Izalco

Izalco (Pipil: Itzalku) is a town and a municipality in the Sonsonate department of El Salvador. Volcan Izalco is an icon of the country of El Salvador, a very young volcano on the flank of Santa Ana volcano. From when it was born in 1770 until 1966, it was in almost continuous eruption and was known as the "lighthouse of the Pacific." Since then it has been nearly inactive.

According to the historian Jorge Lardé y Larin, Izalco comes from the roots itz (obsidian); cali (house), and co (place), which translates to "city of obsidian houses". It is said that the primitive name was tecupan ishatcu, which means "seat of the lords in a place of crystal waters"; or the land was also known as muchishatcu which means "kingdom of the Izalcos".

Another version states that Izalco has other meanings, such as "in the obsidian sands", "in the black sands", and "place of vigilance or penitence"; these all originate from itz (obsidian), shal (sand) co (place), and cali (house).

According to the traditional story from Juan de Torquemada, the last survivor of Tula, Topilzín Acxitl Quetzalcóhuatl II moved to Central America due to the collapse of the Toltec culture in the Anáhuac valley. There, he founded Escuintla, and afterwards Tepcan-Izalco – or tecupan ishatcu – and later, Cuscatlán. However - even though the exact chronology is unknown - scientific investigations established the arrival of the Pipil people in Salvadoran territory in various migrations between the years 900 AD and 1500 AD.

More precisely, the izalcans were one of the four branches of the nahuats who settled in the region, along with the cuzcatlecos, nonualcos, and mazahuas. They were also part of a group of city-states that the Spanish called Tecpán-Izalco, which comprised 15 settlements. The most notable among them were Izalco, Caluco, Nahulingo, and Tacus-calco.

The area was an important producer of cacao (cocoa beans), which was paid as tribute to the presiding authority of the city-states, and also served as money for the acquisition of goods and services such as obsidian and high-quality Guatemalan jade. The central city was named Tecuzalco or Tecuzcalco, which means "head or capital of the Izalcos". It was notable due to its dense population in the area.

Izalco was a center of the 1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising. Its native Pipil peasants were led by Feliciano Ama, who was hanged by government troops on January 28. More than one fourth of the population of Izalco was killed.

It is located in the city of Izalco, in the municipality and district of the same name, near the base of the volcano of the same name, 6.5 Kilometers to the northeast of the city of Sonsonate. It has an elevation of 440 meters over sea level.