Santa Ana Department

Santa Ana is a department located in the western zone of El Salvador. Its head is the city of Santa Ana, the department has a population of approximately 631,100 inhabitants, it was created on February 8, 1855 during the presidency of José María San Martín.

History

Since the preclassic period, the department of Santa Ana was inhabited by Mayan groups. Representative places of this culture in the area are the archaeological sites (of El Trapiche, Tazumal and Casa Blanca). For the late classic period, two Mayan ethnic groups or peoples inhabited the department of Santa Ana: the Chortís, settled north of the Lempa River; and the Pokomam, located throughout the western area and south of the Lempa River flow, except for the Sonsonate areas. Chalchuapa was the largest, most powerful and dominant Mayan city in the entire western zone.

Between 1200 and 1400, the current territory of Santa Ana was occupied by Nahuas from Kuskatan, as part of the Señorío de Cuzcatlán. Between 1528 and 1540 the area was conquered and pacified by Spanish conquerors. During the Spanish colonization it belonged to the Mayor of San Salvador and later to the Municipality of San Salvador, which in turn consisted of two parties or districts: Santa Ana and Metapán.

Since 1824 (the year in which the Mayor of Sonsonate and the Municipality of San Salvador were unified) it belonged to the department of Sonsonate.

The department of Sonsonate included the territory that today makes up the same department and those of Ahuachapán and Santa Ana.

On February 8, 1855, the Senate, considering that the department of Sonsonate had an area of 600 square leagues, a population of more than 80,000 inhabitants, which was divided from east to west by a mountain range that had impassable roads in the winter that did not allow the governors to visit the towns with due frequency and that the towns to the south of the mountain range wanted to form their own department, formed a legislative decree that divided the department of Sonsonate into two: Sonsonate and that of Santa Ana. The decree was accepted by the Chamber of Deputies on February 19 and was executed by President José María San Martín as a legislative decree on February 22.

The newly formed department included the towns of Chalchuapa, Coatepeque, Texistepeque, Metapán, Masahuat, and the towns that today make up the department of Ahuachapán, which are: Atiquizaya, Ahuachapán, Ataco, Tacuba, and San Lorenzo.

In the first full month of the department's existence, the state of the funds of its municipalities (not including those of Atiquizaya, Masahuat and Santiago that did not submit their statements or those of Tacuba and San Lorenzo that lacked funds) was: 627 pesos with 5 reales for income and 299 pesos with 4 1/4 reales for expenses, leaving a total of 34 pesos with 6 1/4 reales.

On April 16, 1855, the government began an official visit to the Departments of Cuscatlán, Santa Ana, Sonsonate, and San Salvador starting from San Salvador and continuing through Suchitoto, Chalatenango, and Tejutla before arriving at one of the populations that again formed the department that were Metapán, Santa Ana and Ahuachapán, and following Sonsonate, Izalco and Guaymoco. This is the first official visit conducted by the government to the department after its formation.On May 4, the president with his ministers and government officials arrived in Metapán from Chicunhueso.He remained there until May 6. On the 7th he left for Texistepeque, where he was received by the departmental governor who presented him with a squad of 500 men who accompanied him. On the 8th he left for Santa Ana accompanied by several residents of Texistepeque and the governor. He remained in Santa Ana, visiting public buildings, attending exams at the boys' and girls' schools, and granting taxes to the population. On May 9, Don Santos Berdugo read a speech before a school exam in the presence of the president.In the evening he was treated to a dance attended by the main residents. On May 11, the president, accompanied by some friends, visited Coatepeque where he returned at night. He arrived in Chalchuapa on the 12th where during the visit of the public school in Chalchuapa, the student Felipe Betancur read a speech to the president. The municipality of Chalchuapa received aid for expenses for public works, especially for the conclusion of a bridge It led to the village of Chingo. He continued to Atiquizaya where he even examined the schools. On the morning of May 13, he went to Ahuachapán, visiting the Valle del Rincón where he saw a school of about 30 to 40 children that, even with its poor condition, gave good tests. money at school. They arrived in Ahuachapán on the afternoon of May 13, where the president was received by a hymn composed in his honor, he remained there until May 15. On May 16, he left the apartment for Nahuizalco.

On February 9, 1869, the Chamber of Deputies, considering that the districts of Ahuachapán and Atiquizaya had a sufficient number of inhabitants to form a department and that their separation from the department of Santa Ana would benefit their administration, issued a decree to segregate them from the department of Santa Ana and form the department of Ahuachapán. The decree was accepted by the Senate on February 12 and was executed by President Francisco Dueñas as a legislative decree on February 13.

Geography

The department of Santa Ana limits to the north with the Republic of Guatemala and part of the department of Chalatenango; to the east with the departments of Chalatenango and La Libertad; to the south with the department of Sonsonate and to the west with the department of Ahuachapán and the Republic of Guatemala.

The department of Santa Ana is located at an altitude between 500 and 3000 meters above sea level. And it is furrowed by three mountain ranges, which are: Alotepeque-Metapán, Apanéca and Mita-Comecayo. The most important volcanoes are the Santa Ana or Ilamatepec volcano 2,381 masl and the Chingo volcano. Among the most important hills are the Cerro Verde 2030msnm, although in reality it is an extinct volcano and the Montecristo hill 2418msnm. The department's main rivers are: the Lempa River, the Guajoyo River and the Suquiapa River.

Two lakes of great tourist and economic importance are found in the department of Santa Ana. Lake Güija located near Metapán and Lake Coatepeque which is located in the southern part of this department.

Religion

In Santa Ana there are 2 religions that are widely practiced, these being Catholicism and Protestantism. Catholicism represents 50% of the population and Protestantism represents 40%, divided into many denominations; 6% of the population does not belong to any religion and 4% belongs to other religions.

Demographics

The department of Santa Ana according to the 2007 population census, in terms of race the department had:

• 87.59%
• 11.88% White
• 0.28% Other
• 0.21% Black
• 0.04% Indigenous

Government and Administration

The department is represented in the Legislative Assembly by seven proprietary elected deputies and seven democratically elected substitute deputies.

The departmental Governor resides in the city of Santa Ana and is designated for that position by the president of the republic. While each of the municipalities is governed by a municipal council made up of a mayor, a trustee and aldermen or councilors (whose number depends on the population in their respective municipalities).

Municipalities and Districts

Municipalities of Santa Ana listed according to the table.

The Department of Santa Ana is divided into the following 13 municipalities:

Source: Municipal Directory of the Dr. Guillermo Manuel Ungo Foundation

The municipalities are grouped into the following districts:

• District of Santa Ana (formed by the municipalities: Santa Ana, Texistepeque, Coatepeque and El Congo).
• Metapán District (formed by the municipalities: Metapán, Masahuat, San Antonio Pajonal, Santiago de la Frontera and Santa Rosa Guachipilín).
• Chalchuapa District (formed by the municipalities: Chalchuapa, Candelaria de la Frontera, El Porvenir and San Sebastián Salitrillo).

Economy

The most cultivated agricultural products are: basic grains, coffee, sugar cane, pastures, garden plants, oilseeds (especially peanuts), cassava, potato, tobacco, cotton, coconut palm, banana, banana, citrus fruits and others; flowers, watermelon and melon. Bovine, equine, pig, goat and mule farming is also developed. In this department there is the mining district with the highest national production, specifically in the municipality of Metapán, where in an area of 100 km² deposits of copper, lead, iron, zinc, silver, jasper, sandstone, slate, limestone, magnetite, limonite, hematite, goethite and mercury.

There are factories of food products, alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, threads, yarns and furniture, paper, matches, fertilizers, insecticides, paints, varnishes, lacquers, pharmaceutical products, candles and basketry. The city of Santa Ana is the second industrial center of the country.

The department of Santa Ana is one of the main coffee producers nationwide. The commercial sector has experienced great growth throughout the department, largely motivated by private investment, this is reflected in the city of Santa Ana, the main commercial center in the western part of the country and second in importance in El Salvador.

Tourism and development

Teatro de Santa Ana and the Cathedral of Santa Ana.

The most notable tourist sites are the tourist centers of Sihuatehuacán and Cerro Verde, the Coatepeque and Güija lakes, the Guajoyo hydroelectric dam, the Montecristo and San Diego forests, the colonial churches of Metapán, Chalchuapa, Texistepeque and Ostúa, the Cathedral of Santa Ana, the Santa Ana Theater, the spas of Trapiche, Galeano, El Coco and Las Milagros, the lagoons of Cuzcachapa and Metapán.

In the department of Santa Ana there are three pre-Columbian sites located in Chalchuapa and which have been declared national monuments. El Trapiche, one of the oldest sites in Chalchuapa that is famous for its 21-meter main pyramid architecturally similar to the Pyramid of La Venta. Casa Blanca a political ceremonial center with 6 pyramids. And Tazumal, the largest and most important due to its size and majesty of its two main structures, so much so that its image was on a bill of the national currency (now replaced by the US dollar) the colon.

Methods of communication

It has numerous paved highways, such as: the Pan-American highway, which crosses the city of Santa Ana, connecting it with the city of San Salvador, and the road that departs from the city of Santa Ana to Candelaria de la Frontera and the Republic of Guatemala from this comes off the one that leads to Chalchuapa.

There is also a modern highway that connects San Salvador with the city of Santa Ana; Another important road is the one between Sonsonate and Metapán.

Gallery

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  Structure 1 of Tazumal