Guyana: History

Pre-20th-Century History

The aboriginal inhabitants of the Guyanese coast were Carib Indians who had driven the peaceful Arawak north and westwards into the Antilles. European settlement didn't occur until 1615, when the Dutch West Indian Company erected a fort and depot on the lower Essequibo River. The Dutch traded with the Indian peoples of the interior, and established riverside plantations worked by African slaves. Sugar quickly became the dominant crop.

While the coast remained firmly under Dutch control, the English were busy establishing sugar and tobacco plantations west of the Suriname River. Conflict between the two countries meant parts of the region changed hands a number of times, but by 1796 Britain had become the major power. In 1834, slavery was abolished, forcing many plantations to close or look for another source of labor. The British solved the problem by shipping indentured workers from India. From 1846 to 1917, almost 250,000 laborers entered Guyana, dramatically transforming the country's demographic balance and laying the basis for persistent ethnic tensions.

Modern History

Guyana achieved independence in 1966 and four years later became a cooperative republic within the Commonwealth. The sugar industry was nationalized and the country's economic base was diversified through the production of rice and bauxite. However, Guyana's economy was in almost permanent recession up until 1990 as it slid out of mainstream engagement with the rest of the world and experienced the exodus of much of its educated class. Its domestic economy was not helped by border disputes with neighboring Venezuela and Suriname. In 1992, elections installed the US-educated dentist Dr Cheddi Jagan as president. An aging Marxist, Dr Jagan was in danger of seeming an anachronism, but Guyana's recovery meant he was more likely to be consulting the IMF than the teachings of Karl Marx. Dr Jagan's wife Janet became president of Guyana in 1997, amid protests. In summer 1999, Jagan retired from the presidency and named Bharrat Jagdeo as her successor. A long-simmering border dispute between Suriname and Guyana was inflamed in September 2000 when a Surinamese gunboat crossed over Guyanese waters and fired at a Guyanan gunboat.

Recent History

In March 2001, Jagdeo was re-elected president, but demonstrations, occasional violence, and fires that were possibly politically sparked, have shaken Georgetown and other areas since. Some of this violence is ethnically motivated, prompting political leaders to form an ethnic relations commission and a review of the voter registration system.

A wave of violent crime in recent years saw the murder rate grow to 160 in 2002. In 2004, the home affairs minister was dismissed following allegations he was linked to a death squad that had executed suspected criminals. The crime wave and political instability were linked with the country's economic and racial tensions.

Jagdeo was re-elected to another five year term as president in August 2006.

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