Five hundred years after the arrival of the Castilians. Conquest of Cuscatlán and foundation of the village of San Salvador

Abstract

This article is written in the framework of the Fifth Centenary of the “Conquest of Guatemala and Cuscatlán”, and thus aims to narrate, through various sources, the actions of siege, invasion and battles carried out by the Castilians and their indigenous allies from the first incursion under the command of Pedro de Alvarado in 1524, recognizing that this conquest was an extension of that of Mexico-Tenochtitlán. For its part, the conquest of Cuscatlán and the rest of the current Salvadoran territory was not an expeditious military operation, but rather a prolonged process, with visible failures for both the conquerors and the conquered. In order to understand these facts of the Conquest, it is important to recognize the documentation, both prepared by the Spaniards who participated as actors; and by the indigenous allies who had “agency”, documented in their respective pictograms and codices, their respective records to verify their loyalty as partners to the Spaniards. In addition to the indigenous chronicles of the conquered peoples. Finally, the facts of the founding of the village of San Salvador in 1525 until its transfer to the current location in 1545 are discussed.