El Salvador (Spanish: República de El Salvador , literally meaning "Republic of the Savior") is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America. It borders the Pacific Ocean between Guatemala and Honduras. It lies on the Gulf of Fonseca, as does Nicaragua further south. It has a population of approximately 5.7 million people as of 2009 on 21,000 km 2 . The capital city of San Salvador is the most important metropolis of the republic. El Salvador eliminated its currency, the colón, and adopted the U.S. dollar in 2001.
History
Main article: History of El SalvadorAt the time of the Spanish conquest, the inhabitants of the western part of El Salvador, the Pipil called that part of the country Cuzcatlan, which in Pipil means "the land of precious things".
Spanish rule
In the early sixteenth century, the Spanish conquistadors ventured into ports to extend their dominion to the area. They called the land " Provincia De Nuestro Señor Jesucristo El Salvador Del Mundo " ("Province of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World"), which was subsequently abbreviated to " El Salvador ".
Pedro de Alvarado sent an expedition into the region from Guatemala in 1524, but the Pipil drove them out again in 1526. In 1528 he sent a second expedition, which succeeded, and the Spanish founded their first capital city in El Salvador at a place known today as Ciudad Vieja, the first site of the Villa de San Salvador, 10 km. south of Suchitoto. This capital was occupied from 1528 until 1545 when it was abandoned, and the capital city moved to where modern San Salvador is today.
Towards the end of 1810, a combination of internal and external factors allowed the Central American elites an attempt to gain independence from the Spanish crown. The internal factors were mainly the interest the elites had in controlling the territories they owned without involvement from Spanish authorities. The external factors were the success of the French and American revolutions in the eighteenth century and the weakening of the military power of the Spanish crown because of its wars against Napoleonic France. The independence movement was consolidated on November 5, 1811, when the Salvadoran priest, Jose Matias Delgado, sounded the bells of the Iglesia La Merced in San Salvador, making a call for the insurrection. After many years of internal fights, the Acta de Independencia (Act of Independence) of Central America was signed in Guatemala on September 15, 1821. When these provinces were joined with Mexico in early 1822, El Salvador resisted, insisting on autonomy for the Central American countries. After minor battles the resistances were recognized in forming a new country.
Independence
In 1823, the United Provinces of Central America was formed by the five Central American states under General Manuel José Arce. When this federation was dissolved in 1839, El Salvador became an independent republic. El Salvador's early history as an independent state was marked by frequent revolutions.
From 1872 to 1898, El Salvador was a prime mover in attempts to reestablish an isthmian federation. The governments of El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua formed the Greater Republic of Central America via the Pact of Amapala in 1895. Guatemala and Costa Rica considered joining the Greater Republic (which was rechristened the United States of Central America when its constitution went into effect in 1898), but neither country did so. This union, which had planned to establish its capital city at Amapala on the Golfo de Fonseca, did not survive a coup in El Salvador in 1898.
The enormous profits that coffee yielded as a monoculture export served as an impetus for the process whereby land became concentrated in the hands of an oligarchy of few families . A succession of presidents from the ranks of the Salvadoran oligarchy, nominally both conservative and liberal, throughout the last half of the nineteenth century generally agreed on the promotion of coffee as the predominant cash crop, on the development of infrastructure (railroads and port facilities) primarily in support of the coffee trade, on the elimination of communal landholdings to facilitate further coffee production, on the passage of anti-vagrancy laws to ensure that displaced campesinos and other rural residents provided sufficient labor for the coffee fincas (plantations), and on the suppression of rural discontent. In 1912, the national guard was created as a rural police force.
The coffee industry grew inexorably in El Salvador and provided the bulk of the government's financial support through import duties on goods imported with the foreign currencies that coffee sales earned.
20th century
The economy was based on coffee-growing after the mid-19th century and, as the world market for indigo withered away, prospered or suffered as the world coffee price fluctuated. From 1931, the year of the coup in which Gen. Maximiliano Hernández Martínez came to power, there was brutal suppression of rural resistance. The most notable event was the 1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising, commonly referred to as La Matanza (the massacre), headed by Farabundo Martí and the retaliation led by Martínez's government, in which approximately 30,000 indigenous people and political opponents were murdered, imprisoned, or exiled. Until 1980, all but one Salvadoran temporary president was an army officer. Periodic presidential elections were seldom free or fair, and an oligarchy in alliance with military forces ruled the nation. However, since 1931 the military governments or military-influenced governments favored a policy of economic interventionism.
Opposition leader José Napoleón Duarte (PDC) was the Mayor of San Salvador from 1964-1970, winning 3 elections. He then ran but was defeated in the 1972 presidential elections amid widespread fraud and was forced to flee the country.
In October 1979, a coup d'état brought Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador to power. It nationalized many private companies and took over much privately owned land. The purpose of the this new junta was to stop the revolutationary movement already underway because of Duarte's stolen election. Nevertheless, the oligarqy opposed agrarian reforme and a junta formed with young liberal elements from the Army such as Gral. Majano and Gral. Gutierrez as well as progressives such as Ungo and Alvarez. Due to the pressure of the staunch oligarqy and inability to control the Army in repressing its own people because they were fighting for their right to unionize, agrarian reform, better wages, health, freedom of expression, this Junta was dissolved. In the meantime the guerrilla movement was spreading in all sectors of the Salvadoran society. Middle and High School students were organized in MERS ( Movimiento Estudiantil Revolutionario de Secundaria, Revoluationary Movement of Secondary Students; college students were involved with AGEUS (Asociacion de Estudiantes Universitarios Salvadorenos; Association of Salvadoran College Students; workers were organized in BPR (Bloque Popular Revolucionario, Popular Revolutionary Block. U.S. supported the creation of a second Junta to change the political environment and stop the spread of a leftist insurrection. Napoleon Duarte was recalled from his exile in Venezuela to head this new Junta. However, a revolution was already underway an his new role as head of the Junta was seen as opportunistic by the general population. He was unable to influence the outcome of the insurrectional movement-this resulted in the Salvadoran Civil War (1980-1992).
Civil War (1980 to 1992)
Main article: Salvadoran Civil WarThe Salvadoran Civil War was predominantly fought between the government of El Salvador and a coalition of four leftist groups and one communist group known as the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), mainly between 1980 and 1992. Approximately 75,000 people were killed in the war. The Salvadoran Civil war happened in the context of the Cold War, with Cuba and the USSR backing the Marxist-Leninist militias and the United States backing the Salvadoran government.
End of the 20th century
From 1989 until 2004, Salvadorans favored Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party, voting ARENA presidents in every election (Alfredo Cristiani, Armando Calderón Sol, Francisco Flores Pérez, Antonio Saca).
Economic reforms since the early 1990s have brought major benefits in terms of improved social conditions, diversification of its export sector, and access to international financial markets at investment grade level, while crime remains a major problem for investment climate.
21st century
With the government of ARENA and the unsuccessful attempts of the left-wing party to win an election, they decided to change their tradition by selecting as a candidate, a journalist instead of one of their former guerrilla leaders. On March 15, 2009, Mauricio Funes, a television figure not associated with left-wing militias, became the first president from the FMLN party. He was inaugurated on June 1, 2009. One focus of the Funes government is revealing the corruption from the past government.
Politics
Main article: Politics of El SalvadorMain article: Foreign relations of El SalvadorThe political framewo
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