The first people to have settled in the land of El Salvador were the Olmecs in 2000BC, followed by the Mayans in 1500BC before their decline in 900BC. They were then succeeded by the Toltek Empire, and, in the 11^th century, by various other people of whom the Pipils; nomadic people with Nahua origins that came from Central Mexico, were the most important.

During the Spanish Conquest in 1524, the first attempt to seize the land proved to be a failure due to the Pipil’s fierce resistance, with a subsequent attack by Pedro de Alvarado being successful; resulting in widespread slavery and the present name of the country.

In 1821, together with other countries from Central America, joined Mexico in order to rid themselves of the Spanish’s sovereignty, thus becoming an independent coalition from which El Salvador broke free in 1838. Free from Spanish rule, the now independent republic experienced more civil strife and international conflict than ever before. Throughout this period, a coffee-growing oligarchy named La Catorce; composed of fourteen families, controlled over half of the country’s land, exporting much of the goods for their own profits. With ever-growing need of land, more of it was appropriated from the peasants, leading to an insurrection which was put to a stop in 1932 during the incident referred to as La Matanza, which translates to The Massacre. In just one week, over 30,000 inhabitants, most of them indigenous, were either murdered, imprisoned or exiled.

After this, the plight of Salvadorians only worsened, with a civil war breaking out in 1979 following escalation of political violence between the Revolutionary Government Junta and both left-wing and right-wing reformists, with the insurgents forming the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMNL). Following the death of some 75.000 people, a peace agreement was made, resulting in a reduction in armed forces, dissolution of guerrillas and a new police force, a Truth Commission set up by UN was enacted in order to guard further human rights violations.

Since then, the democratic process has been upheld and some stability has been achieved, with the rise in gang-related crime becoming a new problem which the country deals with to this very day.