Sonsonate is a department of El Salvador in the western part of the country. The capital is Sonsonate.

Sonsonate is a city and district of El Salvador, of which it is also its municipal seat. It has an estimated population of 71,980 inhabitants for the year 2020. Sonsonate is the second most important city in western El Salvador. The town was founded under the name of "Villa del Espíritu Santo" on vacant lots near the town of los Izalcos in 1552. However, this foundation would be extremely ephemeral, because the following year, in 1553, this villa would be transferred to its current location, with the name of "Villa de la Santísima Trinidad de Sonsonate", in a cocoa-producing area. With the passage of time, the town would be known simply by the name of Sonsonate. This name was taken from the Rio Grande or Sonsonate in the Nahuat language, which crosses it from north to south across the entire plain until it flows into the Pacific Ocean. This was the third Spanish population founded in the territories that currently constitute El Salvador, although, it is worth clarifying, during the entire period of Spanish domination of America, Sonsonate was the capital of the Mayor's Office of Sonsonate, a territory apart from the one administered by San Salvador., today the capital of El Salvador.