El Salvador departments quiz

The 14 departments in the quiz

El Salvador has 14 departments: 14 in the quiz. Use the Capitals button in the panel to find their capitals instead.

How to play

In Point mode we name a department and you tap it on the map; in Type mode one lights up and you type its name (accents don’t matter); and in Time trial you get 6 seconds per question. If you miss, we show you where it was, which way it lies and a hint drawn from the data: its size rank and its neighbors.

Each game has 10, 20 or all the questions, and at the end you can practice just the ones you missed. Your best score for each mode is saved in this browser only: neither we nor anyone else can see it, and there’s no sign-up.

The hardest ones

The smallest departments are the hardest, since they barely show on the map: Cuscatlán (about 290 sq mi), San Salvador (about 340 sq mi), and Cabañas (about 420 sq mi). Zoom in with the buttons or two fingers to tap them.

Tips to learn them

• Start with the three largest: Santa Ana, San Miguel, and Usulután cover 30% of the area of El Salvador.
• The 5 departments bordering Honduras trace that border on the map: Cabañas, Chalatenango, La Unión, Morazán, and San Miguel.
• 8 of the 14 have no coastline: Cabañas, Chalatenango, Cuscatlán, Morazán, San Miguel, San Salvador, San Vicente, and Santa Ana.

Playing in class

If you teach in El Salvador, start with your school’s department and its neighbors and add a few each day. Otherwise, it’s a good way to get to know the country before studying it.

With the Challenge your class link, everyone gets the same questions in the same order, with no accounts or passwords, and each student sees their own score, time and streak. To practice on paper, there’s a printable worksheet of the same map with an answer key.

List of all 14 departments

1. Ahuachapán Ahuachapán
2. Cabañas Sensuntepeque
3. Chalatenango Chalatenango
4. Cuscatlán Cojutepeque
5. La Libertad Santa Tecla
6. La Paz Zacatecoluca
7. La Unión La Unión
8. Morazán San Francisco Gotera
9. San Miguel San Miguel
10. San Salvador San Salvador
11. San Vicente San Vicente
12. Santa Ana Santa Ana
13. Sonsonate Sonsonate
14. Usulután Usulután