El Salvador is located Middle America, bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Guatemala and Honduras. The terrain of El Salvador is mostly mountains with narrow coastal belt and central plateau.
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 Colon).
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.
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.From 1931 to 1979 El Salvador was ruled by a series of military dictatorships.
In 1969, El Salvador invaded Honduras after Honduran landowners deported several thousand Salvadorans. The four-day war became known as the “football war” because it broke out during a soccer game between the two countries.
In 1998, Hurricane Mitch devastated the country, leaving 200 dead and over 30,000 homeless. In Jan. and Feb. 2001, major earthquakes struck El Salvador, damaging about 20% of the nation's housing. An even worse disaster beset the country in the summer when a severe drought destroyed 80% of the country's crops, causing famine in the countryside.
El Salvador is predominantly a Roman Catholic country. During the war the government assumed that the Catholic Church supported communism because it sympathized with the poor, and it targeted the Church for violence. Many fled the religion either because they feared for their lives or because they were unhappy with the Church's affiliation with the opposition. Protestantism, especially Evangelism, offered a welcome alternative. Other churches include the Baptist and Pentecostal.
Spanish is the national language. Many men, mainly between the ages of 20 and 40, learned some English in the US during the war. Indigenous languages have died out in daily use, but there is some academic interest in preserving the Nahua language of the Pipils.
El Salvadorans chow down on a standard daily fare of casamiento, a mixture of rice and beans. Another mainstay is pupusas, a cornmeal mass stuffed with farmer's cheese, refried beans or chicharrón (fried pork fat). Licuados (fruit drinks), coffee and gaseosas (soft drinks) are ubiquitous. Tic-Tack and Torito are vodka-like spirits made from sugar cane and are not for those who cherish their stomach lining.
Full country name: Republic of El Salvador
Area: 20,752 sq km (8093 sq mi)
Population: 6,122,515 (growth rate 2.3%)
People: 94% mestizo (Spanish-Indian), 5% Indian, 1% European descent
Capital city: San Salvador
Other cities: Santa Ana, San Miguel, Zacatecoluca
Language: Spanish, some Nahua
Religion: 75% Roman Catholic, 20% Protestant
Ethnicity: mestizo 90%, white 9%, Amerindian 1% |
