Central America · Independence and the federations
El Salvador
1821/1841–present
El Salvador declared independence with Central America on 15 September 1821 and became a separate republic in 1841 after the federation dissolved; its capital is San Salvador. It was the smallest and most densely populated Central American state, its economy dominated by coffee and controlled by a landed oligarchy (the so-called "Fourteen Families"), which produced acute inequality.
- Existed
- 1821/1841–present
- Shown on the map
- 1840–1978, 1992–2024 (2 periods)
- Peak area
- 22k km²
- Region
- Central America
Overview
El Salvador declared independence with Central America on 15 September 1821 and became a separate republic in 1841 after the federation dissolved; its capital is San Salvador. It was the smallest and most densely populated Central American state, its economy dominated by coffee and controlled by a landed oligarchy (the so-called "Fourteen Families"), which produced acute inequality. A 1932 peasant and indigenous uprising was crushed in the "La Matanza" massacre, in which tens of thousands were killed. It fought the brief "Football War" against Honduras in July 1969.
Later history and present status
From 1980 to 1992 El Salvador endured a devastating civil war between the US-backed military government and the leftist FMLN guerrillas, marked by death squads (the 1980 assassination of Archbishop Óscar Romero at the altar) and atrocities such as the El Mozote massacre; the war ended with the Chapultepec Peace Accords on 16 January 1992, after which the FMLN became a legal political party. Since 2019, President Nayib Bukele has dominated politics, gaining international attention for a sweeping anti-gang crackdown (a prolonged "state of exception") that slashed one of the world's highest homicide rates while drawing criticism over civil liberties; he was controversially re-elected in 2024.
Common questions
- What was El Salvador?
- El Salvador declared independence with Central America on 15 September 1821 and became a separate republic in 1841 after the federation dissolved; its capital is San Salvador. It was the smallest and most densely populated Central American state, its economy dominated by coffee and controlled by a landed oligarchy (the so-called "Fourteen Families"), which produced acute inequality.
- When did El Salvador exist?
- El Salvador existed 1821/1841–present. On this map it is drawn 1840–1978, 1992–2024.
- How large was El Salvador?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, El Salvador covered about 22,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
- What is the present status of El Salvador?
- From 1980 to 1992 El Salvador endured a devastating civil war between the US-backed military government and the leftist FMLN guerrillas, marked by death squads (the 1980 assassination of Archbishop Óscar Romero at the altar) and atrocities such as the El Mozote massacre; the war ended with the Chapultepec Peace Accords on 16 January 1992, after which the FMLN became a legal political party.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each polity and for the key figures and events as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, EBSCO Research Starters and academic sources. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — El Salvador en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Salvador
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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