History

Before the Spanish conquest, the area that now is El Salvador was composed of three great indigenous states and several principalities. The indigenous inhabitants were the Pipils, a tribe of the nomadic people of Nahua that had settled for a long time in central Mexico. The region of the east was populated and governed by the Lencas. The North zone of the Lempa river was populated and governed by the Mayan Chortis.

Early in their history, the Pipil became one of the few Mesoamerican indigenous groups to abolish human sacrifice. Otherwise, their culture was similar to that of their Aztec and Maya neighbours. Remains of Nahua culture are still found at ruins such as Tazumal (near Chalchuapa), San Andrés (northeast of Armenia), and Joya de Cerén (north of Colón).

1524: Spanish Colonialism

In June 1524, the Spanish Captain Pedro de Alvarado attacked Cuscatlán (land of beautiful jewels), which was populated by indigenous tribes, the largest being the Pipil. After 17 days of bloody battles, many natives had died. Pedro de Alvarado, defeated and wounded in his left hip, abandoned the fight and fled to Guatemala, asking his brother, Gonzalo de Alvarado, to continue with the conquest of Cuscatlán.

Later, his cousin Diego de Alvarado, established the villa of San Salvador in April, 1525. In August of 1526, a Spanish base was founded in San Salvador; from there, the Spanish would combat the surrounding villages of Pipil Indians. Another attack on Cuscatlán in 1528 ended in the demise of the Pipil and the hanging of their leader Atlacatl. King Carlos I of Spain granted San Salvador the title of city in 1546. During the following years, El Salvador developed under Spanish dominion within the Viceroyalty of New Spain.

1810-1838: Struggle for Independence

Towards the end of 1810, a combination of external and internal factors allowed Central American elites to attempt to gain independence from the Spanish crown. The internal factors were mainly the interest the elites had in controlling the territories they owned without involvement from Spanish authorities. The external factors were the success of the French and American revolutions in the 18th century and the weakening of the military power of the Spanish crown from its wars against Napoleonic France. The independence movement was consolidated on November 5, 1811, when the Salvadorian priest, Jose Matías Delgado, sounded the bells of the Iglesia La Merced in San Salvador, making a call for the insurrection. After many years of internal fights, the Acta de Independencia (Act of Independence) of Central America was signed in Guatemala on September 15, 1821.

On September 15, 1821, Mexico gained independence as The First Mexican Empire under the rule of Emperor Agustin de Iturbide, El Salvador and the other Central American provinces declared their independence from Spain and became part of the Mexican Empire. In 1823, the United Provinces of Central America was formed by the five Central American states under General Manuel José Arce. When this federation was dissolved in 1838, El Salvador became an independent republic.

1838-1930: Independent El Salvador

El Salvador's early history as an independent state was marked by frequent revolutions.

From 1872 to 1898, El Salvador was a prime mover in attempts to re-establish an isthmian federation. The governments of El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua formed the Greater Republic of Central America via the Pact of Amapala in 1895. Although Guatemala and Costa Rica considered joining the Greater Republic (which was rechristened the United States of Central America when its constitution went into effect in 1898), neither country joined. This union, which had planned to establish its capital city at Amapala on the Golfo de Fonseca, did not survive a seizure of power in El Salvador in 1898.

A bloodless coup led by General Tomás Regalado took El Salvador into the 20th century. Regalado's peaceful transfer of power in 1903 to his handpicked successor, Pedro José Escalón, ushered in a period of comparative stability that extended until the Depression-provoked upheaval of 1931-32.

The coffee industry grew inexorably in El Salvador. As a result, the elite provided the bulk of the government's financial support through import duties on goods imported with the foreign currencies that coffee sales earned. This support, coupled with the humbler and more mundane mechanisms of corruption, ensured the coffee growers of overwhelming influence within the government and the military which they used to create the Guardia Nacional (GN) in 1912. The duties of the GN differed from those of the Policia Nacional (PN), mainly in that GN personnel were specifically responsible for providing security on the coffee fincas and effectively suppressing rural dissent.

1930-1992: From Military to Civilian Rule

In 1930, General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, the country's Minister of Defence, took power in a coup d'état. Soon after, Martínez, now President, suppressed a 1932 revolt consisting of farmers and Indians in the western part of the country. The revolt was conducted by the newly formed Communist Party and its leader Agustín Farabundo Martí. The military conflict left more than 20,000 people dead in retaliatory massacres, which came to be known as 'La Matanza;' this marked the beginning of a series of de facto military dictatorships that would rule El Salvador until 1979, when General Humberto Romero of the Party of National Conciliation (PCN) would be overthrown in a reformist coup.

Under the authoritarian rule of Lt. Col. Óscar Osorio (1950-56) and Lt. Col. José María Lemus (1956-60) considerable economic progress was made. Lemus was overthrown by a coup, and after a confused period, a junta composed of leaders of the National Conciliation party came to power in June 1961. The junta's candidate, Lt. Col. Julio Adalberto Rivera, was elected president in 1962. He was succeeded in 1967 by Col. Fidel Sánchez Hernández.

Relations with Honduras deteriorated in the late 1960s. There had been border tension between the two countries after Oswaldo López Arellano, past president of Honduras, blamed the poor economy on the large number of immigrants from El Salvador. From that point on the relationship between El Salvador and Honduras was acrimonious. It reached a low when El Salvador met Honduras for a three-round football elimination match as a preliminary to the World Cup. Tensions escalated, and on July 14, 1969, the Salvadoran army launched an attack against Honduras. The Organization of American States negotiated a cease-fire which took effect on July 20. The war lasted approximately 100 hours and led to an arms race between the two countries. The Salvadorian forces that had invaded Honduras were withdrawn in August of that year, but it was not until 1992 that an agreement settling the border controversy with Honduras signed.

In 1979, politician Ing. José Napoleón Duarte of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC, Partido Demócrata Cristiano in Spanish) joined a Revolutionary Government Junta in a coup against then recently elected Presidente Romero (with the Carter administration's tacit acceptance and encouragement). He became the head of state and also the leader of the Junta (Primera Junta Revolucionaria de Gobierno) in 1980. Duarte passed a land reform and redistribution law that forced all private landowners to restrict their holdings to 200 manzanas (1 manzana was about 6,400 sq m); anyone holding larger amounts was forced to sell, and the land was then redistributed under various programs. This land reform law almost single-handedly ruined the economy of El Salvador (primarily agrarian at the time), and heavily contributed to the fall of Mr. Duarte's government.

Having ousted Duarte, El Salvador rapidly deteriorated into a civil war, which would last for 12 years (1980-92) and claim the lives of approximately 75,000 people.

A Second (1980) and Third Junta (1980-1982) quickly filled the vacuum and drafted a new constitution (1982). The Third Junta appointed Dr. Álvaro Magaña as president and called for National Assembly and Presidential Elections. The PDC gained the majority of seats in El Salvador's National Assembly, and beat out Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) candidate Roberto D'Aubuisson for the presidency on June 1, 1984. This ushered in a new democratic era in the history of the country and with the re-election of Mr. Duarte, the first democratic transfer of power in more than fifty years.

During this time, President Duarte was receiving military aid from the United States to fight the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), while the FMLN was receiving aid from groups both in the USA and other countries (Europe, Cuba, Venezuela, Russia). Complicating the situation were the actions of the ARENA party, which was proven to have had ties with death squads that were active in the country at the time. Finally, in the midst of increasing ineffectiveness, economic devastation, and a catastrophic civil war, PDC lost the 1988 elections and Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) candidate Lic. Alfredo Félix Cristiani was elected. The war ended with a 1992 cease-fire and peace agreement between the government, the political parties and the FMLN. This agreement was brokered by US president Reagan and finalised by President George HW Bush.

El Salvador Since 1992

El Salvador is struggling to cope with growing gang violence, perpetrated by groups such as Mara Salvatrucha and the 18th Street Gang. The violence is exacerbated by ongoing social unrest, economic devastation from the civil war, the breakdown of families and social structures, and the presence of refugees turned gang members from the United States who came home or were deported to El Salvador after 1996.

Agriculture was one of the sectors of the economy that was most affected by the civil war. Therefore, one of the biggest social problems in post-war El Salvador has been rural unemployment. This has been the explanation for increased migration to the cities and to other countries, especially the United States. Unofficial estimates say that the United States is the home of around 2 million Salvadorans.

The ARENA governments that have been in presidency since 1989 have implemented a program of policies of liberalisation of the labour, goods and financial markets. In a context of unprotected markets, El Salvador's economic development has therefore relied on the income provided by exports. Since the international coffee prices fluctuate too much, ARENA governments have regarded them unreliable. Because of this, they have tried to implement economic policies that stimulate the growth of non-traditional exports. The most important of these policies are measures that favour foreign investment in 'maquilas', which are tax-free industrial complexes for companies from abroad that outsource their production activities, in order to take advantage of cheap labour force. However, the foreign currency coming into the Salvadoran economy has not been able to keep up with the value of the goods imported by Salvadorans, which has implied a growing deficit in the trade balance. The only thing that has kept the Salvadoran economy in balance is the growing transfers received by Salvadorans from their family members living abroad, especially in the United States. American dollars became legal tender in El Salvador and the accounting unit of the financial sector in January 2001.