History of El Salvador
History of El Salvador. El Salvador was first occupied, by prehistoric peoples, around the second millennium B.C. It was the Pipil Indian kingdom of Cuscatlan when conquered for Spain by Pedro de Alvarado in 1524. During the colonial period, El Salvador was one of the provinces of the captaincy general of Guatemala. In 1811 Father Jose Matias Delgado led an unsuccessful uprising against Spanish rule. Ten years later, El Salvador and the other provinces revolted and won independence from Spain. After a brief occupation by Mexico in 1823, it joined the four other Central American states in forming the United Provinces of Central America in June, 1823. The confederation collapsed during 1838-39, and El Salvador became a separate republic in 1841.
Political instability caused by the disparity between the country's rich and poor and occasional armed conflicts with neighboring states marked the country's subsequent history. Control of the government was usually in the hands of military leaders and maintained by force; dictatorships and military coups were frequent. A period of stability followed the adoption of a new constitution in 1962.
During the 1960's, El Salvador's relations with Honduras deteriorated steadily, and fighting broke out in July, 1969. Although the conflict lasted only two weeks, it caused extensive damage and disrupted the economies of both countries.
General Carlos Humberto Romero was elected president in 1977. Economic problems and conflict between rightist and leftist political factions increased after Romero took office, setting the stage for his overthrow in 1979; a centrist junta of military and civilian leaders took power that year.
Facing pressure from the United Nations to institute reforms, the junta named Jose Napoleon Duarte, a moderate and leader of the Christian Democratic party, president in 1979. Duarte inaugurated a policy of land reform. Political violence continued, however, leading to civil war, with leftist guerrillas fighting against government forces. The United States gave economic support and military aid to the Salvadoran government against the guerrillas, who the United States maintained were supported by Communists in the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Nicaragua.
Elections for the national assembly were held in 1982, and the conservative Arena party gained a majority of the seats. Some of the land-reform measures Duarte and the Christian Democrats had instituted were repealed. The assembly drafted a new constitution that was adopted in 1983. Duarte was reelected president the following year.
Despite an agreement by opposing groups in the war to comply with a peace plan signed by five Central American counties in 1987, the civil war continued. Alfredo Cristiani, of the Arena party, was elected president in 1989. In 1991 a cease-fire was signed. The civil war officially ended in 1992 under a plan in which the guerrilla forces agreed to disband in return for a program of political and economic reforms by the government. In 1994 in the first postwar election, Armando Calderon Sol, of the Arena party, was elected president. In 1998 Hurricane Mitch caused widespread damage in the country.
In early 2001, earthquakes in El Salvador killed about 1,200 people and left more than 1 million homeless. In 2004, Elias Antonio (Tony) Saca was elected president. Also in 2004, El Salvador ratified the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). This intention of the agreement was to reduce trade barriers among the participating countries. It took effect in 2006.
In March, 2009, Salvadorans elected Mauricio Funes of the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) president. Funes took office in June. The conservative Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) had been in power for nearly 20 years.