Captaincy General of Guatemala
El Salvador, 1542–1821. Draft, not yet reviewed
It was an administrative division of the Spanish Empire, under the viceroyalty of New Spain in Central America. The Salvadoran territory was administered by the mayor of Sonsonate, with San Salvador being established as an intendencia in 1786. The Captaincy General ended in 1821 with the signing of the Act of Independence of Central America.
Seat of power: Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala
Rulers
Carlos Luis de Urrutia
Captain General of Guatemala, 1818–1821
He was a Spanish military commander and colonial administrator. He was the supreme military commander of Guatemala from 1818 to 1821 and fled to Cuba when it declared independence.
Culture
- Beginning in the late sixteenth century, the cultivation of indigo became a major part of the Salvadoran economy, spreading particularly in the center, east, and along the coast, along with other cash crops such as sugar.
- Indigenous communities survived more intact in the west of the country, where the economy was based around cacao and balsam and protected from cattle ranching and disease.
- In November 1811, Salvadoran priest José Matías Delgado rang the bells of Iglesia La Merced in San Salvador, calling for insurrection and launching the 1811 Independence Movement. This insurrection was suppressed, and many of its leaders were arrested and served sentences in jail.
Picture
Suchitoto holds the site of the original founding of the Villa of San Salvador in 1528.
Image: SWENOWENSON, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
Sources
- Captaincy General of Guatemala (Wikipedia)
- Captaincy General of Guatemala (Wikidata)
- About the picture (Wikipedia)
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.