| The Dutch, English,
and French established colonies in what is now known as Guyana, but by the
early 17th century the majority of the settlements were Dutch. During the
Napoleonic wars Britain took over the Dutch colonies of Berbice, Demerara,
and Essequibo, which became British Guiana in 1831. Slavery was outlawed
in 1834, and the great need for plantation workers led to a large wave of
immigration, primarily of East Indians. Today, about half of the population
is of East Indian descent and about 43% are of African descent.British Guiana
was made a Crown colony in 1928, and in 1953 it was granted home rule. In
1950, Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan, the former black and the latter East
Indian, created the colony's first political party, which was dedicated
to gaining the colony's independence. The two leaders split in 1955, creating
separate parties. The leftist Jagan and the more moderate Burnham were to
dominate Guyanan politics for decades to come. On May 26, 1966, the country
gained independence, and resumed its traditional name, Guyana. Burnham and
his People's National Congress ruled Guyana for 21 years, until Burnham's
death in 1985. In 1992, Jagan's People's Progressive Party won a majority
in the general election. Jagan, who had served as prime minister in the
1960s while Guyana was still a colony, became president. The current president,
former finance minister Bharrat Jagdeo, assumed the presidency in Aug. 1999.Guyana's
potential economic development was hurt in 2000 as border disputes with
both Venezuela to the west and Suriname to the east heated up. Suriname
and Guyana have been unable to resolve the border dispute in an oil-rich
coastal area. Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez has revived a 19th-century
claim to more than half of Guyana's territory. Meanwhile, Guyana has announced
plans to allow an American company to build a commercial rocket launch site
in the areaIn March 2001, Bharrat Jagdeo won a second term in elections
that highlighted Guyana's racial and cultural split. An ethnic East Indian,
Jagdeo could not be sworn in for two weeks, until a court dismissed a challenge
seeking to nullify the results. Meanwhile, many Guyanese of African ancestry
claimed widespread election fraud, and sporadic violence rocked the country,
marring what had been a peaceful election process. |