Category: HISTORY

Overseas-based Guyanese documentary director and producer Amanda Wilson announced her latest project, “Cuffy: Face of a Rebellion”, to be filmed in Berbice, to celebrate the legacy of the slave rebellion led by national hero, Cuffy. Through her artistic eye for making documentaries, the 60-minute film celebrates the life and mission of a Guyanese hero and the 250th anniversary of his 1763 Berbice Revolt. The idea of a documentary celebrating Cuffy’s life, said Wilson, has already won broad support in Guyana. In a recent press release, Wilson said that the documentary,…

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Multicultural art heritage on display From June to Aug 2006, the IDB Culture Centre Gallery presented an exhibition in New York, U.S.A. that showcased and promoted Guyana’s multicultural art and art forms, on the occasion of Guyana’s 40th independence anniversary celebrations and in commemoration of the first Caribbean American Heritage Month in the U.S. Titled, “The Arts of Guyana: A Multicultural Caribbean Adventure”, the showing illustrated the various artworks of the different ethnic groups in the country, at a unique exhibition put together with support from international and local government…

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Part 2: Indigenous Guyanese and the slave trade On the early Dutch Essequibo plantations, the Indian slave trade, as it is known, is said to have begun in the late 17th century. The trade also existed alongside early African slavery, and there is mention of an Arawak-African slave uprising in Berbice in 1687. The Indian Slave Trade was eventually abolished in the 1790s during the time of the later African Slave Trade on the colony. Like the African slave trade, it is documented that the Indian Slave Trade was often…

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The Georgetown Lighthouse was first a wooden structure built by the Dutch in 1817 to guide seafaring vessels from the Atlantic Ocean into the Demerara River. Located on Water Street, the 103-foot building was later rebuilt by the British on the same site in the 1830s. This almost 200-year-old building remains standing today, and looks down on what was once Fort William Frederick – now the Transport & Harbours Department. The British constructed the lighthouse of brick, said to be able to withstand strong winds. It is surmounted by an…

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By: Dr Basdeo Mangru Benevolent Neutrality, Indian Government Policy and Labour Migration to British Guiana 1854-1884, written by Dr Basdeo Mangru, Associate Professor at York College, was recently republished by Hansib Publications in London to mark the 175th anniversary of the Indian presence in the Caribbean. It was first published in 1988 as part of a series to commemorate the 150th anniversary Unlike other works on the Indians in the Caribbean, this book concentrates on the Indian side of emigration. It provides a detailed analysis of the social, economic and…

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In 1834 Booker Brothers & Co, known as “Bookers”, was established in what had by then become British Guiana. The shipping sector of the company was founded in 1835 by the Booker brothers Josias, George and Richard, after a dispute arose between George and the shipping company that shipped the sugar from their Demerara plantations to the refineries in the United Kingdom. The first vessel the brothers acquired was a brig called the Elizabeth, built in Scotland in 1832. The Elizabeth was sold in 1837 and the company bought the…

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