Many commentaries and histories of El Salvador refer to its indigenous “pre-Hispanic” past in a static way, as if the indigenous peoples and their geographic distribution at the time of the arrival of the Spanish was the way it always was. In this typical history, the western part of El Salvador is presented as though it were always occupied by the Pipiles. For example, Elsa Ramos provides a very thoughtful historical overview of El Salvador’s indigenous people during the colonial time period, but presents a more static view of the pre-Hispanic history.
During the classic and post-classic Mayan civilization periods – 200 AD to 1100 AD – nothing could be further from the truth. There were numerous immigrations into and emigrations out of El Salvador. The most important was the arrival of the Pipiles, a nahuatl-speaking people from central Mexico, toward the end of the period mentioned earlier. But there were also immigrations of Chorti Maya, Pokomam Maya, Quiche Maya, and Lenca that I will be discussing along the way. Many of these groups intersected at the multi-ethnic city of Cihuatan, just north of present-day Aguilares, by far the most important site in El Salvador during the Classic period.
The reasons for all the movement have to do with specific events both within El Salvador as well as throughout Mesoamerica, including central Mexico. However, the underlying cause relates to the fact that El Salvador is one of the richest parts of Mesoamerica, able to support a very dense population. As one of the birthplaces of the Mayas, El Salvador also held a lot of spiritual and cultural importance for all Mesoamerican peoples. But it is also a land of frequent earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and floods. This caused many emigrations. Earlier I discussed how the newly formed Lenca federation of villages, formed in about 900 AD, avoided the earthquake- and eruption-prone volcanic valleys of San Miguel and Usulutan, and instead populated both the coastal areas and hills along the northern tier of central and eastern El Salvador.
A major emigration from El Salvador occurred in about 210 AD following the massive eruption of Ilopango volcano, one of the largest eruptions the world has seen in the last 2,000 years. In fact, this ended the preeminence of the Pacific coast as the Mayan cultural center, based in Chalchuapa, and coincides with the rise of the Classic period Maya in Copan, Tikal, and other sites in Guatemala and Mexico. For example, the very first monument at Tikal was built in about 200 AD.
It was the Chorti Maya who lived in western and central El Salvador at this time. Chalchuapa, Santa Leticia, and San Andres were in the debris path of Ilopango’s ash and were totally depopulated for nearly 200 years, according to the archeological record. The Chorti elite dispersed north and west into the classical Mayan areas, especially to western Belize and the eastern Peten. Some Chortis of a more common status likely followed to Copan and the Peten, but many migrated locally into the safer hills of Chalatenango, which helps explain the smaller ceremonial site of Matamaras along the Sumpul River. It appears that Xinca communities (non-Mayan) in far western El Salvador were also depopulated at this time.
The Lencan sites of higher civilization at Quelepa and Tehuacan were not covered in ash and remained during this period. The Lenca continued to trade extensively with the Cacaopera people as well as Matagalpas in Nicaragua. By extension, the Lencas were connected with indigenous of Costa Rica, Panama, and South America. But the close link between the Lenca and Chorti in El Salvador was broken, cutting the trade of the Mayas with areas to the south to a trickle. The Lencas also continued to trade with central Mexico during this period as well as with other Lencas near Lago Yojoa in northern Honduras.
By about 400 AD, the thick Ilopango ash was finally transformed into tillable soil. Mayans from Guatemala and Honduras began to drift back in – the next series of numerous immigrations in El Salvador’s history. We will see that Salvadorans have always been a people who have adapted well to immigration, but not until now have they ever been considered 'illegal'.
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