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.