Guyana
Country in South America, bounded N by the Atlantic Ocean, E by
Suriname, S and SW by Brazil, and NW by Venezuela.
Government
Guyana is a sovereign republic within the Commonwealth. The 1980
constitution provides for a single- chamber national assembly of
65 members, 53 elected by universal suffrage and 12 elected by the
regions, for a five-year term. The president is the nominee of the
party winning most votes in the national assembly elections and
serves for the life of the assembly, appointing a cabinet that is
collectively responsible to it.
History
Inhabited by Arawak, Carib, and Warrau Indians when the first Europeans
arrived in the late 1500s, the area now known as Guyana was a Dutch
colony 1621-1796, when it was seized by Britain. By the Treaty of
London 1814, the three Dutch colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and
Berbice were ceded to the UK. In 1831 they were united as British
Guiana. However, a Dutch-style constitution prevailed until 1891.
The Dutch town of Stabroek was renamed Georgetown and served as
the capital. The abolition of the slave trade 1807 and slavery 1834
brought the ruin of many planters. Between 1838 and 1917, 340,000
immigrants came to the colony from India; this immigration was stopped
1917 under pressure from the government of India. The transition
from colonial to republican status was gradual and not entirely
smooth. In 1953 a constitution providing for free elections to an
assembly was introduced, and the left-wing People's Progressive
Party (PPP), led by Dr Cheddi Jagan, won the popular vote. Within
months, however, the UK government suspended the constitution and
put in its own interim administration, claiming that the PPP threatened
to become a communist dictatorship. Internal self-government In
1957 a breakaway group from the PPP founded a new party, the People's
National Congress (PNC), which was supported mainly by Guyanans
of African descent, while PPP followers were mainly of Indian descent.
Fresh elections, under a revised constitution, were held 1957, and
the PPP won again, with Jagan becoming chief minister. |
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