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In 1821, the country achieved independence from Spain as part of the First Mexican Empire, only to further secede as part of the Federal Republic of Central America in 1823.
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El Salvador becomes part of the United Provinces of Central America, which also includes Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
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Some 30,000 people are killed during the suppression of a peasant uprising led by Agustine Farabundo Marti.
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Right-wing National Conciliation Party (PCN) comes to power after a military coup.
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Archbishop of San Salvador and human rights campaigner Oscar Romero assassinated; Jose Napoleon Duarte becomes first civilian president since 1931.
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Duarte wins presidential election.
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Two massive earthquakes kill 1,200 people and render another one million homeless
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360 Salvadoran troops dispatched to Iraq.
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21 inmates are killed in a riot at a maximum-security prison west of the capital.
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Government apologies for civil war massacre of more than 1,000 people in the town of El Mozote. The massacre happened in 1981.
