|
Guyana Guyana: Historical Setting
![[GIF]](http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/guyana/gy01_00a.gif)
Amerindian wood carving
MORE THAN TWENTY-FIVE YEARS after gaining independence, Guyana
retained the clear imprint of its colonial past. Sighted by
Columbus during his third voyage, the area was virtually ignored by
later Spanish explorers and conquistadors. The first European
settlers were the Dutch, who established a trading post in 1616.
The native Carib and Awarak peoples were killed by disease or
conflict over the land or forced into the interior. The Dutch,
realizing the agricultural potential of the swampy coast, drained
the land with a network of dikes and canals. In the 1700s, the
three Dutch colonies in present-day Guyana grew and prospered with
plantation economies based on sugarcane and slave labor. Increasing
number of British settlers were also drawn to the area in the
second half of the eighteenth century. Dutch rule ended in 1814
when the colonies were awarded to Britain following the Napoleonic
wars.
Much of British rule in the 1800s was simply a continuation of
the policies of the Dutch. Consolidated into one colony--British
Guiana--in 1831, the sugar-based economy continued to expand, and
when emancipation was completed in 1838 other ethnic groups, most
notably from India, were imported to work the plantations. The
1900s saw an increased political awareness of the varied ethnic
groups and a slow transfer of political power from the old
plantocracy and colonial administration to the Afro-Guyanese and
the Indo-Guyanese. Amid growing polarization between these two
groups, self-government was granted in the 1950s. Political
conflict between the Afro-Guyanese and the Indo-Guyanese, sometimes
marked with violence, caused the British to delay independence
until 1966. Since independence, two characteristics have dominated
Guyanese society and politics: the presence of strong political
personalities (Cheddi Jagan, Linden Forbes Burnham, and Hugh
Desmond Hoyte) and ethnic and racial divisions based on mutual
suspicion and manipulation by these strong personalities.
Ideology played a large part in the newly independent country's
approach to economic development. The initial selection of a
Marxist-Leninist economic system was motivated by a desire to break
with the capitalist past. But authoritarian rule by one dominant
political personality and continued ethnic tension undermined the
crafting of a coherent or pragmatic development strategy.
Independent Guyana's history under its first prime minister, Forbes
Burnham, is one of political confrontation and long economic
decline. Desmond Hoyte's tenure appeared to represent a departure
from the economic and authoritarian policies of his predecessor,
but in 1991 it was unclear if the historical patterns of personal
political dominance and ethnic tension could be changed.
Data as of January 1992
|
