Izalco

Izalco was one of the main Nahua centers in western El Salvador before the conquest. Its territory was part of the lordships of Tecpán-Izalco, whose wealth came from cacao, used as a trade product and currency. After the Spanish campaigns of 1524, the population fell under the colonial system and ended up organized into two contiguous towns: Asunción Izalco, predominantly indigenous, and Dolores Izalco, primarily associated with ladino population. A street separated both nuclei, which maintained their own parishes and governments for much of the colonial and republican periods. In 1862, they were definitively merged under a single municipality and received the title of city. The expansion of coffee plantations and the elimination of communal lands deeply affected the indigenous communities. In January 1932, Izalco was one of the centers of the peasant and indigenous uprising and the subsequent massacre carried out by the State. Despite decades of persecution and silence, the brotherhoods, the Alcaldía del Común, and the ceremonies of remembrance continue to make the indigenous identity of the city visible.