Indigenous Peoples of El Salvador

Many Salvadorans think that Pipil is the main indigenous root of the Salvadoran people. Pipiles may have been the largest group at the time of the Spanish conquest and might be the only group that maintained an explicitly indigenous identity beyond the matanza of the 1930s, but El Salvador has many different groups of indigenous within its history. In fact, the Pipiles did not even arrive on the scene from central Mexico until about 850 A.D.

Prior to the Pipiles, the primary people of El Salvador were the Chorti, the Cuscatlan, the Ulua, and the Lenca, with a small group of Masahuat. The Chorti extended in much of modern-day Ahuachapan and Santa Ana, as well as the western half of Chalatenango - especially from La Palma north. Of course they were also in eastern Guatemala. The Lenca were in much of eastern El Salvador, with villages up against the Ulua, with whom they had good relations. The Cuscatlan were the most influential culture for much of pre-history and should be considered Maya. Great sailors, they lived along the Lempa River and much of Usulutan, San Vicente, La Paz, San Salvador, Cuscatlan, and Cabanas. They probably had centers at Tehuacan and Cojutepeque. They were related to the Zapoteca and very closely to the Ulua. The Ulua lived in the eastern half of Chalatenango, northern Cabanas and Cuscatlan, northern Morazan, and parts of San Miguel. Also, throughout much of Honduras. The Masahuat are best described as renegade Kiche. Most of them became the Mam in Guatemala but a few remained in Nueva Concepcion and southern Chalatenango.

The Pipil arrived from central Mexico in about 850 A.D., driven out by the dominant and violent Toltec. The Pipiles are Nahuat-speaking people and some settled in coastal Guatemala and Nicaragua, as well as El Salvador. Some also settled in Honduras. The name Pipil means "companions of the waterways," which indicate that most were Purepecha (related to the Cuscatlan and the Lenca). Historically the Purepecha controlled the Balsas and Lerma Rivers. They were the arch-enemy of the Toltec. Some of the Pipil might also have been renegade Kiche from Mexico (Masawa), similar to the Masahuat. These communities are identified by Masahuat in the name (except for the one in Nueva Concepcion). In about 860 A.D. the Toltec (Totonac, Otomi, Cakchiquel) arrived to El Salvador at Cihuatan. They killed many of the Pipil (Purepecha) leaders but the Cuscatlan helped to conceal the Pipil by also becoming Pipil so that the Toltec could not distinguish. Many of the Chorti left then and the Pocomam entered in the far west, allies of the Toltec. The Otomi flipped, rejecting their place in the Toltec and becoming part of the opposition. At that time they became the Nonualco, living from Panchimalco to the villages named Nonualco. Eventually the Toltec were defeated. The Totonac were allowed to stay - they moved to the Izalco area. At the time of the Spanish they were called Pipil but technically they weren't. The Cakchiquel, the most repressive of the Toltec, were forced to leave en masse becoming the Nicarao in Nicaragua. Their repressive behavior there caused a group of Matagalpa (Miskito) to flee, migrating to Morazan becoming the Cacaopera, not long before the arrival of the Spanish, next to the Ulua, their lineage-mates.

 

Originally posted Nov. 28, 2009 on BlogBox

Edited April 7, 2014, January 27, 2016, and August 4, 2016

Comments

[Chelsea Ruiz]

I'm married to a Salvadoran, and am very interested in the history and culture of indigenous Salvadoran people. So interested, in fact, that I studied anthropology in college and completed my senior thesis in El Salvador in 2006. Everything I ever read about the origins of indigenous peoples in El Salvador was about the Pipiles and how we know nothing about them due to La Gran Matanza. I cannot express how grateful I am to you for your enlightenment on the complex and diverse origins of El Salvador's indigenous population.

[Tim Lohrentz]

Chelsea, thanks for your kind words. El Salvador has a very rich history of indigenous peoples, of which the Pipiles are the most recent. There are many Maya place names in the northwest, most likely related to today's Ch'orti's. The Lenca have at least 10,000 years of history in eastern El Salvador and are very closely related to the Olmecs, whose name probably comes from Lago Olomega. Tim

[Jasmin]

i'm from el salvador and have been trying to learn about the pipiles. but i haven't found anything on them on the internet. i would LOVE to learn as much as possible. How have you learned all this? is there a way we can email each other, and teach my about natives from el salvador. i've been trying to learn for a while now. I got so happy to find someone that knows something. Thank you for posting this!

[Felipe G Guevara]

even though there were more then one civilization of indiginous tribes; all of us salvadorians, we are more directly decendents of the Pipil people whom took ove
El Salvador for 400 years. all the others fleed El Salvador.

[Tim Lohrentz]

Felipe, thanks for your comments. I would beg to differ. The only ones who appeared to flee were the Quiche and to an extant the Chortis. The Quiche were in the Suchitlan area and fled to Guatemala. The Chortis were in the volcanic region from San Salvador to the Guatemala border and moved to northern Santa Ana and Chalatenango, where they remained until the Spanish arrived. The Chortis and Pipiles got along quite well and even formed a new melded language. And then everything east of the Lempa (except for most of Chalate) was Lenca and that didn't change at all. There were likely Lenca in San Vicente area who did move east with the arrival of the Pipil. The Lenca have been in eastern El Salvador continuously for 11,000 years.