The history of El Salvador begins with several distinct groups of Mesoamerican people, especially the Pipil, the Lenca and the Maya. In the early 16th century, the Spanish Empire conquered the territory, incorporating it into the Viceroyalty of New Spain ruled from Mexico City. In 1821, El Salvador achieved independence from Spain as part of the First Mexican Empire, only to further secede as part of the Federal Republic of Central America two years later. Upon the republic's independence in 1841, El Salvador became a sovereign state until forming a short-lived union with Honduras and Nicaragua called the Greater Republic of Central America, which lasted from 1895 to 1898.
In the 20th century, El Salvador endured chronic political and economic instability characterized by coups, revolts, and a succession of authoritarian rulers caused by the intervention of the United States. Persistent socioeconomic inequality and civil unrest culminated in the devastating Salvadoran Civil War in the 1980s, which was fought between the military-led government and a coalition of left-wing guerrilla groups. The conflict ended in 1992 with a negotiated settlement that established a multiparty constitutional republic, which remains in place to this day.
El Salvador's economy was historically dominated by agriculture, beginning with the indigo plant (añil in Spanish), the most important crop during the colonial period, and followed thereafter by coffee, which by the early 20th century accounted for 90 percent of export earnings.
Pre-Columbian history
Before the Spanish conquest, the area that is known as El Salvador was composed of three indigenous states and several principalities. In central El Salvador were the indigenous inhabitants, the Pipils, or the Pipiles, a tribe of nomadic Nahua people that were settled there for a long time. The Pipil strongly resisted Spanish efforts to extend their dominion southward.
The eastern region was populated and governed by the Lenca people, while the northern zone of the Lempa River was populated and governed by the Chʼortiʼ, a Mayan people. Their culture was similar to that of their Aztecs and Maya neighbors.
Several archaeological sites dating to 1400 years ago have been discovered preserved beneath 6 m (20 ft) of volcanic ash.
Spanish conquest (1524–1525)
The first Spanish attempt to control El Señorío of Cuzcatlán failed in 1524, when Pedro de Alvarado was forced to retreat by Pipil warriors led by King Atlácatl and Prince Atonal in the Battle of Acajutla. In 1525, he returned and succeeded in bringing the district under control of the Audiencia of Mexico. Land- Environmental Impact was dry and cold around this time
Spanish colonial period (1525–1821)
After the Spanish conquest, the region became part of the Captaincy General of Guatemala. Pedro de Alvarado was the first governor, a position he held until his death in 1541. The area was briefly (from 1538 to 1543) under the authority of a short-lived Real Audiencia of Panama, after which most of Central America was placed under a new Real Audiencia of Guatemala. During this period, the region was divided into the province of San Salvador, the province of San Miguel, and the province of Izalcos.
In 1579 the province of San Salvador became an alcaldía mayor (great mayor's office). In 1786 it became an intendancy and in 1821 it became a province with a provincial council. In 1824, San Salvador and Sonsonate were united into the State of Salvador (within the Federal Republic of Central America).
Beginning in the late sixteenth century, the cultivation of indigo became a major part of the Salvadoran economy, spreading particularly in the center, east, and along the coast, along with other cash crops such as sugar. The hazardous working conditions on indigo plantations in conjunction with the aggressive recruitment of labor from villages, disease brought by Spaniards, and the loss of communal lands (ejidos) led to a gradual decline in the indigenous populations of these regions over the course of the colonial period, as their communities disintegrated and they assimilated into Ladino society. The northern border regions of the country experienced a similar phenomenon due to the spread of cattle ranching. On the other hand, indigenous communities survived more intact in the west of the country, where the economy was based around cacao and balsam and protected from cattle ranching and disease, allowing the preservation of indigenous agriculture and by consequence their social structures, language and identity.
Struggle for independence (1821–1841)
In the early 19th century, Napoleon's occupation of Spain led to the outbreak of revolts across Spanish America. All of the fighting by those seeking independence was done in the center of New Spain from 1810 to 1821, in what is currently central Mexico. After the viceroy was defeated in Mexico City in 1821, news of the independence was sent to all the territories of New Spain including the intendancies of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala.
The public proclamation was done through the 1821 Act of Independence of Central America. After the declaration of independence, the parliament of New Spain intended to establish a commonwealth whereby the King of Spain, Ferdinand VII, would also be Emperor of New Spain, but in which both countries would be governed by separate laws and with their own legislative offices. Should the king refuse the position, the law provided for another member of the House of Bourbon to accede to the throne of New Spain. Ferdinand VII, however, did not recognize the independence of New Spain and said that Spain would not allow any other European prince to take the throne of New Spain.
Parliament proclaimed Agustín de Iturbide emperor of New Spain on 19 May 1822 and renamed New Spain as the Mexican Empire. The territory of the Mexican Empire included the continental intendancies and provinces of New Spain proper, including those of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala.
El Salvador, fearing incorporation into Mexico, petitioned the United States government for statehood. But in 1823, a revolution in Mexico ousted Emperor Agustín de Iturbide and a new Mexican congress voted to allow the Central American intendancies to decide their own fate. That year, the Federal Republic of Central America (FRCA) was formed of the five Central American intendancies under General Manuel José Arce. The intendancies became states under the FRCA.
In 1832, Anastasio Aquino led an indigenous revolt against criollos and mestizos in Santiago Nonualco, a small town in the province of La Paz. The source of the discontent of the indigenous people was the constant abuse and the lack of land to cultivate. The problem of land distribution has been the source of many political conflicts in Salvadoran history.
The FRCA was dissolved in February 1841, and El Salvador gained recognition as an independent republic on 18 February 1841.
Rise of the oligarchy In the early 19th century, El Salvador's economy depended on the production of a single export crop, indigo. This led wealthy landowners to be attracted to certain lands while leaving other lands, especially those around former volcanic eruptions, to the poor and indigenous communities for subsistence farming. In the late 19th century, natural indigo was replaced by synthetic chemical dyes. The landed elite replaced this crop with a newly demanded product, coffee.Paige, JM. "Coffee and Power in El Salvador." Latin American Research Review, v. 28 issue 3, 1993, p. 7.
The lands that had been left by the wealthy landowners to the poor and indigenous communities were suddenly quite valuable. The elite-controlled legislature and president passed vagrancy laws that removed people from their land and the great majority of Salvadorans became landless, as their former lands were absorbed into the new coffee plantations (fincas). Historian Héctor Lindo-Fuentes asserts that "the parallel process of state-building and expansion of the coffee industry resulted in the formation of an oligarchy that was to rule El Salvador during the twentieth century."Lindo-Fuentes, Hector (1990). Weak Foundations: The Economy of El Salvador in the Nineteenth Century 1821–1898. Berkeley: University of California Press.
The coffee industry gave birth to an oligarchy in the late 19th century, which has controlled most of the land and wealth of El Salvador since that time. The Fourteen Families ("las catorce familias")—with names including de Sola, Llach, Hill, Meza-Ayau, Duenas, Dalton, Regalado, Quiñonez, Flores, and Salaverria—is a reference to this oligarchy. For much of this time, this oligarchy acted in a manner similar to the overlords of the feudal system that existed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Although the constitution was amended repeatedly in favor of the oligarchs (in 1855, 1864, 1871, 1872, 1880, 1883, and 1886), several elements remained constant throughout. The wealthy landowners were granted super-majority power in the national legislature and economy. For example, the 1824 constitution provided for a unicameral legislature of 70 deputies, in which 42 seats were set aside for the landowners. The president was selected from the landed elite. Each of El Salvador's 14 regional departments had a governor appointed by the president. The frequent changes in the constitution were mainly due to the attempts of various presidents to hold onto power. For example, President Gerardo Barrios created a new constitution to extend his term limit.
From 1931 until the early 1980s, El Salvador was governed by various dictatorships, but these governments were subservient to the oligarchy, with some officials deriving “modest wealth from bureaucratic corruption”. At that time, the oligarchy consisted of some 20 families which controlled more than 70 percent of El Salvador's coffee production and exports, sugar mills, banks, television and newspapers. Since the end of that war in 1992, the oligarchic families of El Salvador have shifted their focus from agricultural exports to capital investment. Today, the majority of El Salvador's capital is distributed among eight powerful business conglomerates. These companies (Grupo Cuscatlán, Banagrícola, Banco Davivienda El Salvador, Banco de Comercio, Grupo Agrisal, Grupo Poma, Grupo de Sola, and Grupo Hill) dominate the economy of El Salvador and they are largely owned by the descendants of the original 14 families of the coffee oligarchy.
Military dictatorships (1931–1979)
Between 1931, the year of General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez's coup, and 1944, when he was deposed, there was brutal suppression of rural resistance. The most notable event was the 1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising headed by Farabundo Martí, Chief Feliciano Ama from the Izalco tribe and Chief Francisco "Chico" Sanchez from Juayúa, Izalco subdivision. The government retaliation, commonly referred to as La Matanza (“the slaughter”), followed days of protest. In this 'Matanza', between 10,000 and 40,000 indigenous people and political opponents were murdered, imprisoned or exiled. Federal Research Division historian Richard Haggerty described the coup as a "watershed" event in Salvadoran history, while historian Michael Krennerich described both the coup and the subsequent (a January 1932 military-instigated massacre that killed up to 40,000 peasants) as "landmarks in the history of the country".
From 1931 until 1982, the country was ruled by either a military dictator or a joint civilian-military dictatorship and its economy was based primarily on the cultivation and exportation of coffee. These authoritarian governments employed political repression to maintain power, despite the appearance of democracy.