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A Timeline of Salvadoran History
A Timeline of Salvadoran History
Disclaimer: This is intended to be a brief history of El Salvador, helping to contextualize the current nation's political and social landscape.
Colonial Era (1524-1821)
Colonial Era (1524-1821)
Spain establishes control and reorganizes land and power away from Indigenous communities
Indigenous communities are displaced and forced into systems that benefit colonial elites
Land becomes the main source of wealth
Coffee Oligarchs (1800s-1930s)
Coffee Oligarchs (1800s-1930s)
Coffee becomes the dominant export, controlled by a few powerful families
Indigenous and rural communities lose communal lands as the state privatizes land to expand coffee production
This creates a small elite and a large, poor rest of the population with limited rights and protections
Military governments form close alliances with the elites (wealthy and landowners)
Repression: Civil War (1932-1992)
Repression: Civil War (1932-1992)
La Mantanza of 1932: After an uprising demanding land rights and economic fairness, the government (military regime) massacred up to 30,000 mostly Indigenous peasants
Worsening conditions for the marginalized led to a violent Civil War between the Salvadoran government (supported by the U.S.) and the FMLN in the 1980s
The Civil War lasted 12 years, with 75,000 (mostly innocent civilians) deaths
Post-war institutions are weak, and corruption and other issues persist
Contemporary Era (1992-2019)
Contemporary Era (1992-2019)
Inequality and poverty increase under weak institutions
Immigration also increases into the U.S. due to post-war effects
Deportations from the U.S. help gangs like MS-13 and Barrio 18 grow inside El Salvador
Violence and extortion spread in communities with little state presence
Governments begin to respond with mano dura policies
Learn More History:
Learn More History:
Sources:
Abrego, Leisy J., and Alejandro Villalpando. "Racialization of central americans in the United States." Precarity and belonging: Labor, migration, and noncitizenship (2021): 51-66.
Chomsky, Aviva. Central America's forgotten history: Revolution, violence, and the roots of migration. Beacon Press, 2021.
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