History of Guyana

Common card · No. 323123

The history of Guyana begins about 35,000 years ago with the arrival of humans coming from Eurasia. These migrants became the Kalina and Lokono tribes, who met Alonso de Ojeda's first expedition from Spain in 1499 at the Essequibo River. In the ensuing colonial era, Guyana's government was defined by the successive policies of the French, Dutch, and British settlers. During the colonial period, Guyana's economy was focused on plantation agriculture, which initially depended on slave labour. Guyana saw major slave rebellions in 1763 and 1823. Following the British Slavery Abolition Act 1833, 800,000 enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and South Africa were freed, resulting in plantations contracting indentured workers, mainly from India. Eventually, these Indians joined forces with Afro-Guyanese to demand equal rights in government and society. After the Second World War, the British Empire pursued policy decolonisation of its overseas territories, with independence granted to British Guiana...

Read on Wikipedia