Maps
Interactive Map of Massacres
This map began as a pilot project to document more than 60 community-identified massacres of civilians committed by the Salvadoran Armed Forces and ORDEN during the Salvadoran Civil War (1980-1992) in the department of Chalatenango. It has since expanded to other departments in El Salvador, including Cuscatlán, Cabañas, and Morazán. The project (in progress) is a collaboration between massacre survivors, Asociación Sumpul, and scholars from Western University. Our methodology includes hiking to remote massacre sites with survivors and witnesses; obtaining high resolution GIS coordinates for massacre sites, mass graves, and other significant locations; recording audio and video testimonies; and conducting research to obtain additional archival materials documenting the massacres. Click here to access the map:
StoryMaps
Our team uses StoryMaps to create interactive, multimedia platforms for sharing maps, video, and archival photos. This work includes our Solidarity Series (Barb MacQuarrie, the Loretto Sisters of Toronto, Tom Gabriel) and our Civil War Plants Map collaboration with Genaro Guardado, a survivor of the massacres in La Laguns de San Ramón. Click here to see our StoryMaps.
Surviving Memory Maps
Our team is working collaboratively with survivors and community members to create physical and digital historical maps for exhibition, commemorative, and educational purposes. Our first map, Civil War Massacres in Chalatenango (2024), highlights the location of 24 civilian massacres our team has documented in the department of Chalatenango. Click here to see our maps.
The Western Libraries map collection holds a number of resources of value to the Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador Project. The collection contains dozens of maps of El Salvador proper, as well as historic and rare cartographic materials of Central America. Some notable items currently used by the team include the complete set of 1:50,000 topographic sheet maps (1954-); a 1980 1:750,000 CIA Political and Transportation map of El Salvador, and a 1991 Traveler’s Reference map of El Salvador. In 2025, the map library will begin to scan and georeference theme maps for the Surviving Memory Project and make them publicly available to other scholars. Click here to access the Western Libraries collection of El Salvador maps.
