History

El Salvador’s population numbers about 6.0 million; almost 90% is of mixed Indian and Spanish extraction. About 1% is indigenous, 9% Caucasian; very few Indians have retained their customs and traditions. The country’s people are largely Roman Catholic — though Protestant groups are growing — and Spanish is the language spoken by virtually all inhabitants. The capital city of San Salvador has about 1.4 million people; an estimated 48% of El Salvador’s population lives in rural areas.

Before the Spanish conquest the area that is now El Salvador was made up of two large Indian states and several principalities. The indigenous inhabitants were the Pipils a tribe of nomadic Nahua people long established in Central Mexico. Early in their history they became one of the few Mesoamerican Indian groups to abolish human sacrifice. Otherwise their culture was similar to that of their Aztec neighbors. Remains of Nahua culture are still found at ruins such as Tazumal (near Chalchuapa) San Andres (northeast of Armenia) and Joya De Ceren (north of Calon).

The first Spanish attempt to subjugate this area failed in 1524 when Pedro de Alvarado was forced to retreat by Pipil warriors. In 1525 he returned and succeeded in bringing the district under control of the Captaincy General of Guatemala which retained its authority until 1821 despite an abortive revolution in 1811.

Independence
In 1821 El Salvador and the other Central American provinces declared their independence from Spain. When these provinces were joined with Mexico in early 1822 El Salvador resisted insisting on autonomy for the Central American countries. Guatemalan troops sent to enforce the union were driven out of El Salvador in June 1822. El Salvador fearing incorporation into Mexico petitioned the U.S. Government for statehood. But in 1823 a revolution in Mexico ousted Emperor Augustin Iturbide and a new Mexican congress voted to allow the Central American provinces to decide their own fate. That year the United Provinces of Central America was formed of the five Central American states under Gen. Manuel Jose Arce. When this federation was dissolved in 1838 El Salvador became an independent republic. El Salvador’s early history as an independent state — as with others in Central America — was marked by frequent revolutions; not until the period 1900-30 was relative stability achieved. The economic elite ruled the country in conjunction with the military and the power structure was controlled by a relatively small number of wealthy landowners known as the 14 Families. The economy based on coffee-growing prospered or suffered as the world coffee price fluctuated. From 1932 — the year of General Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez’s coup following his brutal suppression of rural resistance — until 1980 all but one Salvadoran temporary president was an army officer. Periodic presidential elections were seldom free or fair.

From Military to Civilian Rule
From the 1930s-70s authoritarian governments employed political repression and limited reform to maintain power despite the trappings of democracy. During the 1970s the political situation began to unravel. In the 1972 presidential election the opponents of military rule united under Jose Napoleon Duarte leader of the Christian Democratic Party (PDC). Amid widespread fraud Duarte’s broad-based reform movement was defeated. Subsequent protests and an attempted coup were crushed and Duarte exiled. These events eroded hope of reform through democratic means and persuaded those opposed to the government that armed insurrection was the only way to achieve change. As a consequence leftist groups capitalizing upon social discontent gained strength. By 1979 leftist guerrilla warfare had broken out in the cities and the countryside launching what became a 12-year civil war. A cycle of violence took hold as rightist vigilante death squads in turn killed thousands. The poorly trained Salvadoran Armed Forces also engaged in repression and indiscriminate killings. After the collapse of the Somoza regime in Nicaragua that year the new Sandinista Government provided large amounts of arms and munitions to five Salvadoran guerrilla groups. On October 15 1979 reform-minded military officers and civilian leaders ousted the right-wing government of Gen. Carlos Humberto Romero (1977-79) and formed a revolutionary junta. PDC leader Duarte joined the junta in March 1980 leading the provisional government until the elections of March 1982. The junta initiated a land reform program and nationalized the banks and the marketing of coffee and sugar. Political parties were allowed to function again and on March 28 1982 Salvadorans elected a new constituent assembly. Following that election authority was peacefully transferred to Alvaro Magana the provisional president selected by the assembly.