El Salvador History
El Salvador, with the other countries of Central America, declared its independence from Spain on Sept. 15, 1821, and was part of a federation of Central American states until that union dissolved in 1838.
For decades after El Salvador's independence, it experienced numerous revolutions and wars against other Central American republics. From 1931 to 1979 El Salvador was ruled by a series of military dictatorships. In 1969, El Salvador invaded Honduras after Honduran landowners deported several thousand Salvadorans. The four-day war became known as the “football war” because it broke out during a soccer game between the two countries.
Suffering of El Salvador during 12-Year war
A 12-year civil war that killed 75,000.
In the 1970's a poor economy, and the repressive measures of dictatorship led to civil war between the government. The U.S. intervened on the side of the military dictatorship, despite its scores of human rights violations. Between 1979 and 1981, about 30,000 people were killed by National Conciliation Party death squads backed by the military.
In the 1970's a poor economy, and the repressive measures of dictatorship led to civil war between the government. The U.S. intervened on the side of the military dictatorship, despite its scores of human rights violations. Between 1979 and 1981, about 30,000 people were killed by National Conciliation Party death squads backed by the military.
Time Line
Independence
1840 - El Salvador becomes fully independent following the
dissolution of the United Provinces of Central America.
1859-63 - President Gerardo Barrios introduces coffee growing.
1932 - Some 30,000 people are killed during the suppression of a peasant uprising led by Agustine Farabundo Marti.
Civil war 1961 - Right-wing National Conciliation Party (PCN) comes to power after a military coup.
1969 - El Salvador attacks and fights a brief war with Honduras following the eviction of thousands of Salvadoran illegal immigrants from Honduras.
Romero assassination Champion of the poor: A right-wing death squad killed Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980
1977 - Guerrilla activities by the left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) intensify amid reports of increased human rights violations by government troops and death squads; General Carlos Romero elected president.
1979-81 - Around 30,000 people are killed by army-backed right-wing death squads.
1979 - General Romero ousted in coup by reformist officers who install a military-civilian junta, but this fails to curb army-backed political violence.
1980 - Archbishop of San Salvador and human rights campaigner Oscar Romero assassinated; Jose Napoleon Duarte becomes first civilian president since 1931.
1981 - France and Mexico recognise the FMLN as legitimate political force; US continues to assist El Salvadoran government whose army continues to back right-wing death squads.
1982 - Extreme right-wing National Republican Alliance (Arena) wins parliamentary elections marked by violence.
1984 - Duarte wins presidential election.
1986 - Duarte begins quest for negotiated settlement with FMLN.
1989 - FMLN attacks intensify; another Arena candidate, Alfredo Cristiani, voted president in elections widely believed to have been rigged.
Peace and natural disasters 1991 - FMLN recognised as political party; government and FMLN sign UN-sponsored peace accord.
2001 earthquakes At least 1,000 people died and tens of thousands were left homeless by two massive quakes in 2001
1993 - Government declares amnesty for those implicated by UN-sponsored commission in human rights atrocities.
1994 - Arena candidate Armando Calderon Sol elected president.
1997 - FMLN makes progress in parliamentary elections; leftist Hector Silva elected mayor of San Salvador.
1999 - Arena candidate Francisco Flores beats former guerrilla Facundo Guardado in presidential election.
2001 January, February - Massive earthquakes kill 1,200 people and render another one million homeless.
2002 July - US court holds two retired, US-based Salvadoran army generals responsible for civil war atrocities, orders them to compensate victims who brought case.
2003 August - 360 Salvadoran troops despatched to Iraq.
2003 December - El Salvador - along with Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala - agrees on a free-trade agreement with the US. The government ratifies the pact in December 2004.
Saca presidency 2004 March - Arena candidate Tony Saca wins presidential elections.
Handal death Tens of thousands attended the funeral of iconic FMLN guerrilla leader Schafik Handal in 2006
2005 March - OAS human rights court votes to re-open an investigation into the 1981 massacre of hundreds of peasant farmers in the village of El Mozote, regarded as one of the worst atrocities of the civil war.
2005 October - Thousands flee as the Ilamatepec volcano, also known as Santa Ana, erupts. Days later scores of people are killed as Tropical Storm Stan sweeps through.
2006 March - El Salvador is the first Central American country to implement a regional free trade agreement with the US.
2006 April - El Salvador and neighbouring Honduras inaugurate their newly-defined border. The countries fought over the disputed frontier in 1969.
2007 January - 21 inmates are killed in a riot at a maximum-security prison west of the capital.
2007 February - Three members of the governing Arena party are murdered in Guatemala. There are suspicions that an organised crime syndicate is behind the killings.
El Salvador's position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" makes it prone to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes 2008 January - More than 400 judges hold a street protest over corruption allegations made against four of their colleagues.
2009 January - Former FMLN rebel movement emerges as largest party in parliamentary elections, although short of a majority. Seen as preparation for presidential election in March.
2009 February - Ruling party Arena wins largest number of places in local elections despite polls favouring the opposition FMLN.
Funes elected Gangs Gangs - known as "Maras" - fuel El Salvador's high murder rate
2009 June - Mauricio Funes sworn in as president. Restores diplomatic relations with Cuba.
2009 November - More than 140 people are killed and thousands left homeless in mudslides and floods.
2010 June - Fourteen people killed in two attacks by suspected gang members on public buses in capital, San Salvador, on the same day.
2011 September - US adds El Salvador and Belize to its list of countries considered major producers or transit routes for illegal drugs.
2011 October - Torrential rains cause flooding across Central America, killing several people in El Salvador.
2011 December - Government apologises for civil war massacre of more than 1,000 poeple in the town of El Mozote.
2012 March - Funes government suffers setback in parliamentary polls which give the right-wing a narrow victory.
2012 December - Human Rights Court for the Americas finds El Salvador guilty over the civil war massacre at El Mozote in 1981.
2013 April - A year-long truce between street gangs has saved the lives of thousands, the government says.
2014 March - Vice-President Sanchez Ceren scores narrow win over conservative candidate Norman Quijano in presidential election. He takes office in June as the first former left-wing rebel to become president.
1859-63 - President Gerardo Barrios introduces coffee growing.
1932 - Some 30,000 people are killed during the suppression of a peasant uprising led by Agustine Farabundo Marti.
Civil war 1961 - Right-wing National Conciliation Party (PCN) comes to power after a military coup.
1969 - El Salvador attacks and fights a brief war with Honduras following the eviction of thousands of Salvadoran illegal immigrants from Honduras.
Romero assassination Champion of the poor: A right-wing death squad killed Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980
1977 - Guerrilla activities by the left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) intensify amid reports of increased human rights violations by government troops and death squads; General Carlos Romero elected president.
1979-81 - Around 30,000 people are killed by army-backed right-wing death squads.
1979 - General Romero ousted in coup by reformist officers who install a military-civilian junta, but this fails to curb army-backed political violence.
1980 - Archbishop of San Salvador and human rights campaigner Oscar Romero assassinated; Jose Napoleon Duarte becomes first civilian president since 1931.
1981 - France and Mexico recognise the FMLN as legitimate political force; US continues to assist El Salvadoran government whose army continues to back right-wing death squads.
1982 - Extreme right-wing National Republican Alliance (Arena) wins parliamentary elections marked by violence.
1984 - Duarte wins presidential election.
1986 - Duarte begins quest for negotiated settlement with FMLN.
1989 - FMLN attacks intensify; another Arena candidate, Alfredo Cristiani, voted president in elections widely believed to have been rigged.
Peace and natural disasters 1991 - FMLN recognised as political party; government and FMLN sign UN-sponsored peace accord.
2001 earthquakes At least 1,000 people died and tens of thousands were left homeless by two massive quakes in 2001
1993 - Government declares amnesty for those implicated by UN-sponsored commission in human rights atrocities.
1994 - Arena candidate Armando Calderon Sol elected president.
1997 - FMLN makes progress in parliamentary elections; leftist Hector Silva elected mayor of San Salvador.
1999 - Arena candidate Francisco Flores beats former guerrilla Facundo Guardado in presidential election.
2001 January, February - Massive earthquakes kill 1,200 people and render another one million homeless.
2002 July - US court holds two retired, US-based Salvadoran army generals responsible for civil war atrocities, orders them to compensate victims who brought case.
2003 August - 360 Salvadoran troops despatched to Iraq.
2003 December - El Salvador - along with Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala - agrees on a free-trade agreement with the US. The government ratifies the pact in December 2004.
Saca presidency 2004 March - Arena candidate Tony Saca wins presidential elections.
Handal death Tens of thousands attended the funeral of iconic FMLN guerrilla leader Schafik Handal in 2006
2005 March - OAS human rights court votes to re-open an investigation into the 1981 massacre of hundreds of peasant farmers in the village of El Mozote, regarded as one of the worst atrocities of the civil war.
2005 October - Thousands flee as the Ilamatepec volcano, also known as Santa Ana, erupts. Days later scores of people are killed as Tropical Storm Stan sweeps through.
2006 March - El Salvador is the first Central American country to implement a regional free trade agreement with the US.
2006 April - El Salvador and neighbouring Honduras inaugurate their newly-defined border. The countries fought over the disputed frontier in 1969.
2007 January - 21 inmates are killed in a riot at a maximum-security prison west of the capital.
2007 February - Three members of the governing Arena party are murdered in Guatemala. There are suspicions that an organised crime syndicate is behind the killings.
El Salvador's position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" makes it prone to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes 2008 January - More than 400 judges hold a street protest over corruption allegations made against four of their colleagues.
2009 January - Former FMLN rebel movement emerges as largest party in parliamentary elections, although short of a majority. Seen as preparation for presidential election in March.
2009 February - Ruling party Arena wins largest number of places in local elections despite polls favouring the opposition FMLN.
Funes elected Gangs Gangs - known as "Maras" - fuel El Salvador's high murder rate
- First emerged in the US in the 1980s
- Spread to Central America as gang members were deported
- "Mara Salvatrucha" and "18th Street" (or "Mara 18")are the most notorious
2009 June - Mauricio Funes sworn in as president. Restores diplomatic relations with Cuba.
2009 November - More than 140 people are killed and thousands left homeless in mudslides and floods.
2010 June - Fourteen people killed in two attacks by suspected gang members on public buses in capital, San Salvador, on the same day.
2011 September - US adds El Salvador and Belize to its list of countries considered major producers or transit routes for illegal drugs.
2011 October - Torrential rains cause flooding across Central America, killing several people in El Salvador.
2011 December - Government apologises for civil war massacre of more than 1,000 poeple in the town of El Mozote.
2012 March - Funes government suffers setback in parliamentary polls which give the right-wing a narrow victory.
2012 December - Human Rights Court for the Americas finds El Salvador guilty over the civil war massacre at El Mozote in 1981.
2013 April - A year-long truce between street gangs has saved the lives of thousands, the government says.
2014 March - Vice-President Sanchez Ceren scores narrow win over conservative candidate Norman Quijano in presidential election. He takes office in June as the first former left-wing rebel to become president.
Hurricane Mitch
In 1998, Hurricane Mitch devastated the country, leaving 200 dead and over 30,000 homeless. Destroying hundreds of thousands of homes and causing more than $5 billion in damages. It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the Western Hemisphere in more than 200 years. Floods and mudslides brought on by heavy rainfall washed away entire villages, and the majority of the country’s crops and infrastructure were destroyed. The other Central American nations (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama) also were affected by Hurricane Mitch.
In January and February 2001, major earthquakes struck El Salvador, damaging about 20% of the nation's housing. The quake was felt as 40 seconds of violent movement, followed by a string of powerful aftershocks. Eight thousand homes were destroyed and another sixteen thousand were severely damaged, forcing people to sleep in the streets. 12,000 people left homeless. El Salvador President Francisco Flores requested 3,000 coffins from Colombia.
Sevier Drought
A severe drought destroyed 80% of the country's crops, causing famine in the countryside. 45 days of no rain. they lost one million crates of corn. The drought means that some people cant feed their own families.