Slavery In the year 1498, Italian explorer
Christopher Columbus visited the coastline of what is now known as Guyana. Prior to the advent of slavery, the territory that constitutes modern-day Guyana was occupied by Indigenous Amerindian groups, such as the
Lokono,
Kalina, and
Warao tribes. European interaction commenced in 1499; however, it was not until the 17th century that substantial colonization efforts by the Dutch, French, and British truly took root, motivated by the quest for wealth derived from plantation agriculture, especially sugar. This transition ultimately resulted in the large-scale importation of enslaved Africans to labor on the plantations, significantly altering the region's demographic and economic framework. Sometime in the 1620s, the
Dutch West India Company (WIC) began operating in the
Guiana region in South America. And in 1627, they established the Colony of
Berbice with the aim of supplying it with "as many blacks as possible". As a result,
enslaved Africans became a key element in the colonial economy. By the 1660s, the slave population numbered about 2,500. In 1745, the Dutch established the colony of
Demerara and invited
British planters from nearby colonies to start plantations. Many planters from the Lesser Antilles (and a small amount from
Carolina) settled in Demerara and
Essequibo, bringing enslaved Africans with them. Most of the enslaved from the Caribbean came from
Barbados,
Saint Kitts, and
Antigua.
White supremacist planters owned Africans as private property and systematically robbed them of any
human rights or freedom. Black people were considered racially and culturally inferior which led many enslaved to develop internalized shame and stigma toward their ancestral traditions. Even though
Black people were considered an essential element of the colonial economy, their working conditions were brutal. They produced coffee, cut sugarcane, and picked cotton for the Dutch market. The mortality rate was high, and the dismal conditions led to more than half a dozen slave rebellions. And in 1814, Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice were officially ceded to them from the
Netherlands. Colonial life was changed radically by the demise of slavery. In 1833, the
Slavery Abolition Act 1833 was passed. Slavery itself continued in the form of "apprentice-ship" which was established to create a buffer period for plantation owners; to keep former slaves as labour but providing payment. In 1838, total emancipation had been effected. Unlike future immigrant groups, former slaves were not granted land or passage to their home country, and this, in addition to racial prejudice, created tension among the ethnic groups.
20th century By the early twentieth century, the majority of the urban population of the country was Afro-Guyanese. Many Afro-Guyanese people living in villages had migrated to the towns in search of work. Until the 1930s, Creoles—especially those of
mixed descent—comprised the bulk of the non-white professional class. During the 1930s, as Indo-Guyanese began to enter the middle class in large numbers, they began to compete with Afro-Guyanese for professional positions. == Culture ==