History of Guyana

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400 years ago the first Europeans settled in what is now Guyana . In the past, Guyana alternated between Dutch, French and British rule. Guyana became independent on May 26, 1966.

Arawak and Caribs

The settlement of America was from the north. The first settlers reached the double continent at least 18,000 years ago. They were nomads who gradually came to South America via Central America. One of the legacies of the indigenous peoples was the word "Guyana", which not only meant what is known today as the country, but also included the area of Suriname (Dutch Guyana) and French Guyana . The word "Guyana" means something like "land of water". Indeed, Guyana is rich in rivers and streams.

Around 1500 there were mainly two peoples living in Guyana: the Arawak and the Caribs , whereby the Caribs had already expelled a large part of the Arawak towards the Lesser Antilles by the end of the 15th century.

Dutch colonization

Although the Spaniard Alonso de Ojeda discovered the coast of today's Guyana in 1499, there was no real occupation or settlement by the Spaniards - apart from a few attempts to explore the hinterland. Because this area seemed to them far less promising than other parts of South America and Central America.

It was the Dutch who founded the first colonies in what is now Guyana: a colony on the Pomeroon in 1581 , the Essequibo colony in 1616, the Berbice colony in 1627 and the Demerara colony in 1745 . The Netherlands appeared in the Caribbean and South America as a "belated colonial power". It was not until the Republic of the Seven United Provinces in the Eighty Years' War, step by step, fought for its independence from the Spanish crown that the way was clear during the Golden Age to build its own colonial empire. On the north coast of South America, the Dutch had to make do with the area between the Essequibo and the Oyapock , which the Spanish (in the west) and the Portuguese (in the east) had not yet seized: today roughly the area of ​​Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.

The first bases on the coast and on the rivers leading into the hinterland were used for trade with the indigenous peoples. But soon plantations were created to grow coffee, tobacco, indigo plants , cocoa, cotton and, above all, sugar . In order to farm these, slaves were "imported" from Africa, who had to toil in the fields under miserable conditions for the profit of their masters.

In 1763 there was a slave revolt against the Dutch in the Berbice colony under the leadership of the slave Cuffy (now Guyana's national hero) . Around 3,000 slaves fought for their freedom and their country. The uprising began on February 23, 1763 on the Magdalenenberg plantation on the Canje, a tributary of the Berbice, and quickly spread to plantation after plantation. Only after 13 months could the Dutch troops, supported by British and French, put down the uprising.

The development of women's suffrage is linked to the colonial history of the area . In 1812, according to Frank A. Narain, women were granted the right to vote if they owned slaves or were able to pay income tax on at least 10,000 guilders; The source does not provide any information on whether equality was achieved between women and men.

The three colonies Essequibo, Berbice and Demerara (the colony on the Pomeroon had merged into the Essequibo colony) changed hands several times between the colonial powers Netherlands, Great Britain and Ireland and France until 1815 . After the defeat of Napoléon Bonaparte , these three colonies were ceded to the United Kingdom at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. In 1831 the colonies were merged as British Guiana .

British Guyana 1896

Guyana as a British colony

After slavery was abolished in 1834 , the British imported from 1838 mainly contract workers from British India to replace the Afro-Guyans who were moving away from sugar cane plantations , and from 1835 Portuguese mainly from Madeira .

From 1849 only male British citizens were allowed to vote; their right to vote was still restricted by demands on their assets. After Frank A. Narain, women were given back the right to vote in 1928; the right to vote continued to be linked to certain assets. Another source cites 1945 as the year for women to be active in the legislative body of British Guiana .

In 1953, British forces intervened in British Guiana. Britain feared that Janet and Cheddi Jagan and the People's Progressive Party (PPP) they founded were trying to turn Guyana into a communist country.

State independence

Guyana finally achieved independence from the United Kingdom on May 26, 1966 and was declared a Cooperative Republic by the People's National Congress (PNC) on February 23, 1970 under Premier Forbes Burnham .

Ethnic conflicts between Afro-Guyans and Indian-Guyans have played a role in society and politics again and again since the 1960s. In addition, the border conflict with Venezuela reappeared in the 1960s, which culminated in the Venezuelan occupation of Ankoko Island .

On October 11, 1974, Guyana was elected to the UN Security Council for the first time for two years , making it the first country in the body to have fewer than one million inhabitants. In 1982/83 the country was again a member of the Security Council

In 1978 Guyana was on world news after the Jonestown bloodbath . After the assassination of an American politician, cult leader Jim Jones of the People's Temple gave his supporters the task of collective suicide.

In 1980 a new constitution was adopted. The power of the prime minister was restricted and the executive office of the presidency was introduced.

In 1989 the government of Guyana started an economic program which brought about a drastic change from a state-controlled planned economy to a free market economy with open markets.

After the presidential elections of 1992, won by Cheddi Jagan of the PPP, militant supporters of the defeated PNC broke out into violent riots in the capital, Georgetown. After Jagan's death in 1997, his widow, Janet Jagan, was elected as the new president in December 1997. In August 1999, she resigned for health reasons and Bharrat Jagdeo became the new President of Guyana.

In the parliamentary elections on March 19, 2001, Bharrat Jagdeo was confirmed in his office as president, as well as in the following elections on September 2, 2006. After the PPP's renewed electoral success in 2011, its candidate Donald Ramotar became president on December 3, 2011 Successor of the previous incumbent Bharrat Jagdeo, who was no longer allowed to run after two terms. In 2015 Ramotar was defeated by the new President David Arthur Granger .

See also

Web links

Commons : History of Guyana  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alvin Thompson: The Berbice Revolt 1763-64 . In: Winston F. McGowan, James G. Rose and David A. Granger (eds.): Themes in African-Guyanese History . Free Press, Georgetown 1998; Reprint: Hansib, London 2009, ISBN 978-1-906190-18-7 , here p. 80.
  2. ^ A b c Frank A. Narain: Historical Information Events and Dates on the Parliament of Guyana from 1718 to 2006 Parliament of Guyana, 2009, p. 112.
  3. ^ Mary Noel Menezes: The Portuguese of Guyana. A study in culture and conflict . Georgetown 1993, reissued 2010.
  4. ↑ - New Parline: the IPU's Open Data Platform (beta). In: data.ipu.org. April 16, 1953, accessed October 2, 2018 .
  5. ^ Charles Ritterband : Controversial victory of the ruling party in Guyana . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, March 26, 2001.