Villa El Salvador is an urban, largely residential coastal district on the outskirts of Lima, Peru.

Villa El Salvador began in 1971 as a squatted pueblo joven (or shanty town) in the vast, empty sand flats to the south of Lima because of the urgent housing needs of immigrant families who had left the sierra of central Peru.

[2] Villa El Salvador evolved into a huge urban zone, largely self-organizing, for which it won some fame.

Villa El Salvador served as the home base for the activist María Elena Moyano, who helped organize the Federación Popular de Mujeres de Villa El Salvador (Fepomuves), a federation of women, which grew to encompass activities such as public kitchens, health committees, the Vaso de Leche program (which supplied children with milk), income-generating projects, and committees for basic education.

Since June 1, 1983, Villa El Salvador has been formally (by law № 23605) established as a district within the Lima Province.