Más Bakersfield

Before America was discovered, the land that is now El Salvador was inhabited by the Aztecs of Cuscatlán, who lived west of the Lempa River, and Los Chontales, who were east of that river.

Cuscatlán was the main city of the Aztecs. In June 1524, Spanish Captain Pedro de Alvarado began his conquest for Cuscatlán (land of beautiful jewels). He was later defeated and injured, deferring the continuation of the fight to his brother, Gonzalo de Alvarado.

During this colonial period, El Salvador was part of Guatemala — at that time, a province.

In 1821, El Salvador’s independence from Spain was proclaimed, and by the next year, it became part of the empire created by Mexican Emperor Augustin Iturbide.

However, a revolution in Mexico just two years later, the empire was destroyed, converting El Salvador to the United Provinces of Central America . San Salvador was the capital of that federation.

This federation was dissolved in 1838-1839, making El Salvador an independent state.

El Salvador tried unsuccessfully several times to rebuild the confederation.

Salvadoran President Francisco Morazán invaded Guatemala in 1840, and in 1842, took Costa Rica. But, deposed by the Guatemalan President Rafael Carrera, Morazán was executed in Costa Rica .

In 1850, the President Doroteo Vasconcelos, allied to Honduras, wanted to impose the newly Central American Union, but Guatemala did not agree.  Instead, Guatemala invaded El Salvador.

Guatemalan President Justo Rufino Barrios proclaimed the Central American Union in 1885. Honduras gladly joined the union, but El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica would not,  consequently leading to war, which ended with Barrios’ defeat and death at the Chalchuapa Battle, in Chalchuapa, El Salvador.

The conflict between Guatemala and El Salvador would start up again in 1906, though it was resolved almost immediately by the intervention of Mexico and the United States.

Twenty-five years later, in 1931, a coup gave the government to Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez, who ruled the country until 1944. A period of instability would follow.

In 1962, a new constitution was promulgated.

Just seven years later, in July 1969, war broke out between Honduras and El Salvador with the Salvordoran Army invading Honduras.

The so-called “Football War”  lasted four days.

The civil war in El Salvador, from 1980 to 1992, left more than 75,000 victims.

For more than a decade, the country endured a violent wave with the consequences of the bloody confrontations between Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) guerrillas and the army.

During that time, there were a string of high-profile murders such as Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero, Archbishop of San Salvador; some humanitarian activists; four American nuns; six Jesuit priests; all while thousands of people disappeared, countless families were destroyed and a period of national mourning blanketed the nation. 

In 1992, a final agreement between FMLN and the government led to the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Accords.

El Salvador had suffered the worst of the war, not to mention that it’s also survived two devastating earthquakes over the last 25 years.

And yet, this tiny nation — Central America’s Pulgarcito — endured.

This week’s Lesson:

1)  Before America was discovered, El Salvador was inhabited by_______________who lived west of the ___________ and __________________ who were east of that river.

2)  __________________ was the main city of the Aztecs.

3)  Who conquered Cuscatlán?

4)  _______________________ proclaimed the Central American Union in 1885.

5)  The Chapultepec Peace Accords was signed in _________.

Answers:

1)  The Aztecs of Cuscatlán.   Lempa River.   Los Chontales.     2)  Cuscatlán.     3)  The Spanish Captain Pedro de Alvarado and his brother Gonzalo de Alvarado.     4)  Justo Rufino Barrios.     5)  1992.