The Guianas - The Rough Guide to South America on a Budget - page 639

1802 Dutch regain control of Guyana.
1814 Treaty of Paris formally grants the British control of
the area.
1823 Demerara slave revolt brutally suppressed.
1834 Slavery abolished. Thousands of indentured labourers
from India, China, England, Ireland, Portugal and Africa are
brought to Guyana to work the sugar-cane plantations.
1870s Charles Barrington Brown is the first European to
find Kaieteur Falls. Gold found in Guyana's interior.
1950 The People's Progressive Party (PPP) is established.
1953 PPP wins first elections allowed by British. Jagan
becomes leader. Britain suspends constitution and sends
in troops, fearing plans to establish Guyana as a communist
state.
1955 PPP splits and Burnham forms the People's National
Congress (PNC).
1957 Elections permitted and PPP wins. Jagan becomes
first premier in 1961.
1966 Guyana achieves independence.
1978 More than 900 members of Rev. Jim Jones' People's
Temple religious sect commit mass suicide in Jonestown
(see box, p.649).
1980 Guyana gets a controversial new constitution and
Burnham becomes president.
1985 Burnham dies; Prime Minister Hugh Desmond Hoyte
becomes president.
1992 Cheddi Jagan's PPP wins election.
1997 Jagan dies. His American widow, Janet Jagan, is
elected president.
1999 Janet Jagan resigns and is succeeded by Bharrat
Jagdeo.
2001 Violent demonstrations follow the elections.
2009 Norway agrees to invest US$250m to preserve
Guyana's rainforests.
2010 Guyana chosen as one of the hosts of the Twenty20
cricket World Cup.
2012 Protests in Linden leave three people dead. Police
questioned over killings.

Guyana
GUYANA , the largest and most populous
nation of the three Guianas, is a
rum-drinking and cricket-loving country,
and the only English-speaking nation
in South America. Georgetown , the
capital, typifies this with its cosmopolitan
mix of black, white, East Indian,
Asian and Amerindian ethnicities and
a Caribbean feel.
Unlike the Caribbean, however,
Guyana's principal attractions are its
rainforests (part of the Guyana Shield
and some of the oldest and most pristine
on earth), its wildlife and its indigenous
culture. One of Guyana's greatest natural
wonders is the majestic Kaieteur Falls
- among the tallest and most powerful in
the world - made all the more dramatic
by their isolated location in a tree-covered
mountain range.
Going down the middle of the country
from north to south is the Iwokrama
Rainforest , where millions of acres of
rainforest have been reserved for
conservation, research and sustainable
ecotourism. Further southwest, the jungle
gives way to the wide-open spaces of
the Rupununi Savannah , dotted with
Amerindian villages. Here you can
immerse yourself in indigenous culture
and go in search of caimans, giant
anteaters and giant river otters.

7

CHRONOLOGY
10,000 BC Amerindians arrive, having crossed a land bridge
from Asia.
3000 BC Agriculture - cassava farming - used to supple-
ment hunting and gathering.
1492 Christopher Columbus sets foot in the region.
Unsuccessful Spanish exploration in search of the Lost City
of Gold.
1595 Sir Walter Raleigh visits Guyana and publishes The
Discoverie of the Large, Rich and Bewtiful Empyre of Guiana ,
igniting European interest in the region.
1613-21 The Dutch found Fort Kyk Over Al, build trading
posts, and establish sugarcane plantations.
1650s African slaves replace Amerindian ones; Amerin-
dians assist the Dutch in capturing runaway slaves.
1763 Slave revolt led by Guyana's national hero, Cuffy. Revolt
finally quelled in 1764; 125 slaves executed.
1796 Dutch lose control of colony to the British.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
Guyana's Cheddi Jagan International
Airport , 41km from Georgetown, receives
direct flights from Suriname, Brazil,
Barbados, Trinidad, New York, Miami,
Fort Lauderdale and Toronto. Some
flights from Suriname and domestic
flights arrive at the smaller Ogle
International Airport , some 7km east
of the capital.

OVERLAND FROM BRAZIL
Travellers arriving overland from Brazil
enter Guyana at the town of Lethem ,