1838-1870 1918-1945







El Salvador, 1870-1918



With demand for El Salvador's main export crop, INDIGO, decreasing, COFFEE was cultivated, soon dominating the economy to such an extent that the country was called COFFEE REPUBLIC (1871-1927). During these years, Liberalism dominated in El Salvador. To facilitate an increase in coffee cultivation, the infrastructure was extended, communal land was expropriated, VAGRANCY LAWS were passed to force landless peasants to work the coffee plantations.
Despite many presidents serving their full term of office, the country was far from politically stable, as new constitutions were passed in 1871, 1872, 1880, 1885 and 1886. In 1885, Guatemalan forces invaded; they were defeated in the BATTLE OF CHALCHUAPA, in which Guatemalan Dictator-President Justo Rufino Barrios found his death.
In World War I, El Salvador declared war on the Central Powers, without dispatching combat troops.


EXTERNAL
FILES 		Article from Catholic Encyclopedia : San Salvador
Library of Congress, Country Studies : El Salvador
Armed Conflict Events Data : UPCA Restoration War 1885, from OnWar.com
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Article : Salvador, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1913 pp.1096-1098 [G]
Article : Salvador, in : Statesman's Year Book 1878 pp.572-575, 1895 pp.917-919, 1898 pp.917-920, 1901 pp.1030-1033, 1905 pp.1116-1120 [G]
Article : Central America, in : International Year Book 1898 pp.169-171 [G]
Article : Salvador, in : International Year Book 1898 pp.687-688 [G]
Article : Salvador, in : Appleton's Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events 1894 pp.708-709 [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on September 6th 2007

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