The Guianas
The Guianas, also spelled Guyanas or Guayanas, is a region in north-eastern South America. Strictly, the term refers to the three Guyanas: Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, formerly British, Dutch and French Guyana. Broadly it refers to the South American coast from the mouth of the Oronoco to the mouth of the Amazon.
Politically it is divided into:
- So called Spanish or Venezuelan Guiana, now the Guayana Regionof Venezuela.
- Guyana, formerly British Guiana, independent since 1966.
- Suriname, formerly Dutch Guiana, independent since 1975.
- French Guiana, an overseas department of France.
- So called Portuguese or Brazilian Guiana, now the Amapá state of Brazil.
The three Guianas proper have a combined population of 1,718,651; Guyana: 804,567, Suriname: 612,985 and French Guiana: 301,099 [1][2] Most of the population is along the coast. Due to the jungles to the south, the Guianas are one of the most sparsely populated regions on Earth.
Prior to c. 1815 there was a string of mostly Dutch settlements along the coast which changed hands several times. They were mostly several miles upriver to avoid the coastal marshes which were only drained later.
- British Guiana (before 1793 part of Dutch Guyana):
- Pomeroon (colony) (70 miles NW of Georgetown) 1581:Dutch, 1589:expelled by Spanish, 165?: Dutch, 1689:abandoned after French destruction, Dutch later return, 1831 to British Guyana.
- Essequibo (colony) (20 miles NW of Georgetown) c 1616 Dutch, 1665 British occupation, (1781 British, 1782 French occupation, 1783 Dutch), 1793 British, 1831 British Guiana
- Demerara (Georgetown) 1745 Dutch from Essequibo, 1781-1831: like Essequibo
- Berbice (114 miles SE of Georgetown) 1627 Dutch, 1781-1831: like Essequebo
- Dutch Guiana
- Nickerie (200 miles SE of Georgetown)(small) 1718 Dutch
- Surinam 1651 English, 1667 Dutch, 1799 English during French wars, 1814 restored to Dutch but England keeps British Guiana
- French Guiana
- Sinnamary: (100 miles NW of Cayenne) 1624 French, captured by Dutch and English several times, 1763: French
- Cayenne 1604,1643 French fail,1615 Dutch fail, 1635 Dutch, 1664 French, 1667 English capture and return, French, 1676? Dutch, 1763? French, 1809 Anglo-Portuguese, 1817 French
To the east and up the lower Amazon, there were a number of English, French and Dutch outposts that either failed or were expelled by the Portuguese. To the west, Spanish Guyana was thinly settled and interacted slightly with Pomeroon.
History
Pre-colonial period
Before the arrival of European colonials, the Guianas were populated by scattered bands of native
Over the centuries of the pre-colonial period, the ebb and flow of power between Arawak and Carib interests throughout the Caribbean resulted in a great deal of intermingling (some forced through capture, some accidental through contact). This ethnic mixing, particularly in the Caribbean margins like the Guianas, produced a hybridised culture. Despite their political rivalry, the ethnic and cultural blending between the two groups had reached such a level that, by the time of the Europeans' arrival, the Carib/Arawak complex in Guiana was so homogeneous that the two groups were almost indistinguishable to outsiders.[4] Through the contact period following Columbus's arrival, the term "Guiana" was used to refer to all areas between the Orinoco, the Rio Negro, and the Amazon, and was seen so much as a unified, isolated entity that it was often referred to as the “Island of Guiana.”[5]
European colonisation
After the publication of Raleigh's accounts, several other
English and Dutch settlers were regularly harassed by the Spanish and Portuguese, who viewed settlement of the area as a violation of the
The French had also made less significant attempts at
The Dutch appointed a new governor of the Guiana settlements in 1742. In this year, Laurens Storm van 's Gravesande took over the region. He held the position for three decades, coordinating the development and expansion of the Dutch colonies from his plantation Soesdyke in Demerara.[12] Gravesande’s tenure brought significant change to the colonies, though his policy was in many ways an extension of his predecessor, Hermanus Gelskerke. Commandeur Gelskerke had begun pressing for change from a trading focus to one of cultivation, especially of sugar. The area east of the existing Essequibo colony, known as Demerara, was relatively isolated and encompassed the trading areas of just a few indigenous tribes, thus it contained only two trading outposts during Gelskerke’s term of office. Demerara, though, showed great potential as a sugar-cultivating area, so the commandeur began shifting focus toward the development of the region, signifying his intentions by transferring the administrative center of the colony from Fort Kijkoveral to Flag Island, on the mouth of the Essequibo River, further east and closer to Demerara. These operations were carried out by Gravesande, acting as the Secretary of the Company under Gelskerke. Upon Gelskerke’s death, Gravesande continued the policy of Demerara expansion and the move to sugar cultivation.
Conflict among the British, Dutch, and French continued throughout the seventeenth century. The
All the colonies along the Guiana coast were converted to profitable
After 1814, the Guianas came to be recognised individually as British Guiana, French Guiana, and Dutch Guiana.
Demographics
Due to the isolated geography of the Guianas, the region is one of the most isolated and sparsely populated on Earth. In most of the region, the population is almost entirely concentrated on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of river deltas, in the cities of
Spanish, English, Dutch, French, and Portuguese are spoken in the Guianas: in Guayana, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and Amapa, respectively. Suriname is the only sovereign nation, other than the Netherlands, where Dutch is the sole official language. Languages spoken locally by specific ethnic groups include Arawakan and Cariban languages, Caribbean Hindustani, Maroon languages, Javanese, Chinese, Hmong, Haitian Creole, and Arabic.
The diverse population and isolation of the region has led to the development of a number of
The Guianas is also one of the most racially diverse regions on Earth, particularly in Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, due to their long histories of migration to the region brought by slavery and indentured labour. The entire region has a large
See also
- Borders of Brazil
- Borders of Venezuela
- Guiana Shield
- Guyana–Venezuela relations
- Guyana–Suriname relations
- Suriname–Venezuela relations
- France–Suriname relations
- France–Venezuela relations
- Brazil–Guyana relations
- Brazil–Suriname relations
- Brazil–Venezuela relations
Notes
References
- ^ "Population, total". World Bank. 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
- ^ "Produits intérieurs bruts régionaux et valeurs ajoutées régionales de 2000 à 2020" (in French). Retrieved 13 March 2023.
- ^ Ian Rogoziński, A Brief History of the Caribbean, from the Arawak and Carib to the Present (New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1999); Paul Radin, Indians of South America (New York: Greenwood Press Publishers, 1942); and J. H. Parry, The Discovery of South America (New York: Taplinger Publishing Company, 1979).
- ^ Radin, pp. 11-13.
- ^ Robert Harcourt, A Relation of a Voyage to Guiana (1613; repr., London Hakluyt Society Press, 1928), p. 4; Joshua Hyles, Guiana and the Shadows of Empire, Baylor University, 2010, p. 17.
- ^ Sir Walter Raleigh, The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtiful Empyre of Guiana (1596; repr., Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1968) and The Discovery of Guiana, and the Journal of the Second Voyage Thereto (1606; repr., London: Cassell, 1887).
- ^ Goslinga, Cornelis. The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the Wild Coast. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 1971.
- ^ Smith, Raymond T. British Guiana. London: Oxford University Press, 1962.
- ^ Goslinga, p. 76.
- ^ Watkins, Thayer. "Political and Economic History of French Guiana". San Jose State University Faculty Research. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
- ^ Aldrich, Greater France: a History of French Overseas Expansion, New York, St. Martin’s Press, 1996; Hyles, p. 36.
- ^ P.J. Blok; P.C. Molhuysen, eds. (1927). "Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek. Deel 7". Digital Library for Dutch Literature (in Dutch). Retrieved 14 August 2020.
Further reading
- Bahadur, Gaiutra. ISBN 978-0-226-21138-1