Federal Republic of Central America in the context of "El Salvador"

Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast (in the adjacency zone) by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the south and the Gulf of Honduras to the northeast.

The territory of modern Guatemala hosted the core of the Maya civilization, which extended across Mesoamerica; in the 16th century, most of this was conquered by the Spanish and claimed as part of the viceroyalty of New Spain. Guatemala attained independence from Spain and Mexico in 1821. From 1823 to 1841, it was part of the Federal Republic of Central America. For the latter half of the 19th century, Guatemala suffered instability and civil strife. From the early 20th century, it was ruled by a series of dictators backed by the United States. In 1944, authoritarian leader Jorge Ubico was overthrown by a pro-democratic military coup, initiating a decade-long revolution that led to social and economic reforms. In 1954, a U.S.-backed military coup ended the revolution and installed a dictatorship. From 1960 to 1996, Guatemala endured a bloody civil war fought between the U.S.-backed government and leftist rebels, including genocidal massacres of the Maya population perpetrated by the Guatemalan military. The United Nations negotiated a peace accord, resulting in economic growth and successive democratic elections.

Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually defined as consisting of seven countries: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. Within Central America is the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot, which extends from southern Mexico to southeastern Panama. Due to the presence of several active geologic faults and the Central America Volcanic Arc, there is a high amount of seismic activity in the region, such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, which has resulted in death, injury, and property damage.

Most of Central America falls under the Isthmo-Colombian cultural area. Before the Spanish expedition of Christopher Columbus' voyages to the Americas, hundreds of indigenous peoples made their homes in the area. From the year 1502 onwards, Spain began their colonization. From 1609 to 1821, the majority of Central American territories (except for what would become Belize and Panama and including the modern Mexican state of Chiapas) were governed by the viceroyalty of New Spain from Mexico City as the Captaincy General of Guatemala. On 24 August 1821, Spanish Viceroy Juan de O'Donojú signed the Treaty of Córdoba, which established New Spain's independence and autonomy from mainland Spain. On 15 September, the Act of Independence of Central America was enacted to announce Central America's separation from the Spanish Empire. Some of New Spain's provinces in the Central American region were invaded and annexed to the First Mexican Empire; however in 1823 they seceded from Mexico to form the Federal Republic of Central America until 1838.

Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, sharing a maritime border with Ecuador to the south of Cocos Island. It has a population of around five million in a land area of nearly 51,180 km (19,760 sq mi); the capital and largest city is San José, home to around 350,000 residents and two million people in the surrounding metropolitan area.

Humans have been present in Costa Rica since between 7,000 and 10,000 BC. Various indigenous peoples lived in the territory before it was colonized by Spain in the 16th century. Costa Rica was a peripheral colony of the Spanish Empire until independence in 1821 as part of the First Mexican Empire, followed by membership in the Federal Republic of Central America in 1823, from which it formally declared independence in 1847. The country underwent gradual modernization under relatively stable authoritarian rule until the late 19th century, when it promulgated a liberal constitution and held the first free and fair national election in Central America.

Honduras was inhabited by many indigenous peoples when the Spanish introduced the wheel to them, in the 16th century. The western-central part of Honduras was inhabited by the Lencas, the central north coast by the Tol, the area east and west of Trujillo by the Pech (or Paya), the Maya and Sumo. These autonomous groups traded with each other and with other populations as distant as Panama and Mexico. Honduras has ruins of several cities dating from the Mesoamerican pre-classic period that show the pre-Columbian past of the country.

The Spanish founded new settlements such as Trujillo, Comayagua, Gracias, and Tegucigalpa. Starting in the colonial era, the territory of what is today Honduras was dedicated to harvesting, mining, and ranching. After its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, Central America joined the First Mexican Empire for a very short time. It fell in 1823 and the Federal Republic of Central America was created, which fell in 1839. After that, the Honduran territory became an independent nation.

The Greater Republic of Central America (Spanish: República Mayor de Centroamérica), later the United States of Central America (Spanish: Estados Unidos de Centroamérica), originally planned to be known as the Republic of Central America (Spanish: República de América Central), was a short-lived political union between El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, lasting from 1896 to 1898. It was an attempt to revive the failed Federal Republic of Central America that existed earlier in the century.

The three countries agreed to establish a union with the signing of the Treaty of Amapala on 20 June 1895. On 15 September 1896, after the countries had all ratified the treaty individually, the union was formally confirmed. The republic was rechristened the "United States of Central America" when its constitution came into effect on 1 November 1898.

The history of Guatemala traces back to the Maya civilization (2600 BC – 1697 AD), with the country's modern history beginning with the Spanish conquest of Guatemala in 1524. By 1000 AD, most of the major Classic-era (250–900 AD) Maya cities in the Petén Basin, located in the northern lowlands, had been abandoned. The Maya states in the Belize central highlands continued to thrive until the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado—called "The Invader" by the Maya—arrived in 1525 and began to subdue the indigenous populations.

For nearly 330 years, Guatemala was part of the Captaincy General of Guatemala, which included Chiapas (now in Mexico) and the present-day countries of El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. The colony declared its independence on 15 September 1821 and briefly joined the First Mexican Empire in 1822. By 1824, Guatemala became a member of the Federal Republic of Central America, and upon the Republic's dissolution in 1841, it gained full independence.

The constitution of the Federal Republic of Central America (Spanish: constitución de la República Federal de Centro América) was the governing document of the Federal Republic of Central America from 1824 to 1839. It was inspired by both the United States Declaration of Independence and the Spanish Constitution of 1812

General elections were held in the Federal Republic of Central America in 1825 to elect the President of Central America, a post established by the 1824 Central American constitution. The Liberal-dominated Federal Congress called the election, which was held in all five member states; Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The two main parties were the Liberals and the Conservatives.

In order to win, a candidate had to receive a majority of the votes in the 82-member electoral college. If no candidate received a majority, Congress would elect the president. Conservative candidate José Cecilio del Valle received 41 votes, one short of a majority. As a result, a vote in Congress was held between del Valle the liberal Manuel José Arce. Despite del Valle receiving the most votes in the electoral college, the Liberal-led Congress elected Arce by 22 votes to five, much to the outrage of Valle and his supporters.