nawat at (Nahuatl atl ) means "water".

One of the oldest churches in America, the St. Jacob's Church in Sonsonate, was built in 1613; it was demolished in March 2007 after being damaged by several earthquakes.

Municipios

The Department of Sonsonate is in turn divided into 16 municipalities :

Acajutla	Armenia
Caluco	Cuisnahuat
Izalco	Juayúa
Nahuizalco	Nahulingo
Salcoatitán	San Antonio del Monte
San Julian	Santa Catarina Masahuat
Santa Isabel Ishuatan	Santo Domingo
Sonata	Sonzacate

Web links

• http://www.amss.gob.sv/pages/municipios/sonsonate.htm
• http://www.4elsalvador.com/departamento_de_sonsonate.htm

Coordinates: 13 ° 36 ′  N , 89 ° 42 ′  W