San Juan Talpa

San Juan Talpa on the map of El Salvador

San Juan Talpa is a municipality in El Salvador in the department of La Paz

Name

The Nawat name Talpan is interpreted as "on the ground " or " earthy place," cf Nawat tal ( nahuatl Tlalli ) " earth" and the ending- pan " on ", together Talpan ( nahuatl tlalpan ) "on the earth. "

History

Talpan was a settlement of Nonualcos, a tribe of the Pipil people. At about 1200, the area came under the rule of Cuzcatlán.

The area was conquered by the Spanish in 1528 final. 1740 lived according to the mayor ( alcalde mayor ) of San Salvador, Manuel de Gálvez Corral, in San Juan Talpa 240 taxable Indians, with a total of about 1,200 members, as well as some Ladinos.

On June 12, 1824 Ataco first came to the department of San Salvador and then changed hands several times between the departments Cuzcatlán, San Salvador and La Paz since 21 February 1852 is part of the Department of La Paz on April 26, 1858 had 502 inhabitants, in 1890 already 1800 inhabitants.

On March 31, 1894 San Juan Talpa received city rights.

Attractions

In San Juan Talpa is the only astronomical observatory of El Salvador, whose construction began in 1994 and on 2 February 2000 by the Salvadoran Astronomical Society ( Asociación de Astronomia Salvadoreña, ASTRO ) was opened.

Pipil culture

The Nonualcos region, which includes San Juan Talpa heard was a center of the Pipil culture. The Pipil language Nawat is virtually extinct due to the severe repression since the genocide of the Pipil 1932. In San Juan Talpa is as yet the only place outside of the department of Sonsonate the Nawat to listen again to a limited extent: The school Alberto Varela in San Juan Talpa participates in a teaching project for that language, in place since 2003. 600 students learned here in 2008 four teachers Nawat.