Even though the official history of El Salvador only goes back until the time of European colonization, it is clear that people have been living in El Salvador for a long time. There are artifacts that have been uncovered in El Salvador that date back thousands of years, even though written history does not go back as far. There are still a lot of archaeological expeditions that are taking place in the area.
The first major Empire to visitor control of the area with the Mayan empire. The Mayan empire dominated the area for several hundred years, but the Aztecs also had a presence in the area prior to the arrival of European settlers. Eventually, the area would fall under the control of the Spanish.
The Spanish arrived in the area at the beginning of the 16th century. It did not take them very long to conquer the entire region. At the time, El Salvador was not viewed as an independent area, but as part of a greater Central American region, that was under the control of the Spanish Empire. The Spanish were able to conquer the area easily because of a number of advantages. They introduced a number of diseases that killed a lot of the indigenous population, and they had a significant technological advantage that allowed them to easily subjugate the population.
El Salvador would eventually gain its independence from Spain in 1821. Unlike the other European powers, Spain was not able to maintain a firm hold over its colonies. At the time, El Salvador was a part of the first Mexican Empire, but it would not maintain this world for very long. Eventually, it would secede as part of the Federal Republic of Central America. Unfortunately, this would not last very long either. El Salvador was an independent nation, but it did form a union with Honduras and Nicaragua for a short amount of time. In 1898, this union also broke up, and El Salvador became an independent country once again. It has remained an independent country until this day.
El Salvador is still not a very safe place to live. During the 20th century, the country endured a significant amount of chaos. There were a lot of rebellions and revolutions against dictators who tried to control the area, and the United States also played a role in a lot of the instability that took place. There was even a major civil war that took place in the 1980s, and it devastated the entire country. Eventually, the Civil War would end in 1992. Today, El Salvador is a constitutional republic, and the government remains in control. The economy is also incredibly poor, but the Indigo plant and the coffee plantations in the area bring in a significant amount of revenue.
The country of El Salvador is 209 years old, founded in the year 1815.